Thursday, December 11, 2008

Connecting Work and Workers #2

I very much enjoy taking credit for obvious ideas that anyone with two halves of a brain (equals one whole brain) could generate. I would be shocked if no one had written about this idea before, but I will still take 100% credit for the existence of this story in The Detroit News. Apparently, the state of Michigan has finally compiled about 40K job listings (they claim) throughout Michigan. What is most dumbfounding about this website is that it did not exist at an earlier date. As far as I know, the internet has been around since June 2008 when I started the WeAreOfMichigan blog, so there is really no excuse for a Michigan aggregated job posting website not existing as early as July 2008.

While this jobs website is a step in the right direction, there still seems to be some missing connective tissue. Many people have previously tried to apply for a job on the internet using Monster or CareerBuilder, but the resume disappears into the internet and nothing seems to ever come of this type of application process. If Michigan really wants to make this happen, it is essential that there is some variety of support structure to specifically connect potential workers with prospective companies on a personal level. This will cost money and may initially be an inefficient process, but it would be a vast improvement over the current system. I would say the current system is like me walking in the front door of Meijer, yelling really loud "I want ice cream" and then waiting patiently for someone to bring me ice cream. Believe me, I've tried, and it does not work. People also get really mad at you. If you are one of the many Michigan residents looking for a job, I sympathize and empathize and suggest that you please check out the website: http://www.michigan.gov/jobs

It may be difficult for me to get ice cream by demanding ice cream inside of Meijer's front door, but it will be even more unlikely if I wait patiently at home. This is one of those situations where it would be very easy to dismiss this website effort as throwing a pebble into an ocean of oceanic pebbles of people throwing pebbles into an ocean, but I greatly prefer it to the alternative - nothing.

2 comments:

Miss Fortune said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ken said...

Not entirely true. Website I mentioned in the post: http://www.michigan.gov/jobs

Michigan Works! website:http://www.michiganworks.org/

From what I can tell, the site I mentioned in the post is significantly more job focused. The official Michigan Works! site seems to be more oriented toward getting individuals to the physical work centers.