Labor promotes IT programming job openings on Web
Connecting state and local government leaders
The Labor Department's online job bank now has a section exclusively for information technology and year 2000 positions. "The Clinton administration wants to call attention to the Y2K problem and the need for more IT workers," said Jim Vollman, associate assistant secretary in the Employment and Training Administration. Clinton this month announced the America's Job Bank IT program at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington. In his speech, Clinton called for the public and private sectors
The Labor Departments online job bank now has a section exclusively
for information technology and year 2000 positions.
The Clinton administration wants to call attention to the Y2K problem and the
need for more IT workers, said Jim Vollman, associate assistant secretary in the
Employment and Training Administration.
Clinton this month announced the Americas Job Bank IT program at the National
Academy of Sciences in Washington. In his speech, Clinton called for the public and
private sectors to share information and work together to solve the year 2000 problem.
One way the Clinton administration believes to increase awareness on the Y2K
problem is to establish an online job program for IT workers, Vollman said.
Labor launched AJB in February 1995 to help workers find jobs and employers fill
positions. The programs fourth version, released in May, integrated Americas
Talent Bank, a 10-state pilot program started by Michigan. The pilot became a nationwide
resume database that users can access through Labors Web site.
Employers can now enter job openings and review resumes at the same site, Vollman said.
Job seekers from a single place can now search for jobs and make their resumes
available to AJBs 40,000 registered employers. Another feature lets job
seekers perform searches by ZIP codes, he said.
As of last month, AJB had posted more than 168,585 resumes and 678,000 jobs.
Americas Talent Bank software was rewritten to improve security after hackers
grabbed Social Security numbers and other personal information from the site. Labor
required Social Security numbers from site participants so it could track demographics.
The latest version does not require Social Security numbers; visitors answer questions
regarding sex, nationality and age voluntarily, state officials said.
AJB has not had any problems with hackers because online forms use characters and
a password, Vollman said. The forms have a place for Social Security numbers, but
those numbers are kept in a database that is not available online. Also, users dont
have to provide their Social Security numbers if they dont want to, he said.
Users access the Web site at http://www.dol.gov/ and
click on either the IT job site or AJB links. Employers can post openings and job seekers
can post resumes by clicking on the Employers or Job Seekers links at the bottom of the
page, Vollman said.
Users then choose a home state, complete a form that includes name, address and other
information and pick an identification number and password.
Users have to key in their information. Labor is building in features so users can
upload their job openings and resumes, Vollman said.
Large employers have a more efficient method of uploading job opening announcements.
More than 12 employers back their personnel computers to our system and load
their job openings through a batch-feed process, Vollman said.
The AJB system consists of five servers, four of which are dual 400-MHz Digital
Equipment Corp. Alpha 4100s with 1G of RAM and storage ranging from 8G to 50G. The servers
run Digital Unix 4.0D.
One server is a dual 466-MHz DEC Alpha 4100 with 1G of RAM, also running Digital Unix
4.0D. The servers are in Syracuse, N.Y., at Applied Theory Inc., an Internet service
provider that developed and hosts the AJB Web site, Vollman said.
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