Call it a socialized LinkedIn, call it a government-run Monster.com, call it the feds cutting into the classified section’s business. The Department of Labor announced last Thursday that it had created a new website designed to set Americans up with information about hundreds of occupations and job openings in their area, MyNextMove.dol.gov.
According to a Thursday release from the Department of Labor’s press team, My Next Move is designed to help citizens of any age find employment and job skill training opportunities, but it is geared more specifically towards students and younger Americans.
The site “may be especially useful for students, young adults and other first-time workers as they explore potential careers based on their interests.”
In addition to the new site, DOL has launched another initiative, “mySkills myFuture,” aimed at assisting Americans’ with prior experience in a given field match the skills they have with developing fields. That new program can be found at its website, mySkillsmyFuture.org.
In last Thursday’s release, Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis said President Barack Obama’s administration is striving to make job opportunities available for everyone.
“This administration is committed to expanding opportunities for all Americans,” she said. “That includes ensuring all workers – those with years of experience and those just entering the workforce – have the information they need to make informed career decisions and get good jobs.”
Solis said My Next Move is just one instance of the administration attempting to make government services more accessible to citizens.
“By leveraging technology in a user-friendly tool, My Next Move will help those seeking career guidance learn more about work opportunities in fields that are of interest to them and that are likely to have job openings today and well into the future,” she said.
Like other jobs sites, My Next Move allows viewers to search for jobs across a variety of categories, such as occupation, industry, and the new “O*NET Interest Profiler” function, which pairs users’ interests with matching job areas by prompting employment-seekers through a 60-question survey. For the last 10 years, the Labor Department’s Occupational Informational Network (O*NET) has offered an 180-question version of the profile-generator that citizens could print out or download. The new version is now available as part of My Next Move.
In a push to promote certain emerging fields and industries, the Labor Department has also designed My Next Move to let users search for jobs in developing areas. Users can search for jobs in fields with a “bright outlook,” as well as searching for jobs in “green” industries or, for individuals looking to hone their skills over time, can seek jobs with a Registered Apprenticeship program.
The site features succinct, easily-read profile pages of about one page in length for each of the more than 900 occupations about which it offers information. The profiles detail information on what knowledge, job skills and aptitudes potential applicants must possess for a given job, provides a rating about the particular industry’s outlook for development and job growth, lets users know the level of education they need to get a job in the field of their choice, technologies the field relies on and gives users similar field links when they search in a given area. The profile pages also provide information about salary ranges, training opportunities in particular areas and relevant openings by area.
In other communications from the Obama administration, the White House released last Friday a report, “A Strategy for American Innovation: Securing our Economic Growth and Prosperity,” which emphasizes the significance of focusing on innovation to grow America’s economy.
Among other goals, the report outlines the administration’s goal of launching a new wireless initiative, which would aim to bring 98 percent of Americans wireless Internet access by 2016. The administration would also like to expand the speed and power of wireless Internet by 500 MHz, which the report said “is critical to avoid[ing] ‘spectrum crunch’ and facilitate[ing] the rapidly growing wireless technology revolution.”
Another goal the report details is patent reform. In the near future, the Obama administration will look “to overcome the enormous backlog at the patent office and improve patent quality.”
Changes to how the patent office operates “can allow the USPTO to adequately fund its operations through user fees and implement new initiatives to improve patent quality,” according to the report.
These shifts, the report continues, could “reduce the average delay in patent processing times from 35 months to 20 months, and to less than 12 months where applicants prioritize their applications.”
The report also focuses on diversifying the nation’s sources of energy, and sets a goal of drawing America’s energy needs from 80 percent clean sources by 2035.
Another means of investing in innovation the report places emphasis on is improving elementary and secondary education, particularly in math and science.
“Administration initiatives will train 100,000 new science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) teachers over 10 years,” the report claims.
Last, the report touts the importance of the Startup America initiative, which aims to promote entrepreneurship and to put a new focus on training Americans to become business leaders.
Sam Butterfield can be reached at [email protected].
