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Wisconsin launches job Web site in Janesville

JANESVILLE — Since losing their jobs earlier this summer at Lear Corp. in Janesville, Bob Meyer and Richard Hiller have been pounding the pavement and surfing the Internet for new jobs.

Thanks to a new state Web site, both men believe the transition from their former jobs to the next ones will be easier.

The state’s Department of Workforce Development on Monday rolled out www.jobcenterofwisconsin.com, a more user-friendly site that’s designed to connect employers and employees.

The free site replaces the state’s JobNet system, which launched in 1993. DWD Secretary Roberta Gassman said JobNet had become a “dinosaur.”

The new site moves Wisconsin into the 21st century, Gassman said Monday during a stop at the United Auto Workers Local 95 union hall in Janesville.

Gassman said Janesville was a fitting location to unveil the new system, primarily because of its large number of workers dislocated now and in the future by General Motors’ decision to close its Janesville assembly plant.

The Web site is designed to help job seekers quickly find openings based upon keyword and location searches, as well as create and post resumes and find job fairs and other training events.

It does the same for employers, allowing them to find skilled employees through keyword searches.

“Our goal is to help all workers find the best available job and to help employers easily locate the employees they need to grow their businesses,” Gassman said.

Gassman said that with the majority of the state’s skilled workforce expected to retire in the next 10 years, the site will help connect the 700,000 unemployed or under-employed workers with the training to fill those jobs.

“This site makes it easy and convenient,” she said.

Meyer and Hiller, the displaced Lear employees, agreed.

“This really is quite simple,” said Meyer, who is looking for a new career as a green landscape technician. “JobNet just had too much stuff on it, and it was frustrating to use.”

A round of upgrades is expected in December, when the site will allow workshop sign-ups, wage, job trend and career information, and simplified ways for employers to save job postings.

“We have more phases planned,” Gassman said. “It will ultimately have the ability for online video conferencing, so someone in Janesville can participate in a class or workshop that may be going on in Marshfield, for example.”

Starting Monday, the new site became available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It is accessible through any computer with an Internet connection.