With unemployment hovering at 9 percent nationally, there have been
hundreds of theories posited for how we have created the first "jobless
recovery" in our history. Have you ever thought maybe people just aren't
good at job hunting? A group of Chester County development
professionals have. They launched
HireOneCC.com, an online community
where employers can pledge to hire at least one local worker in the next
year and employers can find the companies who are hiring.
"There
are 18,000 people currently unemployed in Chester County and a lot of
them have advanced degrees and are really struggling trying to find new
jobs," says project director Stan Schuck. "Our hope is that we can put
the right resources together to get them the right set of skills or put
them in touch with someone who is indeed hiring. I think traditional
ways of getting jobs--blindly sending resumes out--just aren't working
today."
Hire One was founded as an employment task force last
July after
Joseph's People president Cheryl Spaulding, who heads the faith-based social organization, contacted local
development officials from the
Chester County Economic Development Council about getting business involved in hiring. Since launching the
site a week ago, eight businesses have already listed multiple available
positions and pledged to not only hire one local employee but reduce
worker reduction plans by 2.5 percent.
"In order to do this right,
we had to be a resource for both job seekers and employers," says
Schuck. "There are companies that don't have the financing they need or
can't find people with the right skill sets. We want to make sure we
link them up with the right resources."
Source: Stan Schuck, HireOne
Writer: John Steele