Monster, Governments Target Job Opportunities for Displaced Workers

Against the rage of the economic recession, Monster Worldwide has emerged with a simple strategy to get Americans back to work: Find the jobs. Of course, it's more complex than it sounds.

Under Monster, the Public Sector and Education (PSE) division has partnered with state and local governments and education institutions to match workers with emerging employment opportunities. By attracting talent, developing online career communities, recruiting students and building real-time labor intelligence and services, the public-private partnership seeks to plug holes in the state and local work force with qualified individuals who need work. Monster is most known for recruitment and matching employers with job seekers. But in the past two years as federal stimulus dollars trickled down, the global job-matching engine has evolved, connecting with human resource directors and state work force organizations to identify areas that could use support, said Lee Ramsayer, vice president of Monster PSE. From these collaborations, customized solutions were born. For example, Monster recently helped create the KIX (Kentucky Indiana Exchange) online community, which features various tools (e.g., social networking) that allow users to communicate and share educational or employment opportunities and also matches job seekers with employers.