March 17, 2004

      New features recently added to the Michigan Talent Bank (MTB), the state's Internet-based public job-matching system, have improved services to both job seekers and businesses, Brenda Njiwaji, interim director of Workforce Programs, Michigan Department of Labor & Economic Growth (DLEG), said today.  "The Michigan Talent Bank has always been very user-friendly," Njiwaji said.  "These additional features have made it even easier for job seekers to search for jobs and for businesses to find qualified workers by using the Talent Bank." The Michigan Talent Bank can be accessed at the Michigan Career Portal at www.michigan.gov/careers.

      The features added to help job seekers include the ability to:

§         Enter functional resumes (those that allow for the description of skills, knowledge, and abilities) in addition to the existing chronological format resumes into the MTB.
§         Add specific job listings to their own "shopping carts" to save for future consideration.
§         Annotate which jobs they have applied for, on which date, and by which method (e-mail, fax, mail, etc.)
§         Indicate their availability for work based on a city or zip code location, and the miles they are willing to commute.

The features added to help businesses include the ability to:

§         Create up to three shopping carts, save 25 resumes to each cart, and peruse them later if desired.
§         List the city location of their job listings and automatically replicate a job listing to six additional locations without re-entering the job listing information.

In addition, privacy and terms-of-use statements have been revised and updated for both businesses and job seekers.  Other enhancements to the MTB include upgrades to its hardware and software, which will improve system performance and reliability.

Satisfaction with the MTB has been consistently high since it made its debut in 1998.  A January 2004 survey indicated that of those who responded, 84 percent of job seekers and 94 percent of businesses were satisfied.

In February, 946 new businesses registered with the MTB and 21,179 new jobs were listed.  Businesses conducted 58,377 separate searches of MTB resumes, while job seekers entered 35,378 new resumes and conducted 1,174,393 searches for job listings.

The Michigan Department of Labor & Economic Growth is the newest department of state government.  It is charged with promoting economic growth, job creation and enhancing the quality of life for Michigan citizens.  Part of this mission also includes meeting Michigan's workforce needs to enhance and maintain its economy.  To this end, the state's career and workforce development programs work with employers, K-12 schools, community colleges, and local Workforce Development Boards to operate a comprehensive career development system.