A little over a year ago I saw a problem in the Little Rock area. We had hundreds of high skilled workers who either didn’t have a job, or didn’t have one that used them to their maximum potential. The result of this was a declining value on the work produced from this area. Companies suffered, workers suffered, and most importantly our future suffered.
I saw a growing trend of cowork locations and thought that utilizing this model might work for Little Rock. It could get people with skills working again and building our future. I worked hard and met with a lot of you about setting this up. I had everything ready, all I had to do was sign the lease. Then I realized it just wasn’t what we needed at this time. I completely eliminated the companies who have a strong need from the equation. Either companies got someone who was the wrong fit for a job, or they had to pull in workers from outside of our existing workforce.
After a lot of thought and consideration of this situation I discovered that what Little Rock needs today is not more contract jobs, but filling the right people with the available jobs. The problem is, as you well know if you have looked for a job, job listings are terrible. Regardless of your source you have a few gems thrown in with a whole lot of junk. I think we can make this better.
Today I want to announce that in the coming months I want to develop a way to use this website to make local listings better. All jobs will be pre-screened. I spend close to 30 hours a week looking through jobs as it is. I want to utilize this research to provide quality job listings to get our highly skilled workforce in front of the right jobs. Also I want to develop a standard format, that way you can quickly and easily find if the job is a match, and quickly find out to apply.
On the company side, I want to help you get the right people in front of you. With recruiters all you are paying for is numbers, they blindly throw people at you who may or may not fit, wasting your time. Staffing firms are even worse. I want to throw relationships into job postings. I will use my network and my network’s network to find the right person. These will be prequalified not just on resume but on reputation, relationship, and personality.
I believe in what a service like this could mean for Little Rock’s future. We can’t wait on legislation, economy, or any other outside factor to change the situation. While effective, the turn around time for legislation to impact our state is too long. We must take control of the situation.
As always, if you have any questions feel free to drop an email here or catch me on twitter @jgreghenderson
Thanks,
Greg