Internet job board seeks to pair state students with jobs

An Internet job board that links Indiana college students directly to employers posting only Indiana jobs will be announced today as a long-awaited plug to the state's brain drain.

IN.JobCentral, a Web-based employment network created by Indianapolis-based DirectEmployers Association, will launch its college site Sept. 20.

The site, being touted as the first-ever public-service job board for students in the region, will initially list about 800 jobs at 100 companies and eventually link the state's colleges and universities with thousands of companies, including big names like IBM, Guidant Corp. and Eli Lilly and Co.

The site's logic: If Indiana's college students are aware of the opportunities here, they will stay.

"Students can now access jobs they never would have known about," said Josh Akers, regional vice president at DirectEmployers. "We hope to start a brain gain."

In the past decade, Indiana lost an estimated 96,000 college graduates and, according to the 2000 census, just 19.4 percent of Indiana residents older than 25 were college-educated. More than one in three Hoosiers leave the state after graduating from college, according to a 1999 Fiscal Policy Institute study.

"The Number 1 reason they leave is because they don't know Indiana employers, except the big names," said Stacie Porter Bilger, director of education and policy at the Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce. "Matching Indiana jobs with Indiana students? It can't be a bad thing."

The site, which cost $1 million to start, received $300,000 from the state's colleges and universities. DirectEmployers funded the rest.

DirectEmployers, a not-for-profit professional leadership consortium comprised of human resources, employment, recruiting and diversity policymakers from corporations worldwide, will provide the service free to job seekers. The site for college students will be available only to students via a password or at the career placement offices of Indiana's 67 four-year, two-year, technical and graduate schools.

The schools' money came from grants awarded to institutions in 2003 by Lilly Endowment, with the challenge to come up with creative ways to keep college graduates in Indiana.

One of the biggest financial boosts came from Indianapolis-based Martin University, with fewer than 1,000 students enrolled. It donated $75,000 to the cause.

"It (the site) houses a lot of job opportunities," said Michelle Tillman, Martin's director of career services department. "This site really narrows it down for students."

And, she hopes that it will keep them right where they want them -- in Indiana.

Employers will be charged $25 per posting, a minimal fee compared to the hundreds of dollars charged on commercial job boards, said Bill Warren, executive director at DirectEmployers.

Indianapolis-based Guidant Corp., which designs and develops cardiovascular medical products, was one of the first to sign up. The reason was simple.

"Guidant is dependant upon attracting very talented people for our business, and our experience is that Indiana colleges and universities develop outstanding business and engineering talent," said Doug Wilson, vice president of global human resource services. "This new site provides students a direct link and greater awareness of opportunities at Guidant."

In addition to the college version of the job board, DirectEmployers has launched a Web site for experienced job seekers at http://IN.jobcentral .com. Job seekers can access non-skilled, skilled, administrative, technical, professional and executive-level jobs in Indiana. It already has 3,600 jobs from 200 employers.

Other states have come forward looking to duplicate the initiative, said Warren.

DirectEmployers has been working with states across the country to create a national employment network.