Louisiana jobseekers and employers now have an even more enhanced tool at their disposal to assist them in finding suitable jobs, locating training opportunities and identifying skilled candidates. The Louisiana Virtual OneStop®, commonly referred to as LAVOS, upgraded to Version 11.1 of Virtual OneStop®, in December 2011, bringing numerous enhancements to individuals seeking jobs and employers seeking employees. All of the services continue to be provided at no charge to job seekers and employers. The web site for the Louisiana Virtual OneStop is www.laworks.net.
The Louisiana Workforce Commission is proud to report that so far this year, the LAVOS portal has had 286,830 registered individual users and nearly 10,000 employer users. Yearly, the LWC helps more than 170,000 people get jobs or transition to better jobs.
Users will notice a different look and feel when they visit the site. Louisiana Workforce Commission Executive Director Curt Eysink notes, “The upgrades focused on greater access to workforce information, coupled with cleaner and more streamlined experience to assist job seekers and employers in finding what they need quickly.” The site will feature a new layout structure, highlighted by a revolving image carousel along with a prominent navigation bar, a collapsible menu in the side navigation and easy-to-understand content. Additional navigation tabs include, special services and resources. The resource center is equipped with a help desk, an online learning center that houses video tutorials, and ALISON, a leading free online learning site.
Version 11.1 of Geographic Solutions’ Virtual OneStop® will provide users with a wide array of employment-related services. Job seekers search for available jobs using a search engine that aggregates jobs from company and government websites, newspaper postings and corporate job boards. Job searches can be conducted for a radius of a zip code, by city or county, by metropolitan or workforce area, or on a statewide basis. Job seekers will be able to search for training opportunities within the system.
Employers can have access to recent training graduates and can search for talent and rank the candidates using the automated system. The site was actually designed around valuable feedback from area employers. The site will also offer employer account management, which will give employers the ability to create multiple subaccounts. Job vacancies will be posted through a step-by-step process. This will allow employers to complete job postings at their convenience and not at one session, because inputs can now be saved periodically throughout the process.
LAVOS provides Labor Market Information and skill requirements for any job listed. Job seekers can develop resumes and cover letters and then submit them directly to the employer online. Job seekers can conduct tailored job searches for Green Jobs, Veteran-preferred jobs, etc. Occupations that are identified as O*NET Green Occupations, are indicated with an icon in Virtual OneStop and Virtual LMI, similarly how high-demand and Bright Outlook occupations are. The templates available for resumes have also been enhanced to include a Federal format option, which can be used when applying for government jobs.
The site provides one stop staff with the most cutting-edge job matching and referral system. All services provided to employers or job seekers, whether self-service or staff-assisted, will be accounted for and used to improve agency performance and regional economic growth initiatives. Case Managers can also enter and track individuals’ financial aid, budgeting, employment plans, training attendance and WIA case management. Version 11.1 also brings a plethora of newly added staff alert notification/subscriptions.
In keeping in line with the nation’s reemployment initiatives, Version 11.1 of Virtual OneStop® can also be configured to integrate with two different UI benefits systems, the Reemployment Exchange (REX) and the Geographic Solutions Unemployment System (GUS) in an effort to reduce the amount of time that an individual is out of work and collecting unemployment benefits.
Geographic Solutions is a rapidly-growing software development company based in Palm Harbor, Florida. Geographic Solutions is the nation’s leading provider of software solutions for workforce development, employment and training. The Company has developed state-of-the-art systems for employment and workforce development agencies for more than 30 states. Our software is now available to over 75% of the job seekers and employers in the country. For more information, visit www.geographicsolutions.com or call 727-786-7955.