JobScout Offers New Grads Step By Step Approach to Understanding Online Employment Opportunities

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, May 21, 2013 (Press-News.org) While Millennials, the generational cohort including high school and college soon-to-be grads, may know their way around popular social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, many lack the fundamental skills needed for finding work online. While they turn to their news feed for most of life's updates, the realization that their first job offer won't come that way begins to dawn on them.

As many graduates leave school, some for the first time ever, the prospect of finding a job is onerous. In response to this first-time challenge, TRAIL's inaugural platform, JobScout, has become a tool that students turn to when looking for the path to that first employment opportunity.

JobScout is the online platform designed to teach people the essential Internet and job-hunting skills they need in today's online marketplace. Useful to all demographics, it breaks down the process of finding a job online, whether navigating social media networks like LinkedIn or providing guidance on the appropriate way to format a cover letter and resume.

JobScout's goal is to help libraries, schools, community organizations and workforce development agencies to decrease Millennial unemployment, which is currently at 25% in the United States. Worldwide, according to a recent Economist article, nearly 300 million individuals between the ages of 15 to 24 are not working or studying.

"JobScout was intended to help those without digital literacy skills, but we are realizing that some of our most basic and fundamental job-hunting tools are being utilized most by Millennials," said TRAIL CEO Christina Gagnier. "As a result, we are focusing more attention on outreach to that demographic who needs our resources."

The platform offers nearly 40 lessons that include a variety of topics, such as using social media to network and find employment. JobScout also offers lessons on alternatives to traditional employment, such as using Elance, Etsy and TaskRabbit. Users can build a resume, search for jobs and apply for them from the mobile and Web applications.

Below are a few experts from the JobScout platform offering recent grads a few tips and techniques for job-hunting as they enter into the working world:

1. Take Advantage of LinkedIn - The popular social network for professionals is a great place to start networking in the business world. Begin looking up companies and positions that interest you the most and request to add them to your network and possibly have an "in" if the time ever comes for an interview.

2. Be Familiar with the Company - Getting to know a company's website will help you give a good impression during your interview. Using the website, you can gain important knowledge about the company that shows your interviewer you are prepared for the job.

3. Be Ready to Speak About Your Experience - It's best to have strong examples of your experience to talk about. The best way to do this is to think of examples of times when you have demonstrated those skills on the job. A good resource to help you prepare is your resume. Look at your work history. For each job listed on your resume, come up with an example of how you used a skill to accomplish something important.

For these and more tips, techniques and informational instructions, log onto JobScout at http://www.myjobscout.org.

JobScout is free for users and is available both online and as an iOS app in the iTunes Store. An Android application is in development, slated for release in late summer 2013.

Since launching in late 2011 with only five California library jurisdictions, hundreds of library branches have started using JobScout to get Millennials and others back to work. Over 800 locations in California offer free access and support to JobScout in their computer labs, job centers and information desks.

http://www.myjobscout.org

JobScout is the first in a series of online learning tools based on the Technology Resources and Internet Learning (TRAIL) technology, which is designed to teach fundamental digital literacy skills and help people apply them to aspects of their work, education, civic involvement and health. JobScout uses game design to teach and reinforce basic digital literacy skills particularly for those populations traditionally disenfranchised by the digital divide by 1) engaging users in self-paced online activities that focus on digital literacy competencies, 2) assisting users in mastering these skills in order to apply online for a job and 3) enabling users to network on and offline.