MISSOURI WORKS PROGRAM TOPIC AT COFFEE

Need a job? Try Missouri Works Internet Jobsite.

Looking for employees? Try Missouri Works.

"We focus on providing services related to employment, training, job and work force development," said Dennis Reed, computer information technology supervisor for Missouri Department of Economic Development, which sponsors the Missouri Works Internet Jobsite. Employers and job seekers can the site.

Reed spoke at the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce First Friday Coffee Friday and conducted a two-hour seminar on usingf the site.

"We urge the use of the site," said Reed. "The site provides various matching' mechanisms, whether you are conducting a search as an employer or as a job seeker."

Employers can register with Missouri Works to find workers, enter job orders and publish job orders. Job seekers can file job requests.

Missouri Works has big numbers:

* 71,843 job seekers.

* 28,731 job openings.

* 5,655 employers.

Also listed on-line are workforce information labor market information, occupation wage information, unemployment, and average personal income by industry/occupation.

Reed said the site had more than 1,000 inquiries on New Year's Day.Reed, who has been involved with Missouri government 25 years, said the Missouri Works Jobsite started on a pizza napkin in late 1994.

"A small group was having pizza at my house, and we started talking about an Internet jobsite," said Reed. "We doodled on the napkins and started putting things together."

In the past two years, the site has received some 6.5 million job orders.

Reed said the idea of the Internet is to use it. People whowithout access to a computer and Internet may visit the Division of Workforce Development office, 760 S. Kingshighway.

Office personnel will give people access to a computer and show them how to use it.