Oklahoma Employment Security Commission unveils new job-search program

The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission says around 65,000 Oklahomans are unemployed, but the agency's new job search system aims to change that.

Joining the News 9 team to share more information about the new system is OESC CEO Trae Rahill.

Q: Can you explain what Employ Oklahoma is?

Rahill: Employ Oklahoma is a brand-new job portal. It lists open jobs and candidate resumes for people to see. It's completely open to the public, free to use, and it basically is there so that folks can match jobs to individuals a lot more easily without so much trouble trying to find who's out there.

Q: So is it a kind of search engine just within the state of Oklahoma?

Rahill: yeah, it's our state system. It replaced the last system that we were using, and it's free to every employer. It focuses on every industry and every community across the state. I's a great matching tool, and it's a big enhancement over the one that we've had for many years. We've gotten a lot of feedback from employers on how to improve it, so we built this new one based on that industry feedback.

Q: 65,000 Oklahomans are currently unemployed. If I'm saying 'I want to check this out,', do I have to go create an account and upload my resume there? How does it all work?

Rahill: There are systems that employers use to do business with our agency day-to-day. So if they have an account where they interact with our systems in other ways, they already have access to the system, but someone who has not been dealing with our system would have to go in and create an account, and then it's completely public. You can search by area, and it is really helpful because it's community-specific. So you can get to people that are interested in these jobs.

Q: How long is that typical journey from when you start applying for jobs to when you get one? Is there an average here in Oklahoma?

Rahill: It's tough to say there. There are some averages, but industry-to-industry, it can be pretty different. It also depends on someone's situation. There are hard-to-fill, kind of high-demand jobs that you can get hired on the spot for. and so sometimes, when we're facilitating hiring fairs for certain industries or certain employers, it moves very quickly. If we partner with other groups to get training classes provided and things leading up to those events, people can get hired on the spot in the room. Others, it can be a little bit longer, because people typically have interest in some kind of job, and if there are more jobs for them, then it's a market that they can kind of shop around. They have more options, so those things play a role and how long it takes.

Q: Are you hearing some success stories from this job-matching program?

Rahill: It's brand new, but we've heard feedback already that it's way easier to use, and that it's a lot more searchable. It's tough, especially when your unemployment is low, we have more jobs than people so that puts strain on employers. They are having to sift through a lot of candidates to try to find the right fit, and so the more targeted they can be with their search around their area for specific skill sets, it does make that a little faster and more efficient.

You can learn more about employoklahoma.gov by visiting the state website.