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Wilmington happy with results from first year of online employment push

Wilmington is taking its push to employ more residents and create more jobs online and to the job-seekers themselves.

 

The city just completed its first year on the website Tweet My Jobs, and they say they're pleased with the results.

 

Nearly 4,000 job-seekers registered on the site, with 4300 jobs posted by more than 200 employers. Those jobs got more than 120,000 views.

 

The most people wanted work in the nonprofit sector -- almost 11 percent in all -- along with the education, healthcare and finance sectors.

 

City councilman Darius Brown has spearheaded this project and others to create and fill jobs in Wilmington. He thinks it's starting to work.

 

"When we talk about creating pathways out of poverty, it is education and employment," he says. "When you look at our adult population, it is definitely connecting them to employment opportunities."

 

Brown also held a job fair Wednesday that packed city hall with what he described as appreciative residents and employers.

 

And he says they're seeing the impact of city legislation he got passed last year means, which automatically refers people who are turned down for city jobs to a temp agency.

"And that's one of the holes that we found, looking at the data and the industry trends, that we are now able to fill," he says, "by connecting Wilmington residents to those short-term employment opportunities as they continue their long-term job search through the referral registry."

Right now, he thinks the cycle of educating people for new jobs, and filling new jobs with trained candidates, is improving at the right pace.

 

Hear more of our conversation with him Friday at 3 p.m. on The Green.

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