In the Headlines

In April 2009, Dallas County, Texas acquired Version 10 of Virtual OneStop with Great Job! accessibility. Geographic Solutions, Inc. recently partnered with Great Job!, an UI online resource center from the company Business Access. The online community is designed to reduce the time that an individual receives UI benefits. It serves as a social network and information portal to people on unemployment. The purpose of the site is to make resources available to dislocated workers that need to retool, readjust and/or reinvigorate their job search.

Dislocated workers can utilize the employment activity aggregator which includes an automated job search web crawler and tracking function, maintained by Geographic Solutions' VOSJobs workforce solution. This mechanism allows UI job seekers alternative employment options such as job sharing, telecommuting, freelancing, contracting, direct sales, entrepreneurial and networking opportunities. Job seekers can also utilize skill-transferability tools, social networking and UI peer support.

The community is built upon mind-set coaching, goal setting and accountability set forth by Stephen R. Covey of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Dr. Covey's New Work, GREAT LIFE program will teach job seekers how to stand out by identifying their passions and becoming a solution for prospective employers.

As reported by WorkSource for Dallas County, a program that has served over 3,000 achievers, 90% of achievers met job retention requirements and 84% are no longer receiving TANF. These figures highlight the program's ability to not only provide skills for entry-level employment, but also to foster promotions and upward career ladder movement because WorkSource's program required achievers to be working before entering the program. The communities have also increased high school equivalency degree completion, increased college enrollment rates and increased computer literacy rates.

Populations served through the online community include welfare recipients, at-risk youth, rural areas, offenders, military spouses, incumbent workers and people in emergency situations such as natural disasters. Program participants have spent more than 1,043,509 hours online and taken 117,325 courses through Business Access' online learning communities.