Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Joe’s trouble with Illinois Skills Match

Joe has a search running at JobCentral.com that daily notifies him of jobs for which he’s certainly qualified. Most of these jobs can only be applied to through the Illinois Skills Match system of which Joe is also registered.

According to Illinois Skills Match Joe only qualified for a hotel desk clerk and four part-time check-out clerks. However, Joe entered 135 skills in their system in addition to his two college degrees and four years of exemplary active duty military service.

One day Joe went to the Illinois Workforce Development Center in Springfield, IL to figure out why, with his record of experience and education, he qualified for only a few high school level jobs. He was told by one person that there just might be too few jobs in the database.

But that doesn’t jibe with the number of jobs that show up on Jobcentral.com that claim to be registered at IllinoisSkillsMatch. Here’s a list of the most recent postings at JobCentral.com:

MEAT PROCESSOR WRAPPER; IllinoisSkillsMatch (Springfield, IL); first acquired 2009-10-6 5:25 AM

GENERAL MERCHANDISE STOCKER; IllinoisSkillsMatch (Springfield, IL); first acquired 2009-10-6 5:25 AM

BAKERY MANAGER ; IllinoisSkillsMatch (Springfield, IL) ; first acquired 2009-10-6 5:25 AM

SCANNING COORDINATOR; IllinoisSkillsMatch (Springfield, IL); first acquired 2009-10-6 5:25 AM

MAIL ROOM CLERK; IllinoisSkillsMatch (Springfield, IL); first acquired 2009-10-6 5:25 AM

PT CASHIER; IllinoisSkillsMatch (Springfield, IL); first acquired 2009-10-6 5:25 AM

PRODUCE MANAGER; IllinoisSkillsMatch (Chatham, IL); first acquired 2009-10-6 5:25 AM

DELI CLERK; IllinoisSkillsMatch (Springfield, IL); first acquired 2009-10-6 5:25 AM

OTHER PARTY LIABILITY INVESTIGATION; IllinoisSkillsMatch (Springfield, IL); first acquired 2009-10-6 5:25 AM

GROCERY MANAGER; IllinoisSkillsMatch (Springfield, IL); first acquired 2009-10-6 5:25 AM

PT EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT; IllinoisSkillsMatch (Springfield, IL); first acquired 2009-10-6 5:25 AM

PT CUSTOMER SERVICE ASSOC; IllinoisSkillsMatch (Springfield, IL); first acquired 2009-10-6 5:25 AM

ASST DELI MANAGER; IllinoisSkillsMatch (Springfield, IL); first acquired 2009-10-6 5:25 AM

PT PARCELLOR; IllinoisSkillsMatch (Springfield, IL); first acquired 2009-10-6 5:25 AM

DELI COOK; IllinoisSkillsMatch (Springfield, IL); first acquired 2009-10-6 5:25 AM

MEAT CUTTER JOURNEYMAN; IllinoisSkillsMatch (Springfield, IL); first acquired 2009-10-6 5:25 AM

PRODUCE STOCKER; IllinoisSkillsMatch (Springfield, IL); first acquired 2009-10-6 5:25 AM

PT FLORAL CLERK; IllinoisSkillsMatch (Springfield, IL); first acquired 2009-10-6 5:25 AM


Joe doesn’t understand why he can’t even connect with these employers for an interview. He’s certain that he’s well qualified for these positions. Here is what Illinois Skills Match has lined him up with

PT Customer Service Assoc; Springfield, IL; $8.25/hr & up
PT Checkout Service Associate; Springfield, IL; $8/hr & up
PT Checkout Service Associate; Springfield, IL; $8/hr & up
Front Desk Clerk, Springfield IL; Springfield, IL; Minimum Wage

Joe is left with little information to go on, so he assumes that there is a patronage wedge in the database at Illinois Workforce Development that skims off the decent jobs for those who have political or familial connections to existing state workers.