Regional jobs portal now offers upskilling opportunities
Baton Rouge, La. (October 3, 2022) – The Baton Rouge Area Chamber (BRAC) today launched phase two of BR Works, a regional jobs portal for the Capital Region featuring technology to match job seekers with local jobs and regional training opportunities and resources for both job seekers and employers. Phase two of BR Works offers a new feature that helps a job seeker flag skills gaps between existing competencies and those required for desired positions and recommends training providers. Access the platform at brworks.org.
“Talent retention and talent development are inextricably linked. Elevating the skill sets of our residents to better match the jobs available in the Capital Region will naturally help increase retention rates,” said Adam Knapp, BRAC president & CEO. “Through BR Works, our goal is to showcase local training opportunities in one, simple-to-use space to connect under- or unemployed workers to high-demand, higher paying career opportunities in our region.”
BR Works is built on data provided by the national labor market analytics firm Lightcast. Visitors to the site can complete a simple skills assessment or upload a resume to be matched to open jobs in the region, ranked by compatibility. Alternatively, job seekers can browse all available regional jobs, sorting by job title or industry sector. The platform lists median salary for a given job, and when available, the posted salary. For the best user experience, BRAC suggests job seekers create a profile to begin getting matched.
With the phase two rollout, the site now aggregates training programs from local institutions such as Louisiana State University, Southern University, Baton Rouge Community College, Fortis College, Medical Training College and Delta College, and online courses from national learning platforms, such as Udemy. BRAC is encouraging regional training providers such as colleges, universities or private training providers to add their program descriptions to the upskilling platform by notifying BRAC Talent Development Director Maggi Spurlock at maggi@brac.org.
“Lightcast was thrilled to work with BRAC on developing BR Works. From the initial launch to now, we’ve included over 19,000 unique positions on the platform, and now have over 15,000 upskilling opportunities including over 130 local offerings,” said Matt Horning, Lightcast product manager and user experience designer. “We have enjoyed working intentionally with BRAC to create a platform that is user-friendly, and ultimately, effective for the Baton Rouge community’s jobseekers and business owners.”
BRAC began BR Works in a simplified form in 2020 in response to the drastic changes to the jobs landscape amid the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. What began as a single webpage of company links to help laid-off workers find employers that were actively hiring has now become a full-scale job, training and resource hub for the Capital Region. The BR Works site is powered by Cox Communications. Access the platform at brworks.org.
Regional partners of the BR Works initiative include BRCC, City of Baton Rouge, East Baton Rouge Parish Library, EmployBR, FranU, ITI Technical College, LSU, RPCC, and Southern University.
About the Baton Rouge Area Chamber
The Baton Rouge Area Chamber (BRAC) is an aggressively ambitious regional economic development organization with a bias for action. BRAC seeks to push Baton Rouge beyond the status quo, unleash its potential, and support a vibrant business community that believes the finish line does not exist. BRAC seeks to accelerate economic opportunity in the Baton Rouge Area, for everyone, through BRING IT! Baton Rouge, its five-year, regional strategic plan. Learn more about BRAC at brac.org.
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