A new website designed to highlight technology job openings in Arkansas and promote careers in computer science in the state is up and running, Dave Wengel, the founder of technology company iDatafy said Tuesday.
ARCodeKids, a Little Rock nonprofit organization, created and developed the website, artechjobs.com, at no cost to the state. The site will be operated by the Arkansas Economic Development Commission. Companies posting job openings and job seekers won't be charged for access to the website, Wengel said at a news conference at the Little Rock Technology Park.
A glance at the website on Tuesday showed more than 100 technology jobs in Arkansas from about 50 companies, including Windstream, AT&T, Tyson Foods, Wal-Mart, J.B. Hunt, iDatafy, Tenneco, Inuvo and the state government. J.B. Hunt had 15 job listings, the state had 14, Wal-Mart had 11 and Windstream had 10.
Wengel, iDatafy's founder and chief executive officer, emphasized that the website has only recently gone online and more job listings are expected. iDatafy is an information-services company that helps client businesses fight fraud and improve marketing.
The artechjobs.com site is a chance for the state to help connect job seekers with potential employers, said Gov. Asa Hutchinson. It also can be a tool to help workers further their education.
Arkansas is the first state to have a website of unfilled technology jobs, Hutchinson said.
The number of high school students in Arkansas participating in computer-science courses has increased almost 400 percent since the Coding in Arkansas initiative began, Hutchinson said.
"Now it is time to also focus on real job opportunities for our growing skilled workforce," Hutchinson said. "It is my belief that once kids see what kinds of jobs are out there we will attract even more students to [science, technology, engineering and math] careers."
Wengel said volunteers are working with the website.
"We want to show, as a nonprofit, how lean we can be," Wengel said. " We don't need a lot of people. So we are raising money and we'll put back in 98 percent of the money we do raise. There are some things we can't do."
Wal-Mart likes the idea of the website, said Michael Lindsey, Wal-Mart's director of public affairs.
The website has computer algorithms that pull technology job listings from Wal-Mart's website and post them on the artechjobs.com site, Lindsey said.
The website has filters built in that allow it to pull in only technology job listings, Wengel said.
"We don't want to grab jobs that aren't relevant," Wengel said. "Because if we have a lot of jobs that aren't tech specific, that's going to turn off a lot of applicants."
The administrator of the website screens every company before posting jobs, Wengel said. The website also allows out-of-state job seekers to apply, Wengel said.
Business on 08/16/2017