Jobs site focuses on local market

The goal is to bring together employers and job seekers.

Nothing new there.

But by the time it had been up and running for six weeks, WorkReno.com had already scored several thousand hits from job seekers and garnered interest from employers such as Kelly Services and Wells Fargo Bank.

Nearly 3,000 job seekers in the Reno, Carson City and Lake Tahoe area have registered with the new job search Web site.

Because this one is different it's local.

Company principals Jon Stevenson, Dave Lambert and Paul Swiencicki have created a Web site that's part of the community, not a national site full of people posting resumes and employers sending job descriptions across the country.

"We noticed a void in the job posting market as far as what's offered and what companies and job seekers are looking for," says Lambert, the president of Job Ranch, Inc.

and WorkReno.com.

In most cities, choices are limited to national job search sites and local newspapers; any local sites are apt to be small and not well advertised.

WorkReno.com positions itself as a high quality site with features and functionality geared to the northern Nevada region.

"It comes down to the fact that most seekers are looking in their area and most employers are looking to hire people already in their area and that connection is something the national sites can't offer," Lambert says.

As part of the regional focus, WorkReno.com is partnering with KOLO News Channel 8 in Reno to bring community awareness to the site.

"Being more geographically specific makes it very easy for the local candidate job seeker to find jobs right in their own back yard," says Stevenson, vice president of the company.

The process is simple and familiar: a local employer posts a job description and a local job seeker responds online with a resume.

There's a small charge to employers; the service is free to registered job seekers.

Job Ranch, Inc.,WorkReno's parent company, has been up and running since February 2003, creating the Reno Web site and a handful of sites in cities across the country.

"The main complaint about national Web sites has been that [employers] receive candidates from around the world instead of from their specific geographic area, the Northern Nevada area," says Stevenson.

"And why pay twice the price to advertise in a newspaper when we're half the price and can post the job for 30 days with unlimited text?"

Employers pay for what they need, not for advertising they don't, and can post entire job descriptions and edit them after they're online.

"We've seen tremendous positive response from job seekers and job posters," says Stevenson.

"Several leading employers in the Reno area have already decided to work with the site and are finding success with it."

According to George Reynolds, city manager for Kelly Services, WorkReno.com is right on target.

He's found candidates through the site for temporary positions and they're the high quality employees he's looking for.

"It seems they really understand the business," he says.

Eventually WorkReno.com may expand services to include assistance with resume preparation and cover letters, and general information about what's going on in the community but its founder have no intention of losing sight of the original goal: put employers and job seekers together in one place, in northern Nevada.

Currently the WorkReno.com office is staffed with one full time person and four business development consultants, and there are plans in motion for another community partnership, this one with University of Nevada, Reno's MBA program.

Lambert says the company is working out the details to bring an intern onboard to work with the business development team and local sales reps for college credit.

(Contact information for WorkReno.com is Tamara Saari, (775)852-2680, tamara@workreno.com.)