New job portal to send federal job listings straight to minority applicants

Under a new collaboration with Avue Technologies Corp., Blacks in Government (BIG) is hoping to expand job opportunities for minorities in the federal government. BIG, which represents African-American employees in federal, state and local governments, has long pushed for more diversity in the federal workplace. Through its new partnership with Avue, the organization hopes to open up more federal career opportunities to its members. Avue, a technology company that specializes in workforce management, is creating a specialized software program that will allow BIG's Region 11 members in the Washington metropolitan area to access federal job opportunities from the organization's Web site. "We met and exchanged information and determined that this would be a very, very good partnership if we could work with BIG to help get employment opportunities to the BIG membership and at the same time help the membership really understand what the process is like and what they will be going through and give them as much access as possible to these jobs," said Linda Rix, one of two chief executive officers at Avue. "They don't have to go out and look for these opportunities, the opportunities will come to them." Avue has worked with several federal agencies, including the Library of Congress, to provide a Web-based portal for potential employees to submit job applications. Agencies provide job descriptions and list the qualifications needed for jobs they need to fill. Then employees submit their resumes. Avue's program sorts the job candidates based on how well they match the criteria for specific open positions. The best matches are sent to federal managers who then make the hiring decision. According to Rix, this system makes the federal hiring process more equitable. "When applicants enter their information, they are all going against exactly the same criteria and being evaluated," Rix said. "Managers aren't reading the information and then making a value-based judgment." Rawle King, president of BIG's Washington area membership, said the partnership works because Avue is really committed to using technology to help eliminate discrimination in the hiring process. "We just want to be able to compete fairly for these jobs and to get information that these jobs are available," King said. "It's a way in which our members can have options that they currently do not have, and we're using technology to do that very efficiently." Phase 1 of the job portal will debut on Feb. 23, with the site becoming fully operational in April. BIG and Avue hope to extend the portal to all BIG members in other metropolitan areas.