The Office of Personnel Management yesterday unveiled "USA Jobs," a new Web page for federal job seekers (http://www.usajobs.opm.gov). The new site provides daily job listings that can be accessed through a Web browser and searched by occupational category, geographical location, and pay level. For the first time, job seekers will also be able to access complete job descriptions and eventually apply for jobs online for certain occupations.
Previously, online job information was available only through dial-up bulletin board systems, information kiosks in the lobbies of certain federal buildings and fax-on-demand systems. OPM plans to continue offering these systems.
USA Jobs was developed in conjunction with, and will also be available through, the WINGS (for "Web Interactive Network of Government Services") system being developed by the Postal Service as an umbrella network for go vernment information and services delivery to the American public. (See "The Cyberscape," June).
USA Jobs is a basic, no-frills site that delivers what it promises -- job listings. The page designs are attractive, professional-looking, and load quickly even on slow modems. The site is laid out so that finding information on various types of jobs (professional, trade and labor, clerical, etc.) is easy and efficient. The site also provides information on applying for various types of positions and links to other career information sites.
There are also lots of rough edges to be worked out. Yesterday, the site's keyword search function wasn't working properly -- when a keyword typed in wasn't found in a particular category of job listings, the search engine listed all of the jobs in the category instead of none of them [editor's note: this problem fixed as of 9/19/96]. The "Help Info" section has no help topics listed to choose from. And the online application form is not yet operational.
Also missing from the Web is a general OPM site with information for federal employees and retirees about OPM's services in retirement and insurance, personnel systems and other functions. Sources at OPM tell Government Executive that such a sit e is under construction and will be unveiled sometime next month, but information about the exact functions of the site aren't yet available.
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