COLUMBUS, Ohio (Statehouse News Bureau) — The state launched a new online education and career resource Tuesday: the Ohio Career Navigator.
Once Ohioans take a survey on the now-live site hosted by Ohio Means Jobs, they will be connected with public and private sector resources customized for their education and career goals. The survey and navigator can be found on ohiomeansjobs.com.
Lt. Gov Jon Husted announced the tool in Westerville, at a meeting of the Governor’s Executive Workforce Board. More than 30 members sit on the board, ranging from elected officials to union leaders to business executives to education leaders. It was created in 2012 by former Gov. John Kasich and renewed Monday by Gov. Mike DeWine.
Husted said the Ohio Career Navigator offers a centralized site for career readiness and advancement.
“Just like your GPS might guide you with directions to get to a location, this guides you with directions on how to find a career that is good for you,” he said after the meeting.
Lt. Gov. Jon Husted (center) at a meeting of the Governor’s Executive Workforce Board at Kokosing Construction in Westerville. [Sarah Donaldson | Statehouse News Bureau]It stemmed from a recommendation by the Ohio Business Roundtable, he said.Husted told the executive workforce board there are two jobs for everyone one Ohioan right now.“The bottom line is we have more jobs than we have people to fill them right now,” he said. “But there are barriers that stand in the way from people, meeting them where they are to where they want to go, and a lot of times those may be credentials that you could earn in a few weeks.”Husted said one of the biggest strains on the state’s workforce, however, is a lack of access to childcare, including childcare that is affordable. He’s encouraging more businesses around Ohio to offer onsite childcare, he said.About two weeks ago, the state launched the Nursing Home Quality Navigator—an online database that indexes federal and state data about Ohio’s hundreds of long-term care facilities, similarly aimed at publicly centralizing data and resources.
