New website connects job-seekers, careers

A new website operated by the Kansas Board of Regents is designed to help find the jobs and careers they want to pursue.

CareerZoom Kansas, located at www.careerzoomkansas.com, is a portal -- a robust search engine designed to help Kansas high school students and adult career-changers find the career training programs that will empower them to find not just a paycheck, but true career satisfaction, according to KBOR Vice President of Workforce Development Blake Flanders.

In a situation where for-profit career colleges are under fire for overcharging and underdelivering, people need a portal to help them find affordable, reliable training for the jobs that will lead Kansas back from the economic brink, Flanders said.

The website provides links to dozens of public technical colleges, community colleges and universities across the state. Regents developed the site as a public service to Kansas employers, job seekers and the overall economy.

Prospective students can use CareerZoom Kansas to find out what career training programs are available within their fields of interest, and in the geographic areas in which they want to study. The site also gives them the facts about the huge cost differential between public and for-profit private college programs.

"It's something prospective students can use to find affordable technical education," Kansas Board of Regents Associate Director of Communications Vanessa Lamoreaux said. "They can choose where and what they want to study. There are a lot of great colleges where they can put their passion to work."

Regents officials said that in the midst of an employment crisis, people need jobs. In a knowledge-based global economy, they need training to prepare them to succeed in those jobs.

"In today's economy, career and technical education is really an important opportunity for folks to receive some post-secondary education that leads to rewarding and fulfilling careers," Lamoreaux said. "We wanted to help get the word out about the career and technical training options that are out there ... We want Kansans to know and understand what their educational options are."

Visitors to the website can use the site to choose career training programs from a series of drop-down menus arranged by category. Then, they select a region of the state in which they want to live and study -- or, they can "shop" statewide to choose a college. The site returns a list of public colleges meeting the criteria.

With a single click, visitors get enrollment and tuition cost information, information on availability of on-campus housing and online classes, and a direct link to the specific college's website.

On the site's home page, visitors can instantly look at the breakdown of available career technical education programs and the different categories of "career areas that folks might be interested in," Lamoreaux said.

"It's very, very easy and quick for folks to connect to those institutions," she said. "For people who are unsure (of a career path), there's a basic exploration that talks about the different occupations."

Careers include many traditional hands-on fields such as welding, construction and auto mechanics. They also include a wide array of opportunities in fields such as health care, commercial art, business, hospitality, law enforcement, information technology and more.

CareerZoom Kansas is part of an online continuum that also includes the Kansas Career Pipeline, which helps people identify career skills and interests; and KansasWorks, which connects job-seekers with Kansas employers. Those two sites are operated by the Kansas Department of Commerce.

"The website also provides links to two other very important sites -- the Kansas Career Pipeline, where folks can do some skill assessments ... and narrow what career paths might appeal to them, and KansasWorks, which is all about job opportunities and allows visitors to connect to an employer and find a job," Lamoreaux said.