The Vegas Chamber recently launched JobX—an online platform that not only provides job seekers with insight into the most in-demand careers in Southern Nevada, but also a quiz to determine with which job they may have the most compatibility.
Vegas Inc sat down with Vegas Chamber President and CEO Mary Beth Sewald to learn more about JobX, and how it may benefit employees, employers and economic development in Nevada overall.
Can you give me an introduction to what JobX is?
It’s a new job-education platform that was designed to help anybody looking for a job in Southern Nevada learn more about in-demand careers and industries in our region. You think about folks everywhere, from high school graduates to college graduates all the way to somebody who is further along in their career, but they just think, “I’d really like an opportunity to try something new.” And how do you even know what are the big, high-paying jobs or industries out there where people are hiring? And this all started during the pandemic, when folks were being laid off or let go from the hospitality industry. We said, “We need to create a platform, because our unemployment rate is skyrocketing, and we’re going to need to help people get up-skilled or re-skilled, and because they’re going to have to work.” And so JobX really does give the Southern Nevada community one central hub for finding new opportunities and getting access to valuable information across all of these career fields. When you get into the portal, you take a quiz, and it will ask you questions about your interests and things that you’re good at, your skill set—but mostly about your interests and different things that help determine what would be a good job for you.
How did JobX come about, and what collaboration was necessary to make the platform happen?
It’s been a huge process. The chamber—we didn’t have the resources to create something like this, so we found out about a grant through Clark County that was specifically tailored for something like this. So it was kind of like the stars aligned for us, and we applied for the grant. The chamber has never had a grant before. We’d never applied for one, much less gotten one. And so it was a real learning curve for us to know first how to apply for one, but then how to deliver on one and how to execute on it. So once we got the grant, we said, “OK, now we have to put the structure together.” So we ended up partnering with the Abbi Agency, and they have been stellar to work with. And after meeting, we just created what we wanted it to be, and then also the functionality of it, because from a user standpoint it has to be easy to navigate. So it’s been just a huge project, but we’re really thrilled to have gotten it over the finish line.
What’s the range of jobs and industries that JobX will place people in?
We’re focusing on the 20 most in-demand career occupations in Clark County. And we’ve done a lot of research on what those are. The roles range anywhere from software development to paralegals, plumbers—teaching assistants are huge. Nurse practitioners. I mean, the medical field is in huge demand in Southern Nevada. So it’s a fairly wide range of occupations. If I were a job seeker, I would say, “Wow … if these are the in-demand occupations, as soon as I get my certificate or my education, then my chances of getting a job are really good.” And it’s probably going to be a higher-paying job than average.
How will this specifically benefit employers in high-demand fields, in addition to potential employees?
It’ll really benefit the employers, because they just are looking for a talented and skilled and ready workforce. … Recent numbers show that Southern Nevada added about 41,000 or so jobs in the last year. That’s a lot. That’s about a 3.5% growth rate. It’s kind of intuitive. It’s driven a lot by construction or in government sectors, too. But, in spite of that, our unemployment rate is still pretty high. It’s higher than the national average, so now, more than ever, it’s important to give job seekers in that resource to help in their job search, and that will just help the employers fill those positions.
How do you see this building up Southern Nevada’s economy in the long-term?
First and foremost, we want to help our businesses that are already here in Southern Nevada. But beyond that, the chamber also works with the Governor’s Office of Economic Development; we work with the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance on economic development. That means, obviously, bringing companies to relocate in our state. One of the things that they ask us, they’ll say, “Well, what are your schools like? What are your churches like? What’s your job force? What’s your job market like? What are your workers? Am I going to be able to hire people to do the jobs that I have?” And so that’s another really black-and-white and vivid example of why we need an upskilled workforce and a ready workforce for jobs of all kinds.
How can people access JobX?
It’s really easy to find online—jobx.vegas. The journey is easy, which is one of the things that we wanted. I won’t spend any time on something that’s difficult to figure out.
Do you have any plans to scale JobX in the future?
For sure. I would love to scale it to potentially other states. The Vegas Chamber is a leader in several places. We’re the first to do several things in this country, and so I regularly get colleagues from other states asking me, “How did you do such and such?” And so I think as we move forward, this will definitely be something that can be scaled across the whole country.
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This story originally appeared in Las Vegas Weekly.