New Iowa website aids career, job decisions

DES MOINES — Job-seekers, graduating students, employers and others now have a new information source the state of Iowa has designed to help with career choices and placement to better match skilled workers with Iowa employment opportunities.

Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds used their joint news conference Monday to announce the launch of the Future Ready Iowa website at futurereadyiowa.gov.

'The Future Ready Iowa website is an important tool to help close the skills gap so more Iowans can have great career opportunities and employers can hire enough skilled workers they need to grow and innovate,' Branstad told reporters during the announcement at Des Moines' central campus facility where students are offered advanced classes for college credit or apprenticeships.

'The website also promises to serve as a recruiting tool for the state by showcasing the outstanding education, training and jobs available in Iowa,' added Branstad, who said the goal of the Future Ready Iowa initiative is for 70 percent of the workforce to have education or training beyond high school by the year 2025. Less than half the workforce does now.

The Future Ready Iowa website is a one-stop shop where students and adults can review and evaluate different career opportunities in Iowa and plan their paths for landing a good-paying job, Reynolds noted. The website helps identify what education and training is needed, as well as financial resources that may be available, and more information about career pathways will be added in coming months, she said.

'Providing one easily accessible place to find information about education, training and high-demand jobs will enhance Iowans' quality of life and promote economic growth in communities across the state,' said Reynolds, who co-leads the Future Ready Iowa Alliance, which is slated to make recommendations by Oct. 31 on how to reach the administration's 70 percent goal. 'The website will be useful for everyone considering their future career plans from high school students to adults already in the workforce to unemployed Iowans,' she added.

The mobile-friendly website features a menu so navigating users can find what advanced knowledge or technical skills are required for various careers and where those jobs are located in Iowa.

'We think it's going to be a very helpful tool,' said Beth Townsend, director of Iowa Workforce Development.

'It was very important to incorporate geographical features into the website so that when job seekers are researching career paths they can have accurate information based on their exact location,' added Townsend. 'The website uses labor market information to identify the number of jobs, the average median income and what training is necessary.'

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