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Smart Career Moves

Companies like Hunt-Wesson and Bunge already are having no difficulty attracting large numbers of qualified applicants. But firms across Iowa will benefit from an innovative public-private partnership designed to lure more high-quality, high-level workers to the state: the Iowa Human Resource Recruitment Consortium.

Comprising the Iowa Dept. of Economic Development, Iowa Workforce Development, Iowa businesses, communities and state educational institutions, the Consortium's goal is to raise awareness of Iowa's lifestyle and career opportunities.

The cornerstone of the initiative is the SmartCareer Move Website, located at www.smartcareermove.com. This interactive, user-friendly career Website provides users with information on living, working and playing in Iowa. The site offers a job-based listing for professional and technical workers and features jobs with annualized salaries of $30,000 or more. It's designed to keep Iowans in Iowa, bring former residents back to the state and convert non-Iowans into Smart State residents via the job market.

The site, an obvious asset for Iowa workers and anyone wishing to become an Iowa worker, is also a superb tool for Iowa employers searching for new employees. "We're interested in using specialized approaches to target specialized workers," says Judy Winkelpleck, director of work-force strategies for Des Moined-based Pioneer Hi-Bred International, a DuPont company and the world's leading developer and supplier of advanced plant genetics. "The hundreds of highly qualified resumes posted on the SmartCareer Website indicate how well this approach is working."