In the face of talent short-ages, there’s been talk of how to leverage the many connections between job seeking, careers and education to increase supply of skilled workers and attract and engage qualified candidates. Now, a company in Rhode Island is making that happen with the introduction of careersteads mobile apps.

Careersteads are easy-to-use mobile apps that also serve as portals to a range of different services that a staffing agency can configure for its candidates or agency workers deployed to jobs. The apps can be set up so that users can access job opportunities, continuing education options, as well as agency time sheets, forms, policies and for agency communications.

A Careersteads app is not an extension of any one staffing firm software package (ATS, CRM, etc.). It it is an open platform that can integrate with a staffing agency’s internal systems as well as bring together a range of external information sources (including job boards, career guidance sites, continuing education listing at universities or training provider, etc.). The main purpose is to provide a valuable experience to the candidate or worker that will be sustained indefinitely. In fact, an agency’s careersteads app is a gateway to an ecosystem of career and educational organizations and services.

Greg Cianfarani, CEO of RXInsider (which created the solution) explains that there is some history behind careersteads. “Over a number of years, RXInsider provided services and built an ecosystem around employers, universities, continuing education providers, and other relevant content providers. As we delivered value to all of those constituents, it became clear that at the center was the person developing a career, starting from university to getting the first job to continuing a long career of many jobs, re-certifications, acquiring new skills.”

Careersteads has seen early staffing agency adoption mainly in the healthcare vertical. CareerStaff Rx has launched a Careersteads mobile app and has configured it to give candidates access to a broad range of information and services. Carl L. Franklin, EVP and general manager of RXRelief, spoke of his genuine interest in helping young pharmacists advance in their careers (one where required knowledge and skills change frequently). Staffing professionals also said they liked the branding value that comes with candidates and workers downloading and using their agency’s mobile app.

The Buzz

Mobile recruiting, career management and educations are starting to be brought together in ways that can benefit staffing firms. In fact, there’s an app for that!