OppsPlace.com, a new web-based employment tool will be launching targeting minority professionals. OppsPlace.com provides companies with opportunities to find qualified, minority job seekers and minority businesses in one online destination.

This job platform was created in collaboration with Robert L. Johnson, founder and chairman of The RLJ Companies and Ariel M. Friedler, president of Symplicity Corporation.

The site allows corporate human resources and procurement executives to easily access qualified job seekers and qualified minority businesses for openings to provide the best opportunities.

“I created OppsPlace for several reasons,” said Johnson. “I wanted to reduce the disparity in unemployment for minority Americans and increase access for vendor services and supplier contracts for minority businesses. In addition, I wanted to provide corporate America with a targeted destination to identify and interact with minorities for employment and business opportunities.

More than 30 companies have joined OppsPlace as charter members such as Dell, HBO, General Motors, and Kimberly-Clark.

OppsPlace and the RLJ Rule are two possible solutions to increase employment and business opportunities for minorities of whom have the highest unemployment rate to date.

For more information,visit  www.oppsplace.com

BranchOut, a professional social network for Facebook, is announcing a partnership with jobs and resume site CareerBuilder to help users bring social networking into the job search experience. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Launched in July 2010, BranchOut is sort of like aLinkedIn for Facebook because it allows you to network and find jobs through your friends on the social network. BranchOut’s Facebook app lets you search for companies and then shows you all your friends who either work there or know somebody who does. The application basically unlocks the massive amounts of career data about your social graph on the world’s largest social network.

Read the rest of this article at TechCrunch

President Obama’s town hall with LinkedIn is now in session. He is answering questions from a small audience about the American Jobs Act, reducing the deficit, creating permanent jobs and other economic issues. LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner will moderate the discussion.

Tune in here:

Live stream originally from Mashable

In its latest pitch for approval of its planned $39 billion T-Mobile acquisition, AT&T said on Wednesday that it will bring back to the U.S. some 5,000 call center jobs if the deal is allowed to procede.

The carrier also said it will promise that no U.S. call center jobs will be lost when the deal closes. The company didn’t say where the new jobs will be based.

Read the rest of this article at All Things Digital

LinkedIn just made it easier to apply for a job, thanks to the launch of its new “Apply With LinkedIn” button.

The business-oriented social network is billing the new feature as “the future of job applications.” The company’s goal is to make the job application process as simple as a click.

“Our goal with Apply With LinkedIn is to help every professional put their best foot forward, anywhere across the web when they take that leap to apply for a new position,” Technical Product Manager Jonathan Seitel said on the company’s blog.

Read the rest of this article at Mashable

Code for America is a new national non-profit bringing talent from the tech sector into public service to help communities solve core problems.  The main program run is a year-long fellowship with teams of 3-5 web developers and designers working in partnership with city governments and other public institutions.  Fellows design, build and deploy technology that improves government openness, efficiency and participation.  Code for America is trying to help communities meet the challenges of this new century by using new, low-cost, easy to deploy tools that foster new connections between people and their government. The non profit is currently looking to fill full time positions with diverse, qualified candidates.

Director of Product and Program

Position
Think of this unique job as half university professor, half VP of Product.  We’re looking for someone with serious product strategy chops, but who gets their biggest thrills by achieving through others.  The product and program director will leverage the skills and experience of a seasoned technology product manager to guide the Code for America fellows through a successful year of service, building and implementing web and mobile applications for city governments.

The teaching element speaks to Code for America’s larger mission: we’re not just creating software, but cultivating our fellows to help them make an impact. If it sounds like a challenge, it is. We hope the job attracts someone who has done it all and is ready to try doing it all while balancing plates on sticks and singing the national anthem.  You won’t want to even interview here if you don’t believe in what Code for America is trying to do.  You will want to talk to us if you think know how challenging our goals are, but think they’re worth tackling anyway.  And if you think you’re just the person who could help us succeed.

Development Director

Position
Code for America is seeking a Development Director, responsible for a diversified and rapidly growing development program that includes foundation, major donor, and corporate support. To date our fundraising has been highly successful and we have a large and growing pool of prospects that remain untapped. We are bringing on a development director at this time to take better advantage of our fundraising opportunities and to put a program in place to fund our operations for multiple years. As such, this is an excellent opportunity to join a growing organization with exceptional fundraising potential.

To get full detailed job descriptions and information on Code for America’s current openings visit: info.codeforamerica.org.

With unemployment rates sky high, it’s best to cover all grounds to make you the stand out candidate. In most cases, this starts with your resume. RezScore created a free web app that instantly grades resumes. RezScore’s free resume grader will read, analyze, and assign a letter grade (A+ through F-) to any user’s submitted resume in a matter of seconds and provide helpful tips for improvement.

 RezScore built the algorithm on the recommendations of certified resume writers, hiring managers, job search experts, and HR directors. To date, more than 100,000 users have already uploaded their resumes to RezScore and received free resume grades.

RezScore recommends the following to achieve an A+ resume score:

1. Keep your resume short. Hiring managers make the decision within a third of a page.
2. Write smart, but not too smart. Writing at the level of a high school junior is best.
3. Do not include an objective statement or have a line offering references upon request.
4. Include a powerful professional headline that quickly says what you do and why you are good at it.
5. Make sure the language on your resume matches the keywords and language of the job posting.

Beyond a free resume grade report and analysis, users can elect to pay for a complete resume makeover or a resume written by one of RezScore’s team of professional resume writers. After improving your resume, you can use RezScore to find matching jobs, study your industry, and broadcast your resume.

 For those interested in sampling RezScore’s paid services, RezScore is currently holding the “I Deserve a RezScore Rewrite” Contest. To enter, Facebook fans will share  RezScore’s  Facebook page and write a comment about why they deserve a RezScore rewrite. There is no limit on the number of entries. Winners will be randomly chosen every Friday and awarded a resume rewrite, a service worth $750.

Recent reports show unemployment among the general population is about 9.1 percent, but an alarming 16.2 percent for African Americans, and even higher for African American males. Historically, the unemployment rate for African Americans has always been higher than the national average. However, now it’s at Depression-era levels.

Many African Americans have become frustrated with the job search, applying for job after job without any success. Although, many know about the different online tools used for job hunting and networking, it is important to emphasize that with unemployment rates rising through the roof that an online presence is very necessary and no longer just an option.

Putting in the time to making yourself marketable online may increase chances of gaining employment. Learning and understanding how online employment tools work may be a bit of help in this ongoing crisis. It isn’t just about having an account with these platforms, but knowing exactly how to get the most out of it by engaging in the right ways will be key.

Below are 3 social media sites that can be used in hopes of gaining more success in your job search, even if you are already familiar, go back re evaluate your presence on these particular sites:

 1. LinkedIn. LinkedIn gives you access to hiring managers through your close connections. After creating your profile, upload all of your email contacts so that you have a foundation to build upon. Then, search for a company or position, filter your results by location and see who in your immediate network can introduce you to a hiring manager. LinkedIn forces us all to do more research on employees and companies before interviews. All of their information is online, so it’s created an expectation that you’re doing your homework.

2. InTheDoor.com. Think of InTheDoor.com as a job board overlay on your Facebook social graph. It connects Indeed.com’s aggregated job board database and your Facebook social graph to show you who in your network can connect you with specific openings. You can find jobs at your friends’ companies, search for jobs in different cities by preference and search by company and job title.

3. BranchOut.com. Much like InTheDoor.com, BranchOut utilizes your Facebook social graph. The main difference is that you access BranchOut from within your Facebook profile, and it gives you more of a professional identity. It was always hard to build a professional identity on Facebook but BranchOut has tried to solve that. With $18 million in a recent venture capital round by Redpoint Ventures, more than 3 million job listings and 20,000 internships listings, this site is serious business. Like LinkedIn, you can get recommendations on your page, and like Foursquare, you can earn badges.

For more information on using social media to get a job go to Mashable

A small group of people assembled outside the Apple retail store in downtown San Francisco Friday, to protest Apple’s hiring practices.

Faith Bautista, president of the National Asian American Coalition said it didn’t make sense to send jobs  to Asia, while so many here in the States remain unemployed.

Reverend Daniel Buford of the Prophetic Justice Ministry, read a statement from Dr. Alfred Smith Sr. of the Allen Temple Baptist Church of Oakland, stating, while Apple promotes transparency, it will not “release how many Blacks it employs or whether it does any business with Black community.”

To read the rest of this article go to NBC San Diego

The National Urban League will be holding its National Urban League Centennial Conference next week starting July 28.  There will be a number of events taking place including the Day of Service and the Women of Power Luncheon. Another event to keep an eye out for is the Career Fair which takes place from July 29-31th from 10am-5pm.

Featuring a number of well known companies including Honda, Radio One, and AT&T, this is one event you want to poke your head into. However if you can’t make it to the actual event, you can still attend, distribute your resume without having to stand in the long lines to speak with the recruiter. In the days leading up to the convention start and end early birds and those unable to attend the event can partake in the Virtual Career Fair.

The Black Professional Coaches Alliance will be on hand hosting free, half-hour coaching sessions to make sure you’re putting your best foot forward. BPCA assists participants to achieve professional success by helping them to define their goals and showing them how to surpass them. The coaching sessions are an excellent value and fill up quickly so reserve your spot now.

For those who still getting the hang of utilizing the web to expand your contacts and job prospects, there will be a workshop on leveraging social networking to land that dream job. In addition, workshop attendees will also learn how to apply and land jobs online and how to expand your social networking circle in a way that beneficial and job-hunt friendly.

Be sure to get your resumes in as soon as possible since a virtual job fair operates before, during, and after the physical event has ended.