Straight Talk from the Top: An Interview with Bill Warren

Published on Tuesday, 08 May 2012 21:47

By D.E. Staff

Bill Warren
Executive Director,
DirectEmployers Association

Bill Warren, a former corporate human resource executive with Rockwell International and former President of Monster.com, is recognized as an early leader in the realm of online recruiting.  In August 1992, he founded the  pioneering Online Career Center (OCC), which has been called the first employment site on the Internet, and is precursor to Monster.com.

Warren is currently Executive Director of DirectEmployers Association, a non-profit consortium of leading U.S. companies commemorating its 10th year this fall. Its services include the JobCentral National Labor Exchange, an alliance with The National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA), VetCentral, .Jobs development, and more.

DIVERSITY EMPLOYERS: Tell our readers about Direct-Employers Association. When was it founded, and what are your goals and objectives?

Bill Warren: DirectEmployers Association is celebrating its tenth anniversary in October 2011.

Our mission is, “To provide employers an employment network that is cost-effective, improves labor market efficiency, and reaches an ethnically diverse values and respects diversity and  reflects the rich array of cultures represented in a broad global workforce.

DIVERSITY EMPLOYERS: How many members do you have and how is the Association governed?

Bill Warren: The Association currently has 612 member companies. As provided in its corporate bylaws, the business and affairs of the Association are managed by a 17-member board of directors consisting of member-company representatives. Daily operations  are managed by an executive director and operations staff at the direction of the president and board of directors.

DIVERSITY EMPLOYERS: How do the various members contribute to the overall objectives of DirectEmployers Association?

Bill Warren: Member-company representatives can contribute to the overall objectives of the Association by serving on the board of directors or one of the Association’s various committees. Members may also submit suggestions and recommendations at any time, and we do receive valuable feedback in this manner frequently.

DIVERSITY EMPLOYERS: How does the downturn in the economy and the high unemployment  rate affect DirectEmployers Association?

Bill Warren: DirectEmployers Association has continued to add new members and grow during the downturn  in the economy and period of high unemployment. We feel very fortunate that employers have continued to support us and attribute their support to the fact that the Association offers low-cost recruiting solutions. 

DIVERSITY EMPLOYERS: What are some of the specific ways Direct Employers Association helps job seekers?

Bill Warren: DirectEmployers helps job seekers by providing a trusted source for job searching. Since we only index jobs directly from corporate  employment sites and state workforce agencies and not job boards, job seekers are assured there are no duplicate jobs or scams in our job listings. This results in jobs from over 90,000 employers.

DIVERSITY EMPLOYERS: What  are some of the current opportunities facing DirectEmployers Association?

Bill Warren: We are excited about our recent build-out of the “.Jobs Universe” that include all geographical, occupational, and country-name .jobs domains for the purpose of creating an environment  of seamlessly integrated employment domains.  This is revolutionary for both the Internet and the online recruitment industry. The .Jobs universe is the first-ever interlinking and  coordinated  use of a Top Level Domain  (TLD)  specifically for  job seekers, human resource practitioners and the public good.

Veterans.jobs is the .Jobs Military Occupational  Classification (MOC) crosswalk which helps transitioning military personnel locate jobs in the civilian workforce.  Military person- nel can enter their MOC plus .jobs in their browser to locate civilian occupations requiring the same or similar skill sets as their previous jobs in the military.

DIVERSITY EMPLOYERS: How has the current job market affected workplace diversity?

Bill Warren: Unfortunately, the current job market has had a negative effect on diversity as evidenced by the September unemployment  rates  for African Americans (16.7%) and His- panics (11.3%) as compared to the 9.1% national rate.

DIVERSITY EMPLOYERS: Who are some on your team that lead DirectEmployers Association?

Bill Warren: DirectEmployers Association has one of the most experienced staff in the online recruiting indus- try. Chad Sowash, VP Business De- velopment, Rick Wehrle, VP Product Development, Hal Cooper, VP Technology/CTO, and Tom Eckhart, VP Membership Development, Nancy Holland, VP Marketing, Lou Akinyemi, Director Network Connections, Simone Murray VP Partenership Engagement, Shannon Offord Director Business Development.

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