Job site helps educators find the right fit
Abe Reese came from a family of educators, including his father, who was an administrator at a Park Ridge school district, and his mother, who was a music teacher.
But it was his interest in technology that led him to work with such educators to develop AppliTrack, a web-based recruitment system. Teachers nationwide can go to K12JobSpot.com to find job posting at about 2,500 school systems, including District 62 in Des Plaines, District 64 in Park Ridge and Niles and others around the suburbs, said Reese.
“There was no one particular site before where an applicant could find and apply for positions,” Reese said.
Reese is now president of Aspex Solutions, which oversees a host of web products to help educators find those jobs. The company moved from Park Ridge to Chicago in 2003 and processed about 2.5 million applications over the 2012-2013 school year. It had about 222,000 job postings listed in the last year.
About 40 percent of the postings have been for teachers, while 20 percent have been for other professional positions at schools. Other jobs have included cooks, custodians and security, Reese said.
The site is free to users and is advertiser supported. It garners about 1 million unique visitors per month, he said.
Peak usage times are during the summer, when schools are gearing up for the coming year, he noted.
Next, Reese aims to allow applicants to manage their profiles through this site, instead of being led to other sites to apply, he said.
He’d also like to do another site geared just to colleges.
“We’re also looking at similar sites for nonteaching positions, such as those for park districts, city government and others,” he said.
Surfing: The State Information Data Exchange System allows employers to protest unemployment claims using a secured website and a nationally standardized format. This enhancement saves money, improves eligibility decisions and protects workers’ benefits. The Taxnet website is https://taxnet.ides.state.il.us/Login/Default.aspx. Business leaders can also file required monthly reports, pay taxes and correct quarterly reports.
Ÿ The state launched a website to help protect the public against harmful algal blooms that are being found in lakes and streams across Illinois. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency www.epa.state.il.us/water/algal-bloom/index.html now offers information about how to spot blooms, who to contact with a problem and what can be done to protect yourself and others.
Ÿ About 70 people learned about how to reduce operating costs and streamline their work from various professionals, including IT pros, during a technology program Thursday at Des Plaines Office Equipment (www.dpoe.com) corporate headquarters in Elk Grove Village. One featured item was the Video Board from Sharp, geared toward shopping malls that want to showcase advertisements, and can be wireless or hard-wired.
ŸFollow Anna Marie Kukec on LinkedIn and Facebook and as AMKukec on Twitter. Write to her at akukec@dailyherald.com.