Software syncs short-term jobs, workers

Hermosa Beach, Calif.

The past decade has seen a dramatic shift in employment patterns in the U.S., as more corporations have opted for short-term contract workers.

Nowhere is the trend toward temporary employees more noticeable than in the high-tech industry, which features rapidly evolving technologies and a slew of start-up firms.

Rather than feeling resentful or threatened, high-tech workers welcome the flexibility and constant opportunities presented by this new labor economy.

Now start-up PeopleMover, Inc. has introduced the first of a planned series of Web-based enterprise work-force management software products designed to help temporary workers and companies looking for short-term contract employees find each other.

PeopleMover CEO Jim Jonassen says the new software, Remote Application Entry, will speed the process by which information about contract employees is made accessible to companies looking to fill temporary and project-based jobs.

While there are many Web-based services catering to full-time permanent positions, "nobody is servicing the 'free agent' market," Jonassen says.

Remote Application Entry allows independent contractors and job-seeking knowledge workers to "register" their backgrounds, skills and preferences online. The software's template (see graphic) requires applicants to use PeopleMover terminology, thus avoiding the need to modify information to help employers search the PeopleMover database.

PeopleMover was launched in March as a spinoff from Micro J Systems, a vendor of software for executive search and regional staffing companies.

Remote Application Entry is part of the flagship PeopleMover product and runs on any browser.

PeopleMover: (310) 374-1900.