Posted February 15, 2009
Whether its three young ladies shaking their hips to Beyonce’s “Put a Ring on It” singing “If you wanna be safe put a glove on it,” an aspiring graphic designer singing about how she is just bursting with design ideas, or the funky beat of two guys rapping about their IT skills, job seekers are desperate in central Florida. So desperate they have turned to the great expressive power of karaoke. The statistics must be daunting to anyone about to enter the workforce. Florida has been especially hard hit. Housing prices have fallen to 2003 levels, the state ranks in the top 5 in the nation for foreclosures, its banks rank near last in the nation for profitability, and of most concern to jobseekers; the state’s unemployment rate is 8.1% according to the Florida agency for Workforce Innovation. Enter Careereoki; Part talent contest and part marketing strategy, Careereoki invites jobseekers in Florida to submit music videos that feature applicants singing about their career aspirations. The campaign was thought up by a local advertising agency, EVOK as a creative solution to the shrinking advertising budgets of the public schools and a Florida state employment agency, Workforce Central Florida. Traditionally, these agencies would solicit job seekers to make-up its pool of employment ready candidates that employers seek through them by attending job fairs and through print advertisements. Jourdan Hathaway, director of client services at EVOK describes Careereoki as “a collaborative marketing initiative to stimulate career training and placement in Central Florida.” Through this unusual approach to reach out to jobseekers, the contest’s planners are hoping to attract a younger, more creative group of applicants, and in a shrinking job market, creativity will increasingly become a prerequisite for obtaining employment. The winner of the contest will not be chosen according to singing talent, Hathaway assured a local newspaper. Instead they will be judged on their creativity, originality and humor. The winner gets a prize package valued at $8000, including a personal makeover, a resume makeover, a $100 gas card, a scholarship for career training and an opportunity to Job shadow someone in their chosen career field. The contest became popular enough in the Florida area that American Idol joined Careereoki for a joint remote event billed as “The Largest Karaoke Party Ever,” to kick off its eighth season this past January. Careereoki has its own channel on YouTube, as well as space on a local Florida radio station Power 95.3 FM(WPYO), a sponsor of the contest. The winner will be announced Monday, February 16th, but the contest’s judges have already chosen a top 5 (below)from the nearly 70 video submissions. 
