Summer of’07

In the summer of ‘07, we launched America’s Job Exchange. Our goal was to continue the legacy of the pioneering career site – America’s Job Bank. AJB, as it was commonly referred to, was the first national job site built to help job seekers, especially those unemployed or disadvantaged, to find job search information free of cost. Employers could also post job openings free at AJB, which was sponsored by the US Department of Labor and built by NaviSite. No wonder, AJB became one of the largest online job sites, helping millions of job seekers through the’01-’02 recession and high unemployment rates of the ‘03-‘04.
But by early 2006, as unemployment hit its lowest in many years, the Department of Labor decided to pull the plug and announced that it will close AJB in the summer of ‘07.
And, so AJE was born. We launched it to continue the AJB services to the job seekers and employers. Frankly, none of us here knew what to expect. We were not sure if people would visit our site, or if employers would post job listings, or if we would be able to pay the bills without a revenue stream.
But the site picked up steam from day one. With no marketing dollars, it had more than a million monthly visitors and half a million job postings in barely three months. Our core audience accepted AJE as a true alternative to AJB, and there was no turning back.
America’s Job Exchange is growing fast. We have doubled our traffic, introduced new products (including some paid products to help pay the bills!) and we are not dependent on investor money to fund our mission of helping our core audience, the hardworking American middle-class, to change their worlds by managing and enhancing their careers.
Today, as we are in the middle of a recession unlike any since the Great Depression, and unemployment rates are higher than 10% in many states. I am really glad that in that summer of ’07 we decided to take a challenge to continue the legacy of America’s Job Bank and launch AJE. Our mission is more relevant NOW than ever before and I hope we can use this blog to help all of you through these difficult times.
Welcome to the AJE blog. I hope you find it helpful to change your world.

(This blog also posted at America's Job Exchange.