DACC Releases RFP for Custom Career Exploration Tool

The Development Authority of Columbia County has released a Request for Proposals for a custom-created career and company exploration tool. Please refer to the calendar of events for important deadlines.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Taylor Dietz (see below). The following link will direct you to the Request for Proposals: Request for Proposals (RFP) to prepare a Custom Career Exploration Website

RFP Questions & Responses – Posted 03/25/2022 at 11:22 a.m.

• How many levels of user management do you foresee having, and can you give a few examples of their access or restrictions?

I personally envision having two layers of user management: 1) for administrative (overall), and 2) for management-level users to input/upload/edit data. I don’t think we are entertaining user log ins for users or companies at this time.

• Career & Job Pages: How many careers & jobs will initially be featured on the site, and how many will be added on a monthly basis? How many :30 videos will be required for each page? Also, will the videos need to be filmed on location, or will it feature a spokesperson in a studio? (Similar Question: How many jobs/careers (roughly) do you envision spotlighting? You mention this will depend on the involvement of the business community, but if there a starting number that would be acceptable for phase 1? )

Our estimation/goal for launch is between 15 and 20 employers. We are estimating approximately 3 jobs from each participating company for the launch. It is also our intent to intentionally create some diversity in the company types and careers, so we are not expecting too much duplication upon launching. That would yield 45 – 60 job types based on my previous response. I believe it is the intent for these videos to be shot on location. So, 15 to 20 locations based on the number of companies used in the launch.

• Company/Employer Pages: How many companies will initially be featured on the site, and how many will be added on a monthly basis? Will the companies be supplying the photos or will we be responsible for taking these? (Similar Questions: Roughly how many initial featured companies will there be? How many companies in total are you envisioning as part of this initial scope?)

Upon launch, our estimation/goal for launch is between 15 and 20 employers. In order to monopolize on existing media resources, we may allow companies to provide their own photography.

We have not yet determined the pace at which we want the platform to grow. This is subjective and based on available funding. I think a reasonable expectation would be 5% per quarter but please be aware that this is actively being discussed and reviewed by our group of partners.

• Job Pages: Not including job supplied buy the feed, how many jobs will need to be added manually on a monthly basis?

I am not sure if we will be able to add job pages on a monthly basis because of the work involved with video production. Those pages may be added more incrementally in batches based on funding availability. At this time, I think we can expect to launch with 45 to 60 job pages and hope to grow 5% per quarter. This is still under development. It might be adviseable to quote the services for launch and then provide an estimate of what each job page and company page will cost (including videography).

• Administrative Pages: Do you see there being more than 10 of these pages?

No.

• Will the Development Authority be providing  all or part of the copy featured on the website? (Similar Question: Who will be providing copywriting for the various companies and jobs? )

We presently expect the team that is behind the platform to be responsible for acquiring and writing the content.

• In this section are you saying that you want employers to be able to share content posted on the Custom Career Exploration Website to their Social Media accounts or that employers should be able to integrate their social media feeds onto their profile page on the Custom Career Exploration Website?

I believe the vision here is for companies to have the ability to link to their social media accounts so that people can easily be redirected to those platforms.

•  Can you provide of examples of these subscription-based platforms?

Chmura – JobsEQ, EMSI, Burning Glass

Non-subscription based examples include Georgia Labor Market Explorer or Bureau of Labor Statistics

• Are you wanting a form can will submit a job into the RTI feed? (Similar Request: needing clarification on the ‘submit a job feature.’)

We recently subscribed to Chmura and they assured us that we could send them URLs to job boards that they should add to their overall database. For this feature, we foresee a simple and generic form that essentially asks for the URL. That way, we can pass the URL along to Chmura for them to integrate into their Jobs Connector software. Does that make sense? This form will not be connected to the RTI feed directly because we do not have access to it.

• How many people will need to receive training?

I believe there will be a team of +/- that will receive training on the platform initially. That training can probably be done all at the same time. From there, we can develop a video training module if it is needed.

• Does this RFP also include the development of a Name and Logo for the website/project? (Similar Question: Are we bound to the current Columbia County Development Authority logo/brand guidelines or are you open to reviewing a scope for brand creation for this specific talent initiative?)

This is intended to be a collaborative project that is largely being led by the Development Authority of Columbia County. However, we would like to see this program develop its own brand in order to support its own identity development.

• Is the project team opposed to any web platforms (such as WordPress)?

No, we are not opposed to those types of platforms. Ultimately, we would like to see the service provider provide their best recommendation for the platform.

• Will businesses need to be able to update their own profiles/web pages on the site?

That is not a feature we have currently accounted for because I think we are expecting to standardize the company pages. However, that may be something that is later revealed as a necessity. We understand that if the project scope changes at a later time, so can the costs.

• You mention the importance of SEO. We typically create all content for our projects to ensure SEO writing best practices are taken into account, with data and background information provided by the client. Are you envisioning this scenario or does your team prefer to create the content with SEO oversight from the provider?

 I believe we will want to create the content with SEO oversight based on past experiences. Would we be able to see both scenarios?

• You mention that you would like to integrate interfaces from existing data providers. Is this limited to the Chmura jobs integration or are you envisioning integrating an API of a data provider that would port in current stats on average wage, industry growth projections, etc.? Another option would be integration with a platform like Airtable or Google Sheets, which would allow your team to update data across the site via a single-source spreadsheet or database vs. making updates directly in the CMS. These vary in terms of time/cost, so let us know if you have initial thoughts here.

These are valid questions. We are not limited to Chmura, but we also need to be cognizant of costs. I would be curious to see what the costs are for these and which ones are easier to manage.  Unfortunately, I am very naïve on the development side. I think we would be most interested in the integration scenario but we are welcoming of your professional opinion.

• For our video process, typically we will partner with a local videographer or a trusted partner in our freelance network to capture footage, with strategy, creative direction and editing by (company name). Would a member of your team be available to help coordinate the shoots on the ground or should we include budget for a member of our team to be on location?

The use of a local videographer is completely fine. We are also willing to entertain alternative arrangements, like having a videographer on a monthly retainer. In our past experiences, we have found that coordinating filming was hectic and required a lot of work. While we would like to see it handled externally, it may be more effective if we handle it because of our existing relationships with the industry. Could we see a scenario where we have both options as line items in the proposal?

• Do we need to include the cost for us producing the 4 short videos for each of the 15-20 companies?

If you have a partner that is able to produce those videos, then yes, please include those costs. If you do not have a partner or the capabilities, you can denote that in the proposal. We recognize that everyone has varying services.

Mrs. Taylor Brittan Edwards Dietz, MPA

Project Manager | Development Authority of Columbia County

1000 Business Boulevard | Evans, GA 30809

(O): +1 (706) 312-1369 | (M): +1 (706) 836-4263 | (F): +1 (706) 312-1374

tedwards@developcolumbiacounty.com