NEDA (National Electronic Distributors Association) has launched an interactive job board, focusing on authorized electronics distribution and the positions—from entry level, to engineer, to executive—that components distributors require.

“For a number of years, the association has considered but never really decided to implement some kind of job posting,” says Robin Gray Jr (photo), executive vice president of NEDA. “There were some concerned when things were good in the industry about providing a vehicle for everybody to poach people from each other. Now that we are in kind of a difficult time, everyone recognizes that that [scenario] is not likely to happen.”

Gray notes that the not-for-profit trade association launched the NEDA Industry Career Center to provide displaced workers with another vehicle for networking or finding employment in the industry, to attract new or soon-to-be new graduates who may be interested in pursuing a career in the electronics industry, and to offer NEDA-member companies an additional resource as they try to help employees they may have to lay off.

The targeted resource for online employment connections is open to both NEDA members and nonmembers aiming to reach qualified candidates. Employers can post jobs online, search for qualified candidates based on specific job criteria, and create an online résumé agent to e-mail qualified candidates daily.

For job seekers, the NEDA Industry Career Center allows résumé posting, browsing and viewing of available jobs based on their criteria, and creation of a search agent to provide e-mail notifications of jobs that match their criteria. The service is free to job seekers; rates for NEDA-member employers start at $250 for a job posting and at $350 for nonmembers.

As of June, postings were off to a slow start. But, as Gray notes, “There is always a need for new blood to continually prime the pump in the system.” Click here to visit the site.