SECRETCAREERS.COM

Uncovering Hidden Career Opportunities in the Greater Lehigh Valley!

Secretcareers.com
Secretcareers.com has "The Most Lehigh Valley Jobs in One Click!". "Excellent site, and clearly the best local resource for job hunters and employers alike! I'm impressed!" "It's the best local job posting web site around!" "A definite asset to those seeking work." These are just some of the comments people are saying about Secretcareers.com! In one click, you will get results showing jobs posted from various employers right here in the Lehigh Valley. Secretcareers.com is a locally owned and operated job posting web site, which is geared towards providing all skill levels of job seekers employment opportunities in our region. From professional to labor, there are a variety of jobs to view on the web site.

In addition, we are also helping our current graduates of local colleges and universities. We have talented individuals who attend our educational institutions and need to know there are excellent career opportunities available for them. Unfortunately, if no one knows about these opportunities, they are in fact a "secret". By providing a low-cost alternative for employers to post their jobs on an effective regional resource will allow everyone to benefit from its creation. Our mission is to uncover as many jobs in our region as possible and place the information on Secretcareers.com for all to view. With continually developing relations with our community leaders, local career directors, and other local businesses SECRETCAREERS.COM will continue to grow and improve the services for all job seekers to experience.

There has been tremendous growth and opportunity throughout our region, but finding those opportunities have been a struggle until now. Questions like, "What companies have job opportunities?" and "Where do I look for that information?" are very good questions. One answer to start with is Secretcareers.com. Secretcareers will continually change and improve the web site and the various features as time progresses. Any feedback or suggestions is always welcome and appreciated.

Duo to reveal Valley's 'secret' world of work
03/13/01
By AMY SATKOFSKY
The Express-Times

ALLENTOWN - The founders of SECRETCAREERS.COM say the Lehigh Valley is a great place to live and work.

But finding the companies here isn't as easy as it should be, says co-founder Derik Beck.

"There are thousands of great companies right here in the Lehigh Valley, but not a lot of people know about them. And they certainly don't know about career opportunities with these companies," says Beck, a graduate of Allentown College, now DeSales University, with dual degrees in marketing and management.

The mission of Secretcareers is to uncover employment opportunities with local and regional companies and combine the information into a pooled resource.

"When I graduated from Allentown College, I had a lot of problems in my job search," says Secretcareers co-founder Therese Amedeo, who holds a criminal justice degree.

"I wanted to stay in the Lehigh Valley, but it was very hard to find jobs. And the local jobs are out there, they're just not well publicized," she says.

In her job search, using the Internet, newspapers and resources at her college's career placement office, Amedeo found lots of links to companies nationwide. But she says she found virtually nothing in her local job search.

"After that, I started to see a niche," she says.

The company's Web site - secretcareers.com - is launching April 15, when college students are home on Easter break and they begin the daunting task of job hunting.

The site will feature a directory of local companies and what they do, provide information on their benefits, and post the company's job listings. Links to each company's home pages will also be available.

Besides the Web site, Secretcareers has an arsenal of recruitment ideas for local companies.

They plan to network at career and trade fairs, work with area chambers of commerce, speak at local colleges and publish a newsletter for high school students, college students and parents.

"We're really excited about the information we'll be sending out in subscriptions to the parents of college students," Beck says.

"We had one client say 'I would pay to have my college-aged kids get information about jobs here, so they can come home after school. I would pay for them to just look for a job' " Beck says, laughing.

With 10 colleges in the area to tap, Beck and Amedeo say they are eager to get local employers on board. The goal: to keep talented people in the Lehigh Valley work force.

The company is not just targeting newcomers to the work force, but it's starting there to get the word out.

"Parents will see this information, too. And they may be displaced or disgruntled or tired of commuting. We need them to stop saying 'The Lehigh Valley is a great place to raise a family, but it's not a good place to find a job.' That's got to stop. The opportunities are here - they just need to be uncovered," Beck says.

Secret Careers is working with several businesses in the Lehigh Valley to develop company profiles, including ADT Security, KidsPeace, Lafayette Ambassador Bank and New Seasons Assisted Living.

"We need the Lehigh Valley to really support a local effort like this. If you don't market your company, you can't recruit," Amedeo says.

"That's what it boils down to. Companies in bigger cities like Philadelphia and New York, their names are out there. Why should someone leave this area or commute to a bigger city when the jobs are right here? People just need to know about them," she says.

"It doesn't matter if you have two employees or 2,000 employees," Beck says. "If people don't know about job opportunities, they're not going to come to you."