CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Several studies rank Clarksville as having the longest commute in Tennessee, largely because many residents leave Montgomery County for work each day. Now, a local entrepreneur has launched a free, hyper-local job website to connect residents with jobs closer to home.
Clarksville entrepreneur Anthony Economos created ClarksvilleWorks.com to ensure local jobs go to local people. The platform requires both applicants and employers to verify that they live in Montgomery County.
"This is something I’ve wanted for a long time," Economos said.
Economos developed the site after realizing how much he spent promoting open positions for his own businesses on national job boards.
"The amount of money that we were spending on Indeed and Monster and things like that was in the tens of thousands of dollars for recruitment," Economos said. "Hiring is expensive, it’s really, really expensive."
He noted that national sites often yield unqualified or distant applicants.
"You end up with a lot of candidates, a lot of spam, a lot of fake ones or people who are out of state," Economos said.
To combat this, ClarksvilleWorks.com uses a third-party system for ID verification to ensure personal information is not shared or sold online. Users must prove their residency to use the platform.
"They’ll have to upload a government ID," Economos said.
Former Fort Campbell soldiers who may not have a Tennessee ID can provide a utility bill to prove their residency. The website also allows users to filter available jobs down to individual neighborhoods.
"So if the job is in the St. B side of town because you don’t have transportation, you can do that," Economos said.
Economos admits the project is costing him money, but he is doing it to give back and strengthen the community. "We will never charge, and there will never be ads," Economos said.
The original idea came several years earlier when Economos was in college. "I held the domain and said, 'Hey, ClarksvilleWorks is something I want to hold to. I want to finish it eventually, and I’ll deal with it later, and now is later, I guess," Economos said.
The site went public last Friday and already has several listings. "I didn’t expect the level of adoption we’re looking at," Economos said.
He hopes it'll make a difference for the community he's called home since age 10.
"The economic scale of what Montgomery County and Clarksville, Tenn. can provide on both sides in terms of labor and jobs, then I think everyone will benefit," Economos said.
"I hope it brings jobs to the community and I hope it puts money back to the employers."
Have a story you'd like for Chris to consider in Montgomery County? You can email me at Chris.Davis@NewsChannel5.com.
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