Labor Changes Career Video Contest

The Obama administration's strategy of hosting contests to find answers to the nation's problems seems to be an exercise in trial and error, as predicted.

The Labor Department has had to extend the deadline for a $1,000 competition that asks people to film videos targeting the unskilled and unemployed, which spotlight in-demand, high-paying jobs, such as computer support specialists and health information technicians, according to a notice that Labor issued on Monday.

The deadline for entries was to have been June 11. The department's announcement in the Federal Register says videos are now due Aug. 20. Most of the other phases of the four-part contest, which launched in May, also have been extended by about two months.

It's unclear from the notice whether the extension was prompted by requests from participants for more time, a lack of entries, a mistake in the original May announcement, or some other reason.

Here's more info about the challenge from Labor's website:

The "Career Videos for America's Job Seekers Challenge" invites members of the public to produce and submit one to three minute videos focusing on the daily activities of one of 15 high-wage and in-demand occupations.

The creators of the top video in each category will win a $1,000 cash prize.

The competition will occur in four phases.

During Phase One, members of the public, employer associations, businesses and labor organizations can submit their occupational videos for one of the 15 selected occupations. To review the list of occupations and rules for the video challenge, visit the career videos website.

During Phase Two, the Labor Department will screen, review and identify the top three career videos in each occupation and post these selected videos online for public review.

During Phase Three, the public will be able to recommend and comment on the top career video in each occupational category.

During Phase Four, the Labor Department will share the top career videos with the workforce development community and job seekers by posting an announcement of the top ranking videos on key web sites such as Labor.gov and CareerOneStop. The results also will be shared with national and intergovernmental organizations such as the National Association of State Workforce Agencies and the National Association of Workforce Boards.