About $400,000 in federal money is being used to develop a Web site designed to match New Mexico college graduates with potential employers.

But according to program manager Mikelynn Romero, who said that more than 300 jobs have been posted on the site and more than 360 job seekers have registered there, the site has only one confirmed match between a job seeker and an employer since it kicked off several months ago.

The $400,000 is part of a $5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor aimed at integrating education, economic development and employment goals. The money is being administered by the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions.

"It's a talent attraction Web site," Romero said of nmcareermatch.com, which launched in September, "to address the brain drain in New Mexico. To keep talent here and attract those who might have left but want to come back. It's a Web site similar to Monster.com, but it's all New Mexico jobs."

Romero said nmcareermatch.com vets the job postings by making sure they are for positions that require college degrees. And job seekers must prove they graduated from a New Mexico school to post information on the site.

The Web page boasts an impressive list of 1,217 corporate partners including state and federal government agencies, national companies such as Walgreens and local employers such as the Santa Fe Natural Tobacco Company.

"In an economic downturn, one match is one match," Romero said. But, she added, the group's goal is to match 100 people with jobs when the grant runs out at the end of May 2010.

Romero said it's possible the Web site has matched more people with jobs, but because the site isn't technically a job placement center, she must rely on job seekers to self report their results. "It's hard to capture the data."

Carrie Moritomo, New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions' public information officer, said the department has specific performance benchmarks related to the administration of the larger $5 million grant. But if specific goals exist for the Web site portion of the project, she doesn't know what they are.

About $50,000 of the $400,000 earmarked for the employment Web site is being paid to the Albuquerque-based Rick Johnson and Company public relations firm to promote and brand the Web site. The company is also being paid an additional $50,000 that came from a private donation to the project from French Funeral and Cremation Services.

Roughly $62,000 of the $400,000 in federal funds will be spent on salaries for Romero and the program's interns —one each from The University of New Mexico, Central New Mexico Community College and Santa Fe Community College —who help administer the project.

When the grant ends, Moritomo said, the UNM Career Center will take over administration of the site.

"The purpose of the grant was to facilitate the creation of the Web site, to do the outreach and get it branded and known and established," Moritomo said.

Romero said she couldn't immediately provide specifics about the person who found a job using the site because of confidentiality issues. But she said she might be able to in the future. "What we'd like to do is use him as testimonial on our Web site."

Rick Johnson and Company employee Linda Lockett said the quote currently featured on the Web site, "NM CareerMatch helped get my career started," is not a quote from an actual person.

"It's a quote that we did just for marketing purposes," Lockett said. "It's something just to get someone excited about it. It's not a quote from a person who has used CareerMatch, but I think it's a logical quote."

Contact Phaedra Haywood at 986-3068 or phaywood@sfnewmexican.com.