WALDORF, Md. –  As COVID-19 vaccines roll out and the U.S. pushes toward living with the pandemic, a significant issue with connecting labor with industry has arisen.

As workers and employers now have new concerns with their workforce – including the workers comfort with working with the public and vaccine and mask hesitancy – connecting the right person with the right opportunity is harder than ever.

But a local 17-year-old entrepreneur under the guidance of his relentless software developing entrepreneur father, Mark Burnett Sr., believe they have developed a tool that will allow the workforce to address those issues with information relevant to employers during the COVID economic recovery with their platform, Work Is Back.

“As I was watching people unable to find work and business struggle to bounce back, I wanted to find a way to help,” Burnett Jr. said. “So, I started working on the platform to help people of all ages recover from the problems caused in the workforce by the pandemic.”

Burnett Sr. echoed the sentiment.

“As I was seeing more and more positions remaining unfilled and at the same time people that can’t find jobs, I recognized the need for a service that can help the U.S. economy fully recover and even grow by connecting workers and positions with varying levels of COVID concerns,” Burnett said.

Burnett Sr. has a long history as an entrepreneur and software developer but said this time his son was leading the effort.

“My experience has been a guidestone, but make no mistake, the basis of the program as well as a significant portion of the platform was developed by my amazing 17-year-old son. His desire to make a difference, becoming a startup entrepreneur, even at such a young age is astounding and fills me with pride.”

Burnett Sr. has served as the president and owner of Application Programming Development Inc., and was the developer of the full-text search engine Cheetah, as well as the Largo online publishing service.

He also developed Data Finds You, an offline results engine.

Those efforts led Burnett Sr. to work with some of the largest associations and international companies in the world.

“Throughout my career I have looked for solutions to problems through software development,” he said. “And now with Work Is Back I hope to help others find jobs that suit their needs and situations as we all learn to live and work in a post COVID nation.”

Passing along that knowledge to Burnett Jr. has already proven fruitful, with the Work Is Back platform just being the most recent.

At only 17 years old, his accomplishments are already noteworthy. He has received the CompTIA A+ certification, works as a database developer and has worked with companies in the region in various IT roles.

“He has taken a substantial role in the development of Work Is Back,” Burnett Sr. said. “Seeing his talent develop and then used to create this system that may help others in a substantial way, is incredibly gratifying as a developer, but also as a father.”

While developing the software was a tremendous effort, Burnett Jr. recognized the need for financial backing to launch, and so has created a GoFundMe page, that he hopes to push the platform forward to start helping the workforce soon.

“With the support of people from across the country we will be able to launch Work Is Back and start making a difference,” Burnett Jr. said. “The money raised will be used to get this program in the hands of those that need it. Zoom changed the way we communicate in a pandemic, Work Is Back can change the way we come out of it.”

“Certainly, funding us on GoFundMe allows everyone to participate and to help people get off unemployment. Soon unemployment payments will disappear so my son’s program will be more important than ever,” Burnett Sr. said.

Currently he said the company is working on finalizing launch options for the software but is looking for local companies and organizations that may want to partner with Work Is Back in an effort to get the software into the hands of companies in need.

“We have been looking for the right combination of vaccinated workers and willingness to open to launch Work Is Back,” Burnett Sr. said. “That time is now.”

“There is so much we can do with this software and so many different ways companies and organizations can create custom systems based upon the Work Is Back platform, we are also anxious to see this in use in the area and help find answers to real world employment problems nationally as the country bounces back from COVID-19,” he said.

For more information, visit workisback.com.