The database likely will be an expansion of the site Mentor Michigan, which already attempts to coordinate technical training and internships.

“One of the things that really drove success in my life were mentorships and internships,” Snyder said. “We have some things going, but they’re not good enough; we need to do better.”

Snyder focused primarily on technology industries, saying jobs are available, but companies struggle to connect with job-seekers.

The governor encouraged citizens to join him a push to loosen certain parts of federal immigration law, saying current restrictions make it difficult for international students to stay in the U.S. after they graduate.

“That’s something that has some controversy — I’ll get some feedback — but it’s the right thing to do,” Snyder said. “We have a federal environment that says ‘Now we’ve educated you, you have to leave.’”

The address was the fifth Snyder has given to outline his vision on future improvements for Michigan — recently, he gave a speech at Lawrence Technological University that introduced efforts to improve the state’s infrastructure.

Jerod Karam, director of online marketing for Netvantage Marketing, an East Lansing-based Internet search engine company, said his business often struggles to find interns and employees because there is no centralized way to find workers.

“We do get a lot of résumés coming in, but we feel like we’re not maximizing our output,” Karam said. “That’s a huge hurdle we face.”

While the idea of a state-centralized system is a good one, Karam said success all depends on how the site is set up. Previous attempts to make similar networks — such as Monster.com — have grown too cluttered and failed to be effective long term, Karam said.

State Rep. Mark Meadows, D-East Lansing, said he agrees with the idea with using the Internet to coordinate employers and the prospective job seekers, expanding on the existing efforts of some state agencies.

“In some respects, that’s what we’ve been doing for some time,” Meadows said.