Chicago Career Fair: Dozens of Employers?

In an effort to get a pulse on Chicagoland job-seeker concerns, we suited up and headed out to the Chicago Career Fair at the Holiday Inn downtown. Organized by National Career Fairs, this event attracted thousands of hopeful job-seekers hoping to further their job search and learn of new opportunities. Having attended the last Chicago Career Fair in December, we had a good idea of what to...

Networking, A Job Seeker's Best Friend

The adage “It’s not what you know, but who you know” is apologetically obvious on such social networking websites as Facebook and LinkedIn, where users are working connections to find job opportunities. With job security on shaky ground, tech-savvy job seekers are using social networking sites to take advantage of their connections and their friends’...

High-End Help for Job Hunters: Does It Pay?

In this crowded job market, it’s getting harder to stand out from the crowd. That’s why job hunters increasingly tap professional marketers to improve their prospects. Experts such as executive-marketing firms, executive agents and certified personal-branding strategists claim to provide more tailor-made guidance than conventional coaches. Business is booming. About 100 Wall Street...

Illinois job cuts highest since ’01

(Crain’s) — Illinois companies cut their payrolls in November by the greatest number of jobs in about seven years, while unemployment stayed at a 15-year high, government figures show. Employers in the state cut 23,000 jobs last month, the most since October 2001, according to figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Illinois Department of Employment Security. Illinois’...

I lost my job, now what?

Unfortunately, many people have lost their jobs in recent weeks and months.  With the demise of Lehman Brothers (at the beginning of this week), Bear Stearns earlier this year, the job reductions implemented at many financial institutions, and the knock-on impact on other businesses caused by increased joblessness, many people are finding themselves out of work and more job losses are likely to...