OWC in Today's Wall Street Journal!!
We are thrilled to be featured in today’s Wall Street Journal in a article entitled “Ditching the Job Fair for a Venting Opportunity”. Here’s an excerpt that relates to Out of Work Chicago:
At the heart of many of these new groups is often a common frustration with the indignities of the job hunt. Patrick Iwanicki, 32, and Erik Jensen, 34, two friends who were both recently laid off from project-management jobs, attended the same job fair in Chicago last year. They waited in line for two hours with other anxious job seekers; all were promised access to a variety of desirable employers.
But once they got inside, there were only a few entry-level jobs offered by employers like the U.S. Army and Avon Products Inc. “The disappointment cascaded through me when I saw what was on hand,” Mr. Iwanicki says. The pair left discouraged. Within months, they launched a Web site for job seekers called Out of Work Chicago. “Our motivation is to help people get jobs,” Mr. Iwanicki says.
Using LinkedIn to spread the word, Mr. Iwanicki and Mr. Jensen have hosted monthly events at a bar in Chicago’s financial district. The get-togethers are meant to be a combination job fair, networking and speaker event, and cocktail party, Mr. Iwanicki says. The first event, in February, drew about 200 people, and the now-monthly events draw about 300 people, including some 50 companies and recruiters, who were asked to attend or found out about the event by word of mouth. Recent recruiters were looking to hire software developers, bankers and copywriters, among others.
Leslie Henry, 40, attended an Out of Work Chicago event earlier this month, after being laid off from an information-technology management job at a large bank in March. She was hoping to get some job-hunting advice. She got more than that: Ms. Henry met a recruiter for U.S. Cellular Corp. who actually had jobs to offer. “Not only was I able to network with the recruiter, I was able to give him my résumé,” she says.
Ms. Henry also enjoyed the event’s camaraderie. Talking with others in the same situation helped her alleviate some of her negative feelings about being unemployed, she says.
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This is great stuff! Congrats!!!!!
Congrats on the write-up. It’s a pleasure sharing print with you all! LOL
Since you’ve got Chi-town on lockdown and we’re all over NYC… maybe there’s something we can do to work together?
I want to get you in our Recession Blogs grouptweet too, full of the top recession bloggers, enabling everyone to message one another through twitter. The Recession Bloggers Hub is at http://www.recessionblogs.tumblr.com... check it out.
Congrats again on the article!
-GD
The 405 Club
http://www.the405club.com
I first learned about OWC on LinkedIn and have been impressed with your use of social networking sites to establish and extend your brand. I especially loved the write-up in the WSJ and as a result, June 3 will be my first event. Congratulations on a wonderful entrepreneurial effort.