Business & Tech

Career Experts Here 'Encouraged' About Job Prospects

One said she had six people land a job in the past week.

Reacting to reports that job growth slowed considerably in May in the U.S., local experts said they have not seen a slowdown.

 Anita Jenke is seeing the opposite of the national trend.

"Last week has been great. We had six clients land (jobs) in one week," said Jenke, executive director of the Career Transitions Center of Chicago, which counsels Chicago and suburban job seekers in interviewing, networking, resume writing and other techniques to find work. 

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

Many of her agency's clients are in the 40-70 age group, which Department of Labor statistics suggest is a tough demographic to place; laid-off workers average six months to find a new job.

Career Transitions Center, which was founded in 1997 by five Christian churches, tracked the 540 clients it counseled in its last fiscal year, and after it ended in June 2010, 80 percent said they were working full-time, temp to perm or had started their own business.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

"This year I think will be at least as good. We've seen a real uptick," Jenke said. She believes part of the success comes from teaching clients to tap into the hidden job market by networking, rather than relying on job boards.

"We're encouraged. We're seeing signs of improvement," she said. 

At the Niles Library, Judy McNulty, a business reference librarian who plans programs for job seekers, said the number of people seeking assistance with job websites and resources has remained pretty steady in the past few months.

A March program on how to find information on prospective employers drew about 30 people, which she considered a good number.

"Over the winter we saw many more people saying 'I just got laid off' and seeking information," McNulty said. "It's not as much now."


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here