IllinoisJobLink.com links qualified workers with hiring employers

[August 01, 2012]  ROCKFORD -- Rockford area businesses joined Jay Rowell, the director of the Illinois Department of Employment Security, on Monday to praise an employment website tool that links qualified job applicants with businesses that are ready to hire. The no-cost human resources recruitment tool is part of IDES' mission to be the state's employment office for Illinois businesses and workers.

"The path to re-employment goes through IllinoisJobLink.com. Today, businesses across our state seek to fill more than 120,000 positions," Rowell said. "Here, in and around Boone and Winnebago counties, there are nearly 13,000 available jobs. In my mind, that means there are 13,000 reasons to be optimistic."

A sampling of Rockford-area job opportunities include senior software engineer, tool and die maker, RNs and LPNs, HVAC engineers and technicians. Some positions provide annual wages of more than $40,000.

Rowell toured Chrysler Group LLC's Belvidere plant as well as professional logistics company Syncreon before visiting with area businesses at the Rockford Metropolitan Area for Planning. Business leaders joining Rowell to endorse IDES' re-employment services included officials from Gunite Corp., UPS and Bon Ton. Leaders with the Rockford Chamber of Commerce and the Boone and Winnebago County Workforce Investment Board also joined Rowell to show why northern Illinois should be optimistic about the economy and good-paying jobs.

Illinoisjoblink.com is the revamped IDES employment website that links job seekers with ready-to-hire employers. This no-cost, online career resource allows individuals to create multiple resumes that emphasize different talents and allows businesses to search for specific skills. The keyword-matching technology increases the likelihood of a successful new hire. Illinois JobLink emphasizes Illinois jobs, scrapes other commercial job boards and compares favorably with private efforts that cost hundreds of dollars for a single advertisement.

Illinois added 140,700 private sector jobs since January 2010, when job growth returned to Illinois following nearly two consecutive years of monthly declines. Since January 2010, leading growth sectors are professional and business services, up 74,600; manufacturing, up 42,900; and educational and health services, up 31,800. Government has lost the most jobs since January 2010, decreasing by 27,500.

The Rockford area has added 4,000 jobs since June 2010. The leading sector is manufacturing, up 4,500. Government, the only sector to show job loss, is down 1,700.

[Text from Illinois Department of Employment Security file received from the Illinois Office of Communication and Information]