Schools

Waubonsee Offers Help for Job Seekers

The college's career services department will review your resume, invite you to a job fair and may even give you a scholarship to learn a new skill.

With unemployment figures on the rise, those searching for a job locally can use all the help they can get. If you’re one of them, you can get a lot of that help at Waubonsee Community College.

The national unemployment rate rose to 9.1 percent, with 13.9 million out of work, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics news release sent out last week. That’s why the career services Waubonsee offers are more important than ever, according to Jeff Noblitt, the college’s director of marketing and communications.

And they offer quite a lot through the career services department, at no cost, Noblitt said.

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Waubonsee hosts job fairs at its campuses, with the next one happening on Sept. 16 in Sugar Grove. They hold regular workshops for job seekers, at both the Sugar Grove and Aurora campuses. And on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month, they host a job club, and everyone is welcome.

And, Noblitt said, the college has started a scholarship fund called Brighter Futures. Any unemployed member of Waubonsee’s district is eligible to receive up to $500 towards a workforce development class.

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“You don’t always need a degree,” Noblitt said. “Sometimes you need to pick up a specific job-related skill. These scholarships make an immediate impact.”

Noblitt said more than 50 of these scholarships have been handed out, and the program is now in its second year.

Since the national recession hit several years ago, the demand for these services has increased greatly, Noblitt said. Waubonsee regularly conducts outreach programs, going into the community to find those who need their programs.

“This is something we offer totally free to the community,” he said. “It’s not just for students, not just for alumni. Anyone in the community can have their resume reviewed, can learn how to write a cover letter, and get hard-hitting advice that will help them find a job.”

For more information, log onto Waubonsee Community College’s career services website.


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