Youth Seek Employment at CBA Job Fair

Recruiters from Jewel-Osco reviewing job seekers resumes at CBAs second annual job fair at ICE Theater.
Recruiters from Jewel-Osco reviewing job seekers resumes at CBAs second annual job fair at ICE Theater.

by Dwayne T. Ervin

Last Saturday, at ICE Theater on87th Street, 100 youth from sevenarea high schools attended a secondjob fair hosted by theChatham Business AssociationJuniors in partnership with theDepartment of College andCareers at Chicago PublicSchools.

Letters were sent to BowenHigh School, South Shore HighSchool, Harlan CommunityAcademy High School, JulianHigh School, Chicago CareerAcademy, Simeon CareerAcademy and HirschMetropolitan High School to tellstudents about the job fair.However, students from otherschools came out seeking jobopportunities. The fair was opento students ages 16-18.

Ninety-three of the studentsattended a job readiness programthe week before and sevenothers went through the readinessprogram during the weekthrough CBA Juniors.

Employers discussed job opportunitiesat their companies andtold youth how to apply forwork with their companiesbefore they presented theirresumes.

Chicago Area Project mentionedthey needed youth to signup for jobs in Springfield by May5 and some other companiesinvited the students to visit theircompanies.

Students were told that if theirjob performance was good, theycould continue to work for themduring the school year. Studentsmoving on to college in theChicago area could continue towork for the companies too.

The companies representedwere GAG Masonry, Inc., IllinoisDepartment of EmploymentSecurity, DC Mad Hatter, JewelOsco, Chicago Area Project, andPrime America.

The job seekers stood in lines atthe tables to give resumes thatwere reviewed by companyrecruiters. Some applicants wereinterviewed for various positions.Most of the students werewell prepared based on the jobreadiness skills workshop theyparticipated in the week before.

More schools were added thisyear, the partnership increased,because the students were interested,said Taheria L. Brown,career development facilitator, atCorliss High School.

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