Goodwill Announces Job Fair For New Huntley Store

Assistant store manager and position supervisors are among the openings Goodwill Industries of Northern Illinois will be seeking to fill when they host a job fair next week.

The fair will be held 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 30 at the All available positions are for Goodwill’s new which is set to open in October and is located just east of Route 47 on Kreutzer Road.

“We are very excited about opening our newest store in Huntley and making jobs available to local residents,” said Sam Schmitz, President of Goodwill Industries of Northern Illinois, in an email to the Huntley Patch.

“This employment opportunity along with our recycling efforts are representative of the our efforts to be good corporate citizens in the communities in which we operate," he said. "We are hopeful that the citizens of Huntley will embrace our operation.”

In addition to assistant store manager and position supervisors, Goodwill is seeking sales associates, donation specialists, textile processors, and wares processors. Overall, 42 full and part-time positions are available.

Word that even a handful of new jobs are coming to is welcome news as unemployment figures continue to hover around or beyond double digits in both McHenry (9.2 percent for July 2011) and Kane Counties (10.2 percent) although both counties saw a slight improvement compared to June when unemployment was 9.3 percent and 10.4 percent respectively.

According to data released this week by the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES), the state’s unemployment rate is a mixed bag with 10 percent unemployed (not seasonally adjusted), but rates dropping or remaining unchanged in all 12 Illinois metro areas for the month of July compared to a year ago. The Rockford area saw the biggest improvement with the number of unemployed residents falling 3.3 percent to 12.1 percent. The Chicago-Joliet-Naperville metro rate remained unchanged at 10.5 percent.

"Long-term trends show that Illinois is in a better place today than it was one year ago," said IDES Director Jay Rowell said. "To ensure that the steady progress continues, workers should use our services to update their jobs skills and employers should use the Department to evaluate potential tax credits, especially for newly hired employees."

Nationally, the unemployment rate, which identifies those who are out of work and looking for work and is not tied to collecting unemployment insurance benefits, was 9.3 percent in July.

For Goodwill Industries of Northern Illinois this will be their second local job fair, having held one prior to the opening of their McHenry store last month. Like the Huntley job fair, 42 positions were available in McHenry.

“Any time you hear of anybody hiring these days it certainly gives people the hope that things are starting to turn around and that there are opportunities available in our area,” said Julie Courtney, Director of McHenry County Workforce Network. “We just did a job fair with Walmart in McHenry County. They’re opening a supercenter in Johnsburg and they’re looking to add 300 positions by the end of October.”

Those planning to attend Goodwill Industries’ job fair should visit www.goodwillni.org and print out and complete the job application. Applicants must be 16 years old, be available to work on weekends and nights, and pass a pre-employment drug screening.

For more information about the job fair and employment applications, please contact Goodwill at 815-965-3795.