ROCHELLE — On Thursday, the Rochelle Township High School Career Fair and Public Hiring Expo was held at RTHS. The event featured 35 local employers including industry, commercial, retail, banks and credit unions, healthcare, daycare, service organizations, national brands, and small businesses.

The student career fair was held for RTHS juniors and seniors from 10:30-11:30 a.m. following a brief assembly. The event was aimed at discovering, accessing, engaging, and building a network of talented young people, regardless of their ability to join a company at the point of contact.

From noon to 2 p.m., the event was opened to jobseekers from the general public and local employers were able to recruit and hire for emerging jobs in the area. Sponsors of the event included the City of Rochelle, the Office of Mayor John Bearrows, Kishwaukee College, RTHS, Rochelle Foods – Hormel, Ralfie’s BBQ, and the Rochelle Chamber of Commerce.

City Industrial Development Manager Peggy Friday said the event went “great” Thursday and that it’s a good opportunity to keep local talent in the area and expose them to the jobs Rochelle has. 

The public hiring expo event began in recent years after a workforce shortage was seen post COVID-19 and it melded well with the yearly RTHS career fair, causing the events to be combined. Friday said the workforce need is still seen in the community, but is not as serious as in the past and the landscape has changed since the pandemic.

“COVID-19 changed everything,” Friday said. “I've talked to some employers and it seems a lot of the public is looking for remote work. That wasn't an option several years ago. Most of our businesses are hands-on and people can't work remotely. The first time we did this was after COVID-19 ended and after unemployment benefits expired. We had hundreds of people come through and it was probably one of the most successful job fairs in the region. Now that there's remote work and older people reentering the workforce, we don't see the huge need that there once was. A lot of our businesses like to come here because they can create a waitlist, so if positions open they've already made contacts for recruiting.”

Kish Associate Vice President of College Relations LaCretia Konan said the college works as an active partner with different communities in its district on projects like the career fair and hiring expo. She has worked on the event in recent years and enjoys seeing high school students exposed to employment and educational opportunities. 

“We have Kishwaukee College and Northern Illinois University here if they're thinking about college,” Konan said. “We have employers here if they're thinking about going right to the workforce. It's just making connections. With regards to our community members that come through here, they're looking for work. We want to be able to connect them with available employment.”

Rochelle Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Tricia Herrera said she enjoyed aspects of the event such as high school students learning how to meet with employers and members of the public having the chance to meet with prospective employers one-on-one in person. 

Herrera praised the city, Kish, RTHS and the businesses for their work on the public hiring expo in recent years during the workforce shortage following the pandemic. She said she hears from chamber member businesses “a lot” that they need people to hire. The event works to show students and the public what jobs are available in Rochelle. 

“This hiring expo was a great and positive thing coming out of the pandemic,” Herrera said. “There were a lot of jobs open and a lot of people looking for jobs. And there still are. A lot of times we think we may not be showcasing what our businesses do enough. There's different aspects, especially when a student is coming through here, where we can ask what someone is looking to do and find a niche that is in what they want to do. Sometimes you drive by industries or businesses and wonder what they do or think that everyone who works there does the same thing. There's hundreds of positions within our industries all doing different things.”

The RTHS career fair brought participating students out of the classroom to participate, but Friday said the event was still “all about education” for them. 

“Some of them don't know what they want to do after high school,” Friday said. “This is a good opportunity to try things. To look at internships and job shadowing opportunities. With the kids, it's all about education and letting them know that there are really good jobs here and they don't have to leave town to get them. Most of them can't wait to leave their parents and go far away. But it's really important that the community matters. We had a panel of high schoolers and students from Kishwaukee College come in and talk to us about what they expect in the workforce. Many of them said community is important to them and they want to stay here where they can still interact with their families. The trends are kind of changing on what young people are looking for. They need to know that those assets are here so they can take advantage of them.”