Sauk chamber, workforce group look to spur employment with job fair

STERLING – BEST Inc. and the Sauk Valley Area Chamber of Commerce are hoping to help boost employment in the area with a drive-thru job fair in August.

The Business Employment Skills Team, a federally funded agency that covers eight counties in the region, provides a variety of services to job seekers, including job search assistance, on-the-job training and paid work experience.

BEST organized drive-thru job fairs during the pandemic, including one that reached about 170 people, and chamber Executive Director Kris Noble thought it would be useful to have another given the worker shortage in the area.

“It doesn’t solve the problem of having a lack of bodies to fill jobs, but it will help give connections between people and employers, and it might prompt them to start looking for jobs,” she said.

Job seekers will be able to pick up packets filled with information from businesses that are hiring, as well as other resources. It’s not the same as an on-site job fair and being able to do interviews, but it’s a “happy medium” while the pandemic continues, Noble said.

The drive-thru job fair will run from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Aug. 11 in the Northland Mall parking lot, 2900 East Lincolnway in Sterling.

They’re hoping to draw 200 people to the event, she said.

Businesses interested in participating are asked to make 200 copies of flyers for their open job positions and drop them off at the Sauk Valley Area Chamber of Commerce at 211 Locust St. in Sterling no later than Aug. 6.

For more information, contact Tammy Nehrkorn at 815-625-9648 ext. 104 or Noble at 815-625-2400.