Long lines quickly formed down the hall of the Hyatt Regency in Schaumburg on Friday as over 1,000 job seekers turned out to attend a job fair hosted by Senator Dan Kotowski of Park Ridge. Over 100 employers attended the event representing thousands of available job openings in every major industry.

“This was our most successful job fair in terms of the number of companies in attendance as well as the number of jobs these companies were offering,” Senator Kotowski said.

Friday’s event marks the fourth job fair Senator Kotowski has sponsored since September of last year. Each fair has seen a steady increase in the amount of employers attending from across the Chicagoland region.

The Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES), the branch of Illinois state government charged with helping people find jobs and administering unemployment benefits, co-hosted the event with Senator Kotowski. In preparation of the job fair, IDES sent messages to residents of the northwest suburbs who have utilized Illinois’ JobLink website, the revamped IDES employment website that links job seekers with ready-to-hire employers.

The call informed job seekers of the upcoming event and the large number of both companies and job openings that would be represented.

“The path to re-employment goes through IllinoisJobLink.com. Today, businesses across our state seek to fill more than 120,000 positions,” IDES Director Jay Rowell said. “Here, in and around the Schaumburg area, there are 56,000 available jobs. In my mind, that means there are 56,000 reasons to be optimistic.”

Those in attendance were also given the opportunity to sit in on a seminar led by renowned resume writing expert Steven Provenzano. Mr. Provenzano lectured attendees on marketing skills to win interviews and ways to increase ones career potential.