Frequently Asked Questions

Skills for Chicagoland’s Future offers unemployed and underemployed talent in the Chicagoland area access to quality jobs and career pathway programs – all at no cost. Job seekers can apply directly to the jobs they prefer or join our Talent Community to learn about future opportunities. If your skills and qualifications match the position's requirements, our Talent Acquisition team will reach out with next steps. We look forward to helping you get back to work! Please call 312-906-7200 if you have additional questions.

No—Skills is free for job seekers!

We work with candidates who are currently unemployed or underemployed, reside in Chicagoland (IL), and have a legal right to work in the United States.

Being underemployed can take different forms and have different meanings. To use Skills as an underemployed candidate, you must be one of the following: working under 32 hours a week, working in a contract or temporary role with a defined end date, or working in a role outside your area of expertise.

No, our goal is to get your hired directly at one of our committed corporate partners. We work with companies committed to hiring diverse talent via Skills and impacting career growth and economic mobility. Our corporate partners have a variety of full-time, part-time, and seasonal roles available through Skills.

Skills support and helps you throughout the application, interview, and hiring process—and we connect you directly with our hiring partners. Our team interviews all qualified candidates, and if you move forward, our recruiters help prepare you for future interviews and the job experience.

This process allows our team to prepare candidates for their interview with a company and increases their chances of getting hired. Our hiring partners also rely on us to provide the most qualified candidates possible for their roles. To ensure their standards are met, the Skills team meets with every job seeker before referring them to an employer partner.

No, you can apply to all the roles that interest you and that you qualify for.

We do our best to keep everyone informed of their eligibility and status in the hiring process. Unfortunately, the pace of hiring and interview timelines sometimes makes that challenging. If you are a fit for the role you applied for, our team will contact you with next steps. If you are not a fit for one role, you can apply to any other open position on our website that you feel qualified for, and our team will continue to keep you in mind for future opportunities.

While we try our best to place as many job seekers as possible, we cannot guarantee job placement. Our hiring partners make all final hiring decisions for their available positions.

Skills is a nonprofit organization, and we must follow certain criteria to comply with our grant funding. To ensure we're fulfilling our obligation to our hiring partners and donors, we request documentation from all job seekers working with us. We value your privacy and security and do not share your information with third party organizations.

No. Once you’ve created a profile and uploaded a resume, that information remains attached to the positions you apply for. We encourage you to update that profile as you add items to your resume or if your contact information changes.