With Mitsubishi closing its Normal plant sometime in November, hundreds of employees there will be needing assistance in finding new work and job retraining.

The clock is fast approaching toward the late November wind-down of Mitsubishi’s production facility in November. When word was handed down that the Japanese-based car manufacturer was pulling of the U.S., it employed 1,200 people in Central Illinois.

Since Mitsubishi’s announcement in late July, organizations throughout the region have offered overtures to employees who are losing their jobs. Now, Caterpillar announced last week it was making more layoffs at targeted plants.

As its name suggests, Career Link, headquartered in Pekin, is one such agency that could offer job-placement assistance to employees at Mitsubishi and other companies losing their jobs.

But Career Link, which consolidated with a similar organization, the Workforce Network, nearly a year ago, offers services that extend beyond job placement assistance.

One of the cornerstones of Career Link’s services is its job education and training programs for unemployed and underemployed persons. Additionally, the agency works with out-of-school youth who are attempting to navigate their way through the real world.

Career Link provides job training for unemployed or underemployed people looking to learn new skills. (Photo courtesy Career Link)

In addition to its Tazewell County hub, Career Link has branches in a number of Central Illinois counties, including Fulton, Marshall, Mason, McLean, Peoria, Stark and Woodford. Helmed by Executive Director Steve Martin, Career Link has a staff of more than two dozen people across the region.

By some accounts, a service such as Career Link could be considered Central Illinois’ best kept secret. Martin said the organization frequently puts out calls to the greater community.

“That’s what we’re really stressing right now — getting people who are unemployed or underemployed through the door,” Martin said.

Getting the word out about Career Link’s services is not the agency’s only challenge. When then-Gov. Patrick Quinn gave the green light to merge Career Link and the Workforce Network, unwinding three decades of separation, the merged entity was offered $5.1 million in funding for the 2014-15 session.

As the newly merged Career Links enters its first full year of operation, the set-up has not been without its hitches. The stalemate of the Illinois budget, in particular, caused ripple effects, particularly in McLean County.

In late July, a week after Mitsubishi made its unexpected announcement, the McLean County Board at the urging of County Board Chairman Matt Sorensen floated Career Link a $150,000 loan to keep the county chapter operational through the rest of the year.

In his statement to the County Board, Sorensen cited Mitsubishi as one of several reasons he asked the board to approve the loan. Sorensen pointed out the majority of the car-maker’s employees are in their mid-50s — in other words, not far from retirement age.

While job placement is a core of Career Link’s mission, Martin said there are other possibilities for qualifying persons in need of work, including a program specifically tailored toward veterans and apprenticeship programs for qualifying applicants.

If all goes as well as hoped by such organizations as Bloomington-Normal Economic Development Council, Career Link’s role in the community could come in the way of assisting residents land a job at a new occupant of the new Mitsubishi plant.

For information on Career Link, visit the organization’s website at www.careerlink16.com.

— Career Link addressing job placement, training in Heartland region —