Among the members of the McHenry County Manufacturing Pathways Consortium is a woman who used to work in McHenry’s Brake Parts Inc.’s human resources department.

Although she left the company before it announced in early February that it was “winding down” the business – and laying off 389 employees – she happened to have an email list with 180 former employee addresses on it.

That list was used to invite former Brake Parts employees to a “pop-up job fair” held Wednesday morning at the McHenry County College‘s Catalyst Campus in Woodstock, said Jake Homuth, executive director of Workforce Development at the school.

Of the 100-plus manufacturers in the consortium, 20 companies attended the job fair with a total of 80 positions they’re actively hiring for. Those employers connected with the 100-plus recently laid-off workers who attended, helping to find them jobs, Homuth said.

“When we got word of the layoffs at Brake Parts, we pivoted to meet the moment,” Homuth said.

The college’s Workforce Development team connected with the Manufacturing Pathways Consortium, the McHenry County Workforce Network and the McHenry County Economic Development Corporation to get the event going.

Losing an employer – who at one point had upwards of 1,000 people at its McHenry industrial park location, before scaling back over the past decade – affects more than the workers.

“It ripples through the local economy, impacting families, spending and nearby businesses,” an MCC news release said.

Those who work with or in the manufacturing sector didn’t know the closure was coming in advance, Homuth said.

“We had a little heads up that it was becoming a possibility” the company would close, “but we are talking days,” he said, adding neither he nor the other consortium members had direct contacts at the company.

Connections is what the organization creates: with middle schools to introduce students to the manufacturing track, and with high schools to connect students to internships and jobs straight out of school.

“We are continuing to build a pipeline of talent,” Homuth said.

Not everyone who was recently laid off from Brake Parts received the email or saw the social media posts inviting those affected to the pop-up job fair.

“I didn’t get an email ... I didn’t get notified by any of my former employees that that even happened,” Jeffrey Maves said. He is in a chat group with other former coworkers who have kept in touch following the loss of their jobs.

But the consortium can still assist those job-seekers. At the consortium’s website, mfgpathways.com, there’s a common hiring application that allows applicants to submit their resume and information once and share it with participating manufacturing companies throughout the county.

“There are definitely opportunities” available in the county, Homuth said. He encourages job seekers to apply on the site even if they don’t see an opening that matches their skills right now.

“There are transferable skills. That is the challenge when you are doing a job search. You have skills within that area that are transferable to another position,” Homuth said.

For the right person with the right background, a company will create a role for them, Homuth added.

Matt Loiacano is another former Brake Parts employee looking for work, and just learned about the common hiring app. He was not one of the 180 email addresses that were contacted.

“I’ve been [applying] through temp agencies and doing it all on my own,” Loiacano said. “I am going to check that out.”