Small employers hiring around Chicago - any advice?

A friend who works at a local manufacturer says there are openings not advertised online. There are 17 people counting on me, so I am trying to be careful. They like a brief email with a résumé.

Visiting in person worked for a trades job. For office jobs, email was better.

Thanks for writing this out. I went through something close to it 9 months ago, and it got easier once I kept a simple log of every call and form.