Job­Camp orig­i­nally grew out of a col­lab­o­ra­tion between the Wis­con­sin Pro­fes­sional Recruiters Resource (WISPRR), a local recruiter net­work­ing group, and Buck­et­works, a creative/entrepreneurial/technological incu­ba­tor. The first Job­Camp was held in March of last year as a “camp” event (in the style of Bar­Camp) with 500 atten­dees. It started as a way to enable those with expe­ri­ence with the hir­ing process to give back to the com­mu­nity they saw being hit by the eco­nomic shocks.

This Feb­ru­ary 25th in Mil­wau­kee, they are expect­ing amaz­ing growth of the event and 1500+ atten­dees. Atten­dance is 100% FREE and 100% vol­un­teer run. Well over 100 speak­ers in both large pre­sen­ta­tions and small groups dis­cus­sions will be there. Job­Camp activ­i­ties include prac­tice inter­views, resume reviews, speed net­work­ing, ele­va­tor pitch prac­tice, free head­shots, social media train­ing and net­work­ing events based on industry/function.

Dave Carhart, Job­Camp Vol­un­teer, told me that most peo­ple come as part of an active job search, but many come just to net­work or to brush up on their job seek­ing skills. He also said this Job­Camp will have a big focus on help­ing job seek­ers with net­work­ing, social media and self-branding, in addi­tion to resumes and inter­view skills.

The orga­niz­ing team of nearly 20 peo­ple is a diverse group. Some employed, some not, sev­eral recently re-employed (mostly through strong net­work­ing) and some stu­dents. They rep­re­sent a broad range of industries–several HR & recruiters, and the core team includes project man­agers, graphic design­ers, mar­ket­ing and communications/media pro­fes­sion­als. Many have taken their own lay­offs as an oppor­tu­nity to share their skills in these areas.

Job­Camp is exe­cuted on a 0 mar­ket­ing bud­get. The web space is donated and the pri­mary chan­nels are social media and word of mouth. LinkedIn, Face­book and Twit­ter (@JobCamp) are all huge parts of the effort. Rela­tion­ships with local job seeker net­work­ing groups are key as are those with career cen­ters (both gov­ern­ment and school). The event is so good for the com­mu­nity they have received great press cov­er­age.

Watch Todd Nil­son, Founder of Job­Camp talk about what makes it dif­fer­ent than a job fair.

Mil­wau­kee job seek­ers are so LUCKY to have this resource in their com­mu­nity and a group of car­ing and enter­pris­ing vol­un­teers to help them. Here’s a pub­lic thank you to Todd, who I had con­ver­sa­tion with a cou­ple of months ago. He was very kind to help me brain­storm how I could start to rehab job fairs and job seeker events in the com­mu­nity where I live.

What are you are doing in your com­mu­nity to help job seekers?