Got Jobs?

That’s still the big questions for tens of thousands of qualified professionals seeking opportunities with small companies now poised  to “go global.”

W. James (Jim) McNerney, Jr., chairman, president and CEO of The Boeing Company, will address Illinois small businesses Nov. 10 in Chicago about expanding their sales in foreign markets and creating U.S. jobs. The presentation will be made at a half-day interactive seminar organized by six federal agencies at the Fairmont Chicago.

McNerney, who has held his current posts at Boeing since July 2005, will be a keynote speaker at “Exports Live! Real Deals, Real Profits,” an eight-city seminar series. The seminars share strategies and partnerships used by local small and medium-size businesses that already have discovered how to increase profitability through exporting.

The event includes feature presentations and Q & A sessions by successful small-business exporters that have benefited from government export services and solutions. Representatives of the government organizations providing these export services also are on the program and available later in the day to offer one-on-one consultations.

The Chicago seminar follows events in New York, Boston, Miami and Houston, and precedes similar sessions in Los Angeles (Nov. 16), Seattle (Nov. 17), and Detroit (Dec. 11). About 800 small businesses, lenders, brokers and trade specialists have attended the first four seminars.

Leading the meetings will be the heads of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank), the U.S. Department of Commerce, the Small Business Administration, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

“Although 95 percent of the world’s customers are located outside of the United States, the vast majority of American companies aren’t currently accessing this global market because of perceived difficulties in successfully finding and financing foreign sales,” said Ex-Im Bank Chairman and President Fred P. Hochberg. “We plan to show seminar participants how to overcome these difficulties.”

For details, check out www.ex-im.gov