While jobless numbers look bleak, economic reports point to a deeper recession and President Obama pushes a reluctant Congress to pass his jobs plan, thousands of GovLoop members have recently found success launching and advancing their careers through new tools offered by the social network for public sector employees.

GovLoop reports growing participation in free online training programs, resume guidance and a pilot Mentors Program that made more than 50 matches over an eight-week period.

According to the Office of Personnel Management, six out of every 10 federal employees-including 90 percent of senior executives-will be eligible to retire over the next 10 years. In response to this impending government “brain drain”, GovLoop launched the first government-wide mentoring program earlier this summer in partnership with The Training Connection. The program is free and is currently accepting new applicants to participate beginning in January 2012.

GovLoop has also launced Jobs.GovLoop.com, which highlights the 10 best job postings on USAJOBs each week in the following categories: Acquisition, Budget, Human Resources, IT and Entry-Level as well as $100K+ jobs. The site also leverages GovLoop’s base of nearly 50,000 members who post openings at their agencies and career advice in the blogs and forums sections of the site.

Learn more or sign up at http://www.govloop.com.