CHICAGO (CBS) -- A day before the President Barack Obama's big jobs speech, Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced 400 new jobs for Chicago.

As CBS 2's Derrick Blakley reports, a national company headquartered in Chicago is expanding and both the mayor and the company's CEO have some ideas about what the president should do.

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports

Seaton Corp., a fast-growing national recruitment and staffing firm based in Chicago, is adding 400 new jobs by the end of next year.

In a downbeat economy, Emanuel gladly announced their upbeat news. The mayor cited the city's workforce and transportation systems as reasons for Seaton's expansion.

"Great workforce, great transportation system in the city, great transportation from the city to anywhere in the country or world makes Chicago a natural selling point for them to, in this case, nearly double down on their employment, adding 400 more jobs to the city of Chicago by the end of 2012, bringing them to 1,600 hundred employees here in the city of Chicago," Emanuel said.

It's an encouraging story in a disheartening job market – job expansion by a company that fills jobs for Fortune 500 corporations.

Seaton's CEO, Patrick Beharelle, had some thoughts how much President Obama can do to spur job growth.

"I think job creation in America, we've got some structural issues. It isn't something that the president necessarily can control or any administration can control," he said.

Beharelle cited issues like technology wiping out jobs and corporations shipping jobs overseas. He said he thinks the government should help with targeted job training.

"There are a lot of jobs open right now. There's over a million jobs open in the United States right now. The challenge is making sure we that have a workforce that's properly trained to take those jobs," he said.

As for Emanuel, who was one of Obama's top advisers, he expects to the president focus on rebuilding key infrastructure – roads, bridges, schools and airports.

"Those are things that allow corporations to expand; makes our economy as a whole more productive, creates jobs today and economic growth … strength for the future," Emanuel said.

Beharelle said he would like to see federal incentives to encourage companies to bring offshore jobs back to the states and he thinks a flatter corporate tax code, with fewer loopholes, would encourage companies to hire.

As for the Chicago expansion, those 400 jobs cover both junior recruiters with no experience – earning $22,000 to $25,000 a year – and senior recruiters with 5 years experience – at $60,000 to $80,000 a year.

Seaton also promised to hire one third of the new employs through a program to help unemployed Chicagoans find work.