“Boots on the Ground” Recruiting
Air Force Civilian Force (AFCS) Talent Acquisition works with internal organizations to recruit talent for civilian positions to conduct research, develop initiatives, defend our nation’s digital infrastructure, aircraft, and sensitive electronics, thereby enhancing the performance, safety, and security of our active-duty and reserve service members. AFCS relies on successful in-person and virtual events to connect with qualified candidates and reach their hiring goals for hard-to-fill and mission-critical positions.
Hiring managers with the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) had been struggling to make solid connections with potential candidates in virtual settings. MarCom Group’s strategists recommended an in-person event strategy and collaborated with the AFCS Talent Acquisition (AFCS TA) team to develop a format that would provide candidates with comprehensive information about AFCS and hiring managers the opportunity to make connections and even interview and hire qualified candidates.
Against an ambitious annual goal to hire 2,301 new employees, MarCom Group planned, advertised, and executed a series of five hiring events at military bases across the nation, including handling candidate registration and providing on-site management. The effort resulted in the selection of 804 candidates for law enforcement, cybersecurity, and program manager positions, that is, 33% of all hires made across all recruitment initiatives, including marketing, paid advertising, and virtual events (all of which MarCom Group also managed). In fact, the success of the in-person series contributed to the 4,204 selections made in that year, surpassing AFLCMC’s original hiring goal.
Since 2010, MarCom Group has supported AFCS with more than 50 large conferences, 75 small to mid-sized events, 25 specialized hiring events, all in-person, plus dozens of virtual events. Additionally, in support of the Air Force Office of Diversity and Inclusion (ODI), MarCom Group facilitates participation in multiple minority professional conferences, including the Black Engineer of the Year Award (BEYA), the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES), Society of Women Engineers (SWE), and the Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers (SASE).
Joining the Virtual Recruitment Party
In the midst of a worldwide surge in online or “virtual” interaction due to the coronavirus pandemic, from daily business meetings to recruitment webinars and job fairs, the National Recruitment Division (NRD) of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) sought a means to host a recruitment event and avoid the tough competition of participating in other federal agencies’ events. MarCom Group was ready for the challenge!
After thoroughly vetting a number of virtual event platforms against NRD’s requirements, we made our recommendation and received enthusiastic approval to commit time and resources to Brazen. CBP’s first ever hosted “Virtual Career Expo” was an overwhelming success, drawing more than 9,000 registrations, more than 4,600 new leads to the CBP talent pool, and drawing more than 3,100 to attend the live event. Recruiters made hundreds of meaningful contacts with prospective candidates, answering questions and providing personal insight for career opportunities across all of their law enforcement components, as well as their mission support programs.
Since that inaugural event, MarCom Group has led the collaboration with NRD in the design, management, and execution of 16 successful events, generating more than 62,500 applications. We are involved in every step of the process, from building booths and live broadcast events with engaging content and visuals that explain CBP’s mission, myriad career opportunities, and the hiring process to writing both internal communications and external advertising to draw interest and participation, not to mention training CBP recruiters to use the Brazen platform and serving as a logistics resource on the day of events. In the end, all of our activity contributes to a unique user experience for CBP recruiters and prospective candidates alike, and with the data from Brazen and survey responses from participants, we are able to enhance each subsequent event.