Hiring Made Easier with an Integrated Marketing Strategy
Pilot Simulator Instructors Recruitment Initiative
With more than 40 flight simulator trainer vacancies, Air Force Civilian Service (AFCS) was desperate for a new recruitment solution to attract experienced pilots to train the next generation of Air Force pilots. An already competitive job market and a nationwide pilot shortage was making it nearly impossible to find qualified candidates.
Collaborating with AFCS recruiters and current flight trainers, MarCom Group crafted an ambitious new messaging approach contrasting schedule demands on commercial airline pilots and the attractive AFCS alternative, specifically evenings and weekends off and holidays at home.
Further, our unique strategy with paid media and organic marketing capitalized on the December holiday season. The paid media plan used reliable data sources to identify pilots for precision delivery of display banner ads and social media ads to pilots coming off red-eye shifts during the evening hours when they would be most likely to be online and possibly job hunting. We also used the existing AFCS talent pool to deliver nearly 8,500 emails to those with an interest in pilot positions.
All advertising was linked to the AFCS website featuring a video with current pilot trainers describing the rewards and responsibilities of the job. The site also listed the available positions, explained qualification requirements such as previous flight training time, gave tips for developing a federal resume, and detailed the benefits enjoyed by federal civilian employees. Finally, UTM pixels embedded in the landing page created the opportunity to retarget a Pilot Trainer Landing Page on the potential candidates with follow-on ads reinforcing the attractive AFCS-as-an-alternative-employer message.
Rounding out the strategy was a special episode of the AFCS webinar series, Aim Hire, in which a panel of pilot trainers and AFCS recruiters discussed opportunities for experienced pilots, their role in training Air Force pilots, the mission they support, what it takes to be an instructor, and the inclusive and supportive culture at AFCS.
In the end, MarCom Group’s unique campaign strategy resulted in the receipt of 41 applications from nearly 11,500 landing page views with a conversion rate well above industry standards. AFCS has since made 12 candidate selections–11 attributed directly to our campaigns–and has several more candidates in their recruitment pipeline.
Mapping the Way to Recruitment Success
What’s the best way to get from Point A to Point B? Use a map, of course! Just as the Air Force is credited with developing the GPS that we all know and love, MarCom Group’s Digital Team developed, implemented, and continues to maintain the innovative interactive Find-A-Job Map featured prominently on the Air Force Civilian Service (AFCS) website.
The application plots the location of all active AFCS job opportunity announcements (JOAs) on an interactive map of the United States. Users can click any location marker and see jobs currently available at that location. Zooming in and out allows for more detailed inspection of the available jobs. Thanks to a daily data feed from USAJOBS and AFCS’s Applicant Tracking System (ATS), Salesforce, the map is always up-to-date and accurate. The map has filters for more precise delivery of job opportunities per candidate interest, such as “telework” or “part-time.” We’ve also made the map searchable with the occupational series number so job seekers familiar with GS positions can easily locate their positions. This enhancement makes the Find-A-Job Map especially effective for job seekers and appreciated by AFCS recruiters, by allowing candidates to easily identify which positions they are interested in and qualified for.
The visualizations provided by the Find-A-Job Map have proven quite effective, encouraging potential candidates to engage with the AFCS website for longer periods, leading to more applications.
“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).
How to Elevate the Hiring Game: Aim Hire
Air Force Civilian Service (AFCS) wanted to engage potential applicants in a meaningful way. Thus we created Aim Hire, a monthly webinar series designed, produced, and hosted by MarCom Group in collaboration with the AFCS Talent Acquisition Team to educate viewers about the many challenging and rewarding career opportunities in federal civilian service with AFCS.
Each live 60-minute episode of the series features a career field or specific job opportunity. AFCS employees and recruiters share their insights through panel discussions, question and answer sessions, and prepared presentations. As AFCS recruiters explain duties, qualifications, and more, we create audience engagement with quick surveys that capture participants’ interests and/or perceptions about the featured topic. Announcing survey results during the live event further stimulates discussion, and recruiters provide application instructions and guide potential applicants to relevant resources.
A prime example of innovative communications initiatives developed by MarCom Group, we created this series in response to a client need; determined the style and format, selected the hosting platform, and, after winning client approval, launched the series. Each month, we develop a content outline and meet with the AFCS panelists to develop a script to keep the episode on topic and on track during the live presentation. We then provide behind-the-scenes technical support to ensure each episode is a quality production and is recorded.
Thirty-two episodes later and still going strong, each episode has been posted in a library on the AFCS website for anyone interested in learning about career opportunities with AFCS.
What’s in a Name?
Imagine an organization with 170,000 employees, facilities in over 80 locations around the country—not to mention a few overseas—a leadership team of high-ranking officials, and a history that goes back more than half a century, but they have no name. Imagine the problems they have, trying to attract highly qualified candidates to fill important positions vital to the ongoing success of the organization.
Enter MarCom Group. In 2010, in collaboration with this organization’s leaders, we created a name and a brand identity, designed a logo, and developed messaging, and introduced Air Force Civilian Service (AFCS), the civilian component of the U.S. Air Force, to the employment marketplace. Since then, we have supported AFCS’s hiring and retention priorities with strategy recommendations and insights from our Account Services team, our own HR think-tank, and an agile creative team providing innovative solutions that supercharge our advertising and marketing initiatives.
To sustain their exceptional level of support of the U.S. Air Force’s global mission in air, space, and cyberspace, AFCS must hire more than 10,000 civilian employees annually to fill jobs in over 600 career fields, including mission-critical and hard-to-fill positions in STEM disciplines. To that end, MarCom Group provides a broad range of recruitment and marketing services, including:
- Branding Campaigns, Recruitment Initiatives, and Marketing Materials
- Updates and Maintenance for the AFCS Website, including Career Field Profile videos, an interactive Find-a-Job Map, and the ConnexYou job matching subscription service.
- Multi-Channel Media and Outreach
- Internship Program Development and Support
- Program Monitoring and ROI Analysis
- Data & Resume Mining Tools
- Event Planning and Management
- Salesforce CRM Development and Support