In conjunction with the Air Force's Personnel Center, the Air Force Materiel Command held a virtual hiring fair April 23, to fill open science, technology, engineering and mathematics positions across the command.
More than 1,000 candidates applied to participate in the hiring event, which sought applicants for 700 positions at AFMC centers and installations across the U.S. Hiring officials were available to conduct on-the-spot interviews and had the ability to leverage direct hire authorities to extend job offers to candidates on the same day.
"While our efforts over the past several weeks have been focused on balancing mission with taking care of our Airmen during the COVID-19 pandemic, it's also important we keep our talent acquisition wheels in motion," said Bill Snodgrass, AFMC Manpower, Personnel and Services director.
This was the third virtual hiring event held by AFMC over the past year, part of an ongoing effort to leverage in-person and online recruiting events to reach a large number of candidates for open opportunities.
"Talent acquisition is evolving, and even before social distancing driven by the current national emergency, AFMC was looking to leverage the benefits of online civilian hiring fairs to improve the speed, effectiveness and presence of our recruiting practices," said Keri Poole, a human resources specialist at AFMC and event coordinator.
Interested applicants were required to pre-apply to attend the virtual event, allowing officials to review resumes and qualifications prior to issuing invites to promising candidates. Of the 620 applicants selected, 75% participated in the six-hour event, with more than 115 AFMC subject matter experts and hiring officials online to interact with the attendees.
