Photo By Staff Sgt. James Harris | Senior Airman Jamilia Williams, non-destructive inspection technician assigned to...... read more read more
Hiring qualified personnel can be a struggle in the best of times. The Finance Management office at the Pittsburgh International Airport Air Reserve Station is no exception. In order to circumvent the issue, Brian Zator, chief financial officer assigned to the 911th FM, reached out to other organizations on base to fill mission critical the positions.
Currently, FM has 15 positions; however, only seven have been consistently filled. Contributing factors such as the pandemic, personal changes to a member’s life, or deployments enable this problem to persist.
“At that point, I thought outside the box,” stated Zator. “I went and reached out to get some of the best Airmen on base who were either quarterly award winners or Airmen that were achieving well within the groups.”
By putting military members from other squadrons on orders as the need arises, FM has been able to make sure base personnel are able to get paid in a timely manner.
James Fritz, financial management specialist and staff sergeant in the Public Affairs office, is one of the members who was chosen as a result of FM reaching out for help.
“He [Zator] would say ‘Hey, I'm looking for highly driven Airmen who are willing to learn and to come out on temporary orders,’ “paraphrased Fritz. “Because finance had a shortage at the time due to multiple deployments, somebody was currently on maternity leave, and someone who's about to be on maternity leave.”
Now, Fritz works full time in FM and is in the process of training two more junior enlisted Airmen in the various processes within the finance organization. This ensures military members base-wide are paid promptly.
The Airmen who volunteered to help out recently are Senior Airman Jamila Williams, non-destructive inspection technician from the 911th Maintenance Squadron, and Senior Airman Sarah Pratt, ramp operations technician with the 32nd Aerial Port Squadron.
Williams’ original job in maintenance is comprised of inspecting plane parts to make sure they are good for operational use. If any discrepancies are found, the parts are sent back to get fixed. She accepted this opportunity to work in FM because it would allow her to see how the base functions.
“It was an opportunity that was offered to me,” said Williams. “I thought about it, then chose to accept it because this is a great opportunity that will broaden my knowledge.”
Fritz stated Williams is essentially doing the same thing he did when he first started out: learning to open and close accounts for leave processes for military personnel. Williams learning these processes enables Fritz to audit pay processes at a faster rate.
As for Pratt, last October she received a call from her leadership telling her FM was looking for help. After receiving details, she was asked if she was interested in a temporary assignment.
Pratt has been assigned to the travel department. Normally, she is responsible for prepping the cargo that goes on or off planes. As apart of FM, Pratt has learned how to read vouchers, process the Reserve Travel System, and how to spot fraud. The office was so impressed with her that the finance office has kept her in office to learn other processes.
“Airman Pratt is a fast-paced learner,” stated Fritz. “She has that attention to detail that a lot of people don’t and it just been really good to her on board.”
Given all that has happened, FM reaching out seems to have a positive effect while giving Airmen an opportunity to learn a new skill set. This helps Airmen come to understand how financial processes work so they can take this knowledge back to their squadron and assist their units.
Zator said if the organization reaches out and allows Airmen to come down and work in FM, he believes it will give them a breadth of experience.
| Date Taken: | 06.26.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 07.05.2023 08:25 |
| Story ID: | 448045 |
| Location: | CORAOPOLIS , PENNSYLVANIA, US |
| Web Views: | 23 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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