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WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio – Switching careers can be a daunting challenge. Fortunately, Wright-Patt hosts an annual event designed to ease that transition. It’s the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Career Exploration and Hiring Fair.
About 200 people registered for a morning of mentorship followed by an afternoon of shaking hands and exchanging information. The attendees began their day with a seminar providing insight on topics ranging from interviewing skills and resume building to LinkedIn profiles and volunteerism. The seminar was followed by a corporate panel of hiring officials giving advice and answering questions.
It all culminated with ice cream. And then the real business began.
Jakob Coombes, a Summit Team senior manager with Hiring Our Heroes, believes his program can be a springboard to that next career.
“We want to make sure that these job seekers, these transition service members, military spouses, everybody in this community, have a few different touch points,” he remarked from a bustling lobby after the seminars concluded.
“I think it would be selfish to say that we are the one stop shop, right? We are a tool. So we just want to make sure that we are checking all of our bases and really tagging in with everything that they’re getting from their local community as well.”
The April 4 fair at Hope Hotel welcomed 50 companies with more than 18,000 positions to fill.
“They definitely are coming ready to get some employees out of this event. I’d say it definitely ranges with the type of companies and industries that we have here,” Coombes said.
“Some of them are partners of our organization. They are people that have really leaned into our mission of finding meaningful careers for our service members and our military spouses.”
The individuals looking for work included veterans as well as active-duty service members and their spouses. Many of these veterans were looking to capitalize on the skills they learned while in uniform.
“There are a lot of connections, a lot of job opportunities that are actually entry level that will even help me with more training and progress forward,” said Jerry Durbin, a disabled veteran and former truck driver.
“Actually, my school group started our own Discord page and I shared it with them. And a couple of them are actually here. If they ever have anything else like this pop up, I would suggest it to other veterans.”
Half the attendees were active-duty service members like Master Sgt. Derrick Hunter, an Airman exploring his post-uniform career options.
“So I found a lot of opportunities that I didn’t necessarily find on the internet,” he said. “I was able to meet people in person and get a feel for what they’re looking for. Get a few cards and get a few callbacks and information that I can use in the future to kind of reach back and hopefully get a position in the future.”
Forty percent of those seeking employment at the fair were veterans like Jerry Durbin or Stefan Picket. Picket separated seven years ago and is exploring the information technology job market.
“Oh, there was a lot of useful information,” Picket said. “And I was able to meet a lot of employers, which broadened what I was looking for, so I’m able to go back and kind of regroup that information and use it to help me continue looking for these jobs.”
Military spouses made up the final 10% of attendees. Veronica Lukey, a military spouse with a background in program management, has experience attending similar events elsewhere.
“So I’ve been to a couple other career fairs and this is more involved,” she said.
“They had the workshop with information on LinkedIn and what military can do to transition out. And then once we went into the career fair, people were more willing to just talk face to face with you and have a conversation instead of saying, ‘Here, let me see your resume. We’ll put you on a list. We’ll contact you in a month or two.’”
Alexander Sroufe, a business development manager with Maxim Healthcare Services, works for a company that provides home care to a lot of Ohio veterans and military families. A job fair comprised of that community provides a unique recruiting experience.
“A lot of the job fairs that I typically go to are at colleges, so a lot of people looking for internships, not really sure what they want to do yet,” Sroufe said from a room filled with the conversations of potential employers and employees.
“Here, what I’ve seen is people are really certain about what they want. They’re direct with me and they all have the same passion that we need to care for our veterans and military families.”
That passion resulted in 29 job offers extended to event attendees. Another 155 follow-up interviews were also scheduled. That’s an increase from the previous year’s 17 and 152, organizers said.
And those numbers don’t track the number of networks created, casual interviews conducted and handshakes extended over the course of the afternoon.
“I hope they can see that there’s a larger picture at play. I think a lot of the times the transition process can be scary for individuals,” Coombes added.
“There’s a lot of questions, especially for people that might have joined right at 18 years old. The military lifestyle is all that they’ve known. So we want them to be able to feel comfortable and have a good grasp of the potential life post-military service.”
For more advice on post-military employment or information concerning events such as the hiring fair, contact Wright-Patt’s Military and Family Readiness Center at 937-257-3592 or visit www.wpafb.af.mil/MFRC.
| Date Taken: | 05.10.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 11.20.2024 15:13 |
| Story ID: | 485155 |
| Location: | WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, OHIO, US |
| Web Views: | 32 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Hiring fair aims to employ those who served, by Christopher Decker, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
