Facing the human capital crisis: successful recruitment program pilot at Edwards AFB - Best Practices

Defense AT&L, Jan-Feb, 2004 by Rachel Schwarz

Online Visibility Improved

Edwards AFB also increased its visibility in the electronic world, thereby making it easier for potential employees to find their Web site: <http://www.edwards.af.mil/>. "We didn't want to simply post jobs on USAJOBS and hope people would find them," explains Tkac, "We wanted to actively pursue passive job seekers who may never have considered working for the DoD." So Edwards entered into a commercial arrangements with Google.com, Aftercollege.com, and FastWeb.com among other search engines. In the case of Google, when someone browsing the Web entered certain keywords (such as "avionics design," "military aircraft," "electrical engineering," etc.) Google sent the searcher an electronic postcard with a direct link to the Edwards Web site.

New Branding Developed

In addition to improving the application/hiring system, Knowledge Workers, with their partner Bernard Hodes Group, developed a new branding and marketing plan for engineering jobs. "Edwards AFB is regarded as the world's top flight test center," says Tkac. "We wanted their brand to portray that." The new branding design reflects the "Edwards swagger" and is used in recruiting brochures, banner ads, university relations flyers and posters, and an upcoming interactive recruiting CDROM--all designed for maximum appeal to the engineering professionals that Edwards seeks and to point potential applicants to the Edwards AFB Web site.

Focus Turns to University Outreach

The team next directed their efforts at reaching out to local universities. Edwards worked initially to develop a close relationship with California State University at Northridge (CSUN). There were two primary reasons for choosing this school over other universities in the area. One, the University has a strong engineering school; and two, it is the nearest four-year university campus to the base.

Knowledge Workers, on behalf of Edwards, initiated the relationship with CSUN, first visiting the Northridge campus to meet, S. T. Mau, dean of the college of engineering and computer science, and several members of his faculty and to learn more about CSUN. Weiner also wanted to understand the dean's attitude toward Edwards AFB as a potential employer of Northridge students. "I can recall vividly the lunch meeting with the dean and his department chairs," he says. "I asked them what they knew about Edwards Air Force Base and was told it was 'hot as hell and in the middle of nowhere.' Given that comment, I knew we needed to change the view held by this key leadership group before we could ever develop a relationship at the student level."

Site Visit

The initial overtures made, Edwards AFB arranged a site tour for Mau, the department chairs, and student group leaders to show them the cutting-edge engineering facilities at the base and give them an introduction to the career paths available at Edwards for CSUN students. Edwards engineers who had graduated from CSUN participated in the tour to interact with their former professors, telling them about their jobs and how their education had helped prepare them for their careers. "This was a critical part of the pilot," says Tkac. "In essence what we were doing was recruiting recruiters. These professors and advisors have tremendous credibility with their students, and now they are telling them, 'You should consider Edwards.'"