The Flight Deck

 Back in early and late January, I posted about my company’s efforts to develop a recruiting and retention program focused on the military. I told you that my Fortune 100 employer had formed the committee and begun holding meetings. Well…things have progressed well beyond that now.  I’ve been privy to a presentation given at a very senior level that speaks about specifics for this new program:

• Military themed advertising (you should see the full page ad that we’ll be using, it rocks!)
• Trade Show planning in the works (I wish I could share what the booth will look like…it’s absolutely fantastic with the banner headline being this – “When it comes to leadership, discipline and pride, we know exactly where to find them.”
• A “vanity url” on the company’s public website (I’ll share it as soon as it is made public) that is specifically targted to careers for the military
• Job postings on government and military websites
• Involvement of the company’s charitable foundation in organizations that cater to the military
• Disabled veteran organizations
• Military-focused job fairs (plans to attend in April)
• Networking at military bases
• Working with service academies and their alumni conferences

There is so much more going on that I can’t share and it’s incredibly exciting.  There is also a presentation that has been designed for external use. As soon as I know it and the ad have been given the OK for distribution I will let you know – if you want to see them, I can e-mail them upon request (just ask me at PooRahBunny@comcast.net).

In the meantime, I am very happy to report that some of the information I received from all of you made its way into the presentations and other materials. I am so proud of my employer for taking this so seriously and making concrete , feasible plans to tap into one of the most talented and educated (John Kerry be damned!) pools of people in this country.

My thanks to you all, once again, for the contributions you have made – they are already bearing fruit!

UPDATE @ 11:20am EST: The Exec VP leading this committee saw me today; she gave me all the materials from the first committee meeting and told me to take a look and pick what I wanted to be part of.  That’s right – I thought this was going to be far too senior level for an Exec Admin to be part of, and I was OK with that as I could continue to make indirect contributions. Well – now I get to choose what I want to be part of, before anyone else does.  I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I am that I’ll be an active part of the recruiting and retention of our warriors!