KATTERBACH, Germany (July 18, 2013) -- U.S. Army Garrison Ansbach's Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation teamed up with USAG Ansbach's Civilian Personnel Advisory Center to host a job fair June 27 that offered applicants something normally hard to come by: on-the-spot hiring.
Held at the Von Steuben Community Center at Bismarck Kaserne, the job fair gave agencies throughout FMWR an opportunity to dedicate a day to target talent throughout the Franconia Military Community for Non-Appropriated Fund positions. These agencies included Army Lodging, Community Recreation Division, and Child, Youth and School Services. Army Community Service also provided a job fair preparation class the day prior.
Colleen Knowlton, an Army spouse who applied for a position with CYSS, said she came out to the event as soon as she saw it advertised on Facebook. Formerly in the field of government procurement in Austin, Texas, Knowlton came to the job fair with a desire for something different.
"I'm looking to work with children of all ages," Knowlton said. "I want to give back to the community by working with the kids."
Knowlton, who had arrived to Germany a month ago with her husband, said her experience with the new surroundings has been "really, really good. People have been very nice. Everyone's been willing to help. The community has been great and just very welcoming."
Still waiting to hear whether she got the job, Knowlton said, "I feel really good. I'm really excited. I was a bit nervous about finding a job, coming over to a whole new area in Europe, but this is really encouraging and I feel really good about my chances."
All told, FMWR accepted nearly 300 applications and offered jobs to 39 of those applicants to help fill the more than 60 vacancies. Knowlton was one of those 39.
Jacki Paoletti, recreation manager at Storck Barracks, said people from all over the Franconia Military Community attended the job fair; not just USAG Ansbach.
"It's a great opportunity for Bamberg and Schweinfurt to be able to come here, be proactive and try to find a position with the closing of those facilities," Paoletti said. "It's great also for the managers because they're able to get this all done at once in a very fluid motion and fairly quickly because it's on the spot."
Paoletti had no shortage of good things to say about the on-the-spot job fair, calling in a "very fluid" process that "makes our job as managers easy."
"I think it's wonderful," she added. "The hiring process in general is a very complex process, so to have everybody who's interested in a position come to one place and to be able to interview 10 to 20 people in one day -- as opposed to having a referral list and going through them one by one, it's such a great, time-effective solution."
Tracy Deikun, manager of Army Lodging Ansbach, agreed.
"It's great for me because a lot of times, in the previous way, people applied for the position and it may be months before they get called for an interview and then weeks before they know whether they got the position," Deikun said. "A lot of times, people who are proactive and looking for work -- we'll lose them before we can get them."
Although this job fair has come and gone, FMWR has planned a similar one for September along with a job fair preparation class the week prior. To learn more, call 0981-183-7305 or (DSN) 314-468-7305 or visit USAG Ansbach Family and MWR on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ansbachfamilyandmwr for updates.
"If they see this opportunity," Paoletti advised, "people should really grab at it, come dress for success and have some interview techniques in their back pocket because it really can happen right then and there."
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