WASHINGTON – Despite much evidence to the contrary, when most people think about Army service, they envision a monochromatic image of men dressed in olive-drab battle dress uniforms with weapons at the ready preparing to storm a hill in some foreign land.
While one can still see that scene play out on just about all the Army’s posts, camps, and stations around the globe, it represents a small proportion of the vast variety opportunities—in and out of uniform—that are available to service-minded people.
“We believe that everyone who wishes to use their time and talents to serve our nation should have the opportunity to do so,” said Dr. Agnes Schaefer, Assistant Secretary of the Army (Manpower and Reserve Affairs). “And the first step to building the Army of the future is attracting people with the skills and dedication to take on the challenges of defending our country.”
Since its inception, the Army Equity, and Inclusion Agency has fostered relationships with organizations and influencers to exchange ideas on the best way to attract, recruit, develop, mentor, and retain talent.
One method that has had promising results is partnering with organizations, such as the Black Engineer of the Year Awards (BEYA), to serve as centers of influence.
Demonstrating their commitment to attracting talent from diverse and highly-qualified pools, Army leaders and organizations partook in the festivities at the 37th BEYA Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Conference held in National Harbor, Md., 9 – 11 February, including conducting its second center of influence event of this kind.
“The Army has a variety of outreach and engagement partnerships around the world with community and affinity groups,” said Schaefer.
According to Schaefer who is the most senior Army official responsible for Soldiers and Army civilian professionals, the objective was to “build sustainable relationships with national organizations, schools, and community groups to create champions and ambassadors for opportunities, both civilian and military, with the Army.”
The Army-led BEYA Center of Influence event reached 250 people on-site representing organizations across the public and private sectors.
The benefit of leveraging centers of influence events extended beyond the formal networking engagement.
Six Army organizations attended the conference, transforming the conference into a job fair collecting a combined total of 4,826 resumes for 1,040 Army civilian professional vacancies.
As a result, 617 candidates were interviewed and 247 of them received job offers from the Army.
“We know the value the Army gains from speaking with influencers in diverse communities, but we also have value that we can offer to interested and eligible candidates,” said Dr. Lyle Hogue, acting director of the Army Equity and Inclusion Agency. “Our aim is to show why we’re an employer of choice by competing for talent with the help of our center of influence partners.”
The BEYA 2023 event wasn’t the first time the Army conducted a center of influence event of this type.
In July, Army leaders traveled to conduct the first one during the 93rd League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) 2022 National Convention in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
At the first event, two Army organizations participated with more than 20 candidate receiving job offers from the Army.
The Army strives to be an inclusive workplace, which contributes to readiness.
Organizations that are interested in partnering with the Army as a center of influence should contact the Army Equity, and Inclusion Agency here.
Consideration for Army-wide conference participation must adhere to Army Regulation 1-50, Army Conference Policy.
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