ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL, Ill. – U.S. Army Sustainment Command relies on hiring the right personnel to successfully deliver globally responsive strategic logistic capabilities and material readiness to enable combatant commanders to conduct their missions.
One such key personnel is Jillian Bernier, division chief of ASC’s G1 (Human Resources) Civilian Personnel division, with a tenure at ASC since 2007. Bernier exemplifies the high-caliber professionalism that is critical to the command’s mission success.
After graduating from high school, Bernier joined the U.S. Army as a military personnel specialist. After serving for seven years Bernier used her G.I. Bill to attend Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois.
“I am from Illinois, so (after the Army) I wanted to stay in Illinois for the educational benefits,” said Bernier. After graduating from college Bernier married and decided to stay in the local area.
Bernier’s first job at ASC was working in the G1 training division. Over the next 17 years she continued to move to new positions within the G1 office. In April 2020, she was promoted to her current position.
As Civilian Personnel chief Bernier oversees the Recruitments branch and the Policy and Program Management branch. She says that the most important thing her section does for the command is bringing qualified people to ASC to build the next generation of ASC leaders who can thrive and be successful.
Before people can begin working at ASC, they must first be hired, and the federal government is notorious for taking an incredibly long time to hire people. Bernier’s department is working to streamline the process to hire new employees.
One of these ways is to limit federal resumes to no more than five pages. Bernier said that prior to this requirement many resumes averaged 10 pages and were often closer to 15 pages for a candidate with 20-plus years of experience. To contrast that, many resumes in the civilian work force are one to two pages long.
Limiting the resume to five pages allows the hiring officer to quickly determine if the candidate is qualified for an interview, while still ensuring the resume can make it past the initial screening process.
The five-page resume has been a success at ASC and has been adopted as the standard at many federal offices.
While bringing qualified people to ASC is part of Bernier’s job, the other part is making sure they stay here. This starts with the new employee’s first day.
“An employee’s first impression of the command begins developing from their onboarding experience, and we want them to have a positive experience,” said Bernier.
Each new ASC employee attends a two-day onboarding/acculturation agenda session where they get a chance to meet the ASC leadership, go over the command’s organization, learn how to use the tools, such as Microsoft Teams and SharePoint, that they will need to be successful, and participate in activities that enable them to become familiar with the building and their coworkers.
“The intent of this initiative is to give personnel new to ASC an overview of the command, mission and some key information that will set them up for success,” said Bernier. She went on to say that the reason for this initiative is because initial surveys showed that not all new employees got the same information from their supervisors. So, the initiative ensures all new employees receive the same information, regardless of where they are assigned. “This ensures everyone has the same exceptional start and welcome to the command,” said Bernier.
While ASC is the point of the spear for logistics within the Army, its mission couldn’t be done without people. Over the past 17 years Bernier and her team have proven that they are the point of the spear within ASC.
“Jillian is a committed leader who is focused on creating and maintain a superior work environment,” said Kaylie Bowstead, Recruitment branch chief. “She is always looking for ways to improve in order to attract and retain the best talent.”
Social Sharing