Northwest Aerospace News August | September 2020 | Page 53

AEROSPACE FUTURES ALLIANCE SPOTLIGHT
You wouldn’t know it by watching the news,
however. Worker Adjustment and Retraining
Notifications (WARN) were widely reported
as five aerospace suppliers were implementing
layoffs, displacing a total of 333 workers. To the
recently unemployed and recently graduated, a
lifetime career in aerospace was becoming more
uncertain.
It was critical, then, that the Aerospace
Futures Alliance connect our hard-won local
talent with opportunities for employment in
the industry.
Held virtually on June 17th, the Aerospace Job
Fair attracted over 1,400 job seekers and 29 employers
with active job openings. An additional
11 training and education partners provided
information on tuition assistance for upskilling
and continuing education. A partnership with
ESD provided access to Brazen, a platform for
enterprise-level virtual hiring events. Job seekers
provided basic information on their educational
attainment, skills, and certifications when setting
up their online profile. Employers hosted virtual
booths with multiple recruiters available to chat
with prospective candidates.
Of the 1,400 interested job seekers who pre-registered,
more than 760 participated throughout
the day. According to ratings by recruiters, an
impressive 89 percent of participants were qualified
for an open position or a future opportunity
with the company.
Crane Aerospace and Electronics was the third
most popular company during the event — an
impressive ranking considering the big names
of the first and second placeholders. Blue Origin
and Amazon Prime Air were the most in demand
and had hundreds of candidates in the queue for
a five-minute chat with a recruiter. Several other
commercial space companies also participated,
including Aerojet Rocketdyne and First Mode.
Recruiters had 2,060 conversations during the
five-hour event, and at any given moment, 48
chats were underway between employers and
candidates.
AUGUST | SEPTEMBER 2020 ISSUE NO. 16 53