Base hosts first annual civilian job fair Published Jan. 31, 2009 By Airman 1st Class Andrew Caya 914th Airlift Wing NIAGARA FALLS AIR RESERVE STATION, N.Y. -- The 914th Airlift Wing hosted its first annual civilian job fair here January 10th in the base gymnasium. The job fair was an effort to bring local community businesses together with 914th reservists, their spouses and adult children looking for work. In addition, some educational institutions, along with the United States and New York State veterans' affairs offices were present in the event one of the members had questions about continued education opportunities. "Our goal is to market our troops to the business community. We believe that our people possess the necessary skill sets to be successful in the business world," said Col. Mark Murphy, 914th vice commander. The job fair was first introduced at a Chief's Group meeting last spring and then again at the base Human Resource Development Council. The 914th reached out and held meetings with Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, Niagara Falls Military Affairs Council and other veteran's organizations and groups of influential local business leaders. The base Human Resource Development Council sent out questionnaires to base personnel to determine what our folks needed. "With contacts made at our bosses day and civic leaders flights, along with contacts in the business community, we sent out flyers to businesses and made cold calls," said Murphy. Although a few businesses scheduled did not attend due to economic concerns, a total of 24 businesses did attend. "The showing was better than expected. Many companies were reluctant to come out on a Saturday," said Murphy. "At first we were hoping for 10 companies, but as we got rolling more asked or agreed to come. That was exciting." Many people contributed their time and effort to making the job fair a success. However, Col. Murphy singled out 914th maintenance personnel specialist Staff Sgt. Meredythe Putnam for lending much of her time and talents in making the job fair a great event to host. "I did whatever needed to be done; be it creating flyers, recruiting companies, fielding inquiries, providing directions or compiling contact information," said Putnam. While recruiting companies to participate in the job fair, Putnam tried to accommodate all Air Force Specialty Codes, encompassing the diverse experience the 914th Airmen who work on base here have, with the companies targeted for participation. The civilian employers were very impressed with Niagara's Airmen. "Each company that participated told us afterwards, that the event was well planned and well worth their while," said Murphy. "Each was astounded by the quality of our people; one told me he found three candidates he was calling Monday to offer jobs to," he added. "I was in a very fortunate position to develop a working rapport with these companies over the past couple of months and their support of our military members, as well as their appreciation for the quality and caliber of candidates they were able to meet with proved to be an invaluable experience for me," said Putnam. "It was a great opportunity to do something that reached so many people, all the while allowing me the opportunity to meet and interact with a broader and more diverse population on the base," she added. Now that the 914th has established human resource contacts in the local community, Col. Murphy is hoping even more employers will attend to the job fair in coming years. "I think we can get an even better turnout, especially when others hear what we have to offer," said Murphy. "It was a strong first attempt and I'm grateful to the companies that attended this year," he concluded.