Katherine McIntire Peters writes at Government Executive about the intelligence community's push to host virtual career fairs as a way to save money and draw the kind of tech-savvy candidates it is seeking. The idea started at the National Security Agency, which generated 2,200 resumes within 12 hours after its first virtual career fair in February 2009.
The fairs include online chat sessions with recruiters as well as full-blown Second Life events modeled after the physical world. Job candidates also can spend time attending briefings in the online auditorium, gather information and brochures on jobs and benefits from a virtual resource center, participate in one-on-one chats with recruiters or visit the lounge to mingle with other candidates and recruiters.
The intelligence community's innovative approach to recruiting and hiring has undoubtedly shown great success thus far, particularly in attracting younger, tech-savvy workers. Would such an approach work for your agency?
Brittany Ballenstedt
Brittany Ballenstedt writes Nextgov's Wired Workplace blog, which delves into the issues facing employees who work in the federal information technology sector. Before joining Nextgov, Brittany covered federal pay and benefits issues as a staff correspondent for Government Executive and served as an associate editor for National Journal's Technology Daily. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Mansfield University and originally hails from Pennsylvania. She currently lives near Travis Air Force Base, Calif., where her husband is stationed.
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