Hundred of hopefuls attend NNSY career fairs at TCC

More than 2,800 potential shipyard employees attended NNSY's Career fairs at the TCC Portsmouth campus on March 28th & 30th.

HUNDREDS OF HOPEFULS ATTEND NNSY CAREER FAIRS AT TCC Story and Photos by Anna Taylor • Public Affairs Specialist Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY) hosted two career fairs at Tidewater Community College’s (TCC) Portsmouth Campus in March. Representatives from major departments throughout NNSY were on hand to meet with attendees and answer questions about career opportunities in the production skill trades. The shipyard is in good shape to bring on more than 1,500 new employees by the end of fiscal year 2015.

Thanks largely to NNSY’s social media advertising efforts and coverage by local news channels, more than 2,800 potential shipyard employees attended the fairs. Laura Stokes of Portsmouth was excited about the prospect of

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working at NNSY. “I saw the flyer and always wanted to get into the shipyard,” she said. “I wanted to come to get all the information I could.”

“Being a Virginian, you hear a lot about people working at the shipyard,” said Marrell Edmonds, also of Portsmouth. “There are so many opportunities, so I’ve always been interested in it.”

In addition to the shipyard departmental representatives, two Fleet Human Resources Office (FLTHRO) Human Resources Specialists were on hand to discuss the application process and how to effectively use USAJobs.gov, the employment website

for all federal positions. career fair attendees were invited to sit through a brief resume building overview and were encouraged to ask questions at the end.

"Your resume needs to represent you," Human Resources Specialist Sandra Wilkins told the group. "You may think your resume is wonderful, but if it doesn't contain information on the work you've done or support the jobs you want to apply for in detail, then...it's just a piece of paper. Your resume is a marketing tool to sell yourself."

Career fairs are important to the shipyard because of the visibility they provide and the opportunity for members of the public to

get answers to questions they may not have otherwise been able to ask.

“We like to educate people on the different opportunities we currently have available,” said Ryan Holland, Production Resources Department (Code 900) Production Controller and one of the career fair organizers. “We want to make sure they know how to apply for these jobs, whether it's the apprentice program, entry level helpers, engineering tech, or qualified mechanic positions.”

Like many projects at the shipyard, putting together a career fair is no small task.

“The shops and HRO representatives who came out did a wonderful job representing their codes and the shipyard,” said Holland.

“TCC really stepped up and did what they had to do to assist us. The NNSY EARN Store helped to make sure we had what we needed and the Public Affairs Office advertised and covered the event on social media. This was a shipyardwide effort.”

But Holland says the recruiting work is far from over. “We strengthened our ties in

THE GREAT HIRING PUSH OF FY-15 NNSY needs to hire more than 1,500 new employees by September 30. This will bolster NNSY’s number of employees to more than 10,000, its most employees since the early 1990s, to support an influx of fleet repair and modernization in the coming years. the Hampton Roads community, and people are excited about the opportunities we are offering. I have been contacted by some of the high schools in the area that want us to come speak with some of their graduating seniors. The Helper to Worker Program will be opening this summer and will give us another avenue to grow our workforce. The important thing is to stay visible and active in the communities and to continue promoting NNSY in a positive light.”

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