It was a full house Jan. 24 at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division’s (NSWCDD) Career Fair at the Fredericksburg Expo & Conference Center. The large crowd was expected after receiving more than 800 registered prospects for the fair. This is the second in-person job fair hosted by NSWCDD since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic nearly three years ago.
A total of 605 candidates attended the event, making it the largest turnout in NSWCDD Career Fair history, said NSWCDD recruiting lead Brooke Bowler. Forty-four on-the-spot offers were submitted. “We are so excited and thrilled with not only the quantity of candidates that came out but the quality of candidates,” Bowler added. “We couldn’t have asked for a better group of candidates, volunteers and hiring managers. What an amazing night of connecting with our community.”
NSWCDD Commanding Officer Capt. Philip Mlynarski and Technical Director Dale Sisson Jr., SES, were on hand at the career fair, which featured recruiters in every department from business operations to science and engineering as well as other technical fields. A history of NSWCDD was on display as well as memorabilia while candidates browsed the conference room and made connections with Dahlgren employees who looked over resumes and provided feedback to job seekers.
It was the second large-scale hiring event held by NSWCDD at the Expo Center in the past seven months. On June 27, 175 candidates attended the career fair and 27 on-the-spot offers were made. Another 100 candidates were unable to attend in person, but registered to have their information reviewed by hiring managers in the future. A virtual event in 2021 saw more than 1,900 resumes uploaded into NSWCDD’s talent acquisition system and nearly 600
prospects entered the booth to chat with recruiters.
In-person events, however, give NSWCDD supervisors a longer time to engage with prospects and also increase the camaraderie of current employees who gather and work closely at the event.
Photo courtesy U.S. Navy
