Facebook, IM, And Chat Rooms Allow "One-on-One" Recruiting

College job fairs and campus recruiters may soon become a thing of the past (those tactics are so 20th century!) for aerospace industries working to appeal to college students and young professionals.

In an effort to attract the young to augment and replace the rapidly graying US aerospace industry, reports the Associated Press, recruiters are turning to techniques that are second nature to this generation and provide as much one-on-one interaction as technology can provide.

Let's face it. With the average age of an aerospace worker in 2005 at 45, by 2008, approximately one of four will be eligible to retire.

Industry analysts say there is still time to avert a shortage -- if the effort begins now, said Jeremiah Gertler, assistant vice president of the Aerospace Industries Association.

So what's a BAE Systems, a Boeing, a Lockheed Martin, a Rolls-Royce PLC to do?

Answer? Go directly to their target market and stay in constant touch by chatting with, say, MIT students, online and putting future leaders on the professional fast-track.

Boeing, yes our Boeing, last year advertised a contest on Facebook to win an iPod Nano or iTunes gift card. Facebook users who entered listened to a short video promoting the company and answered a multiple-choice quiz. The company followed up with job openings.

Lockheed Martin, the nation's top military contractor, started a chat room on its Web site earlier this year where recruiters host daily one-on-one instant messaging sessions with job seekers, said Pete Bugnatto, a Silicon Valley recruiter.

In addition to using the latest technology, aerospace companies are "fast tracking" their own young workers.

Rolls-Royce PLC, the world's second-largest aircraft engine maker, started a training program in 2004 grooming 20-somethings to become its future leaders. Where normally it can take 10 years to get promoted, under the accelerated program, a worker can become a middle manager in five to six years.

So how is this being accepted by those 20-somethings? Said MIT aerospace engineering student Justin Wong, who came across a sleek Boeing job ad on Facebook.com last fall, "My first impression was that Boeing is getting with the times. It shows the company is making an effort to talk to us on our level."

Wong saw the banner as a "two-way street," reaching out to today's youth in their virtual playground.

The 21-year-old senior, who interned at Boeing, will work at the company's satellite division following graduation.

FMI: www.aia-aerospace.org, www.facebook.com