Author: Daria C. Awusah

Publisher:

Published: 2022

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

"For over two decades, the United States Air Force has met or exceeded its recruiting goal. However, during and following the COVID-19 global pandemic, all military branches, to include the Air Force, faced and continue to face the toughest recruiting market in over two decades. Recognizing the recruiting challenges brought upon by the pandemic, the Air Force lowered its accessions goal at the onset of the pandemic. Despite doing so, a RAND Corporation survey found that the Air Force (1) exceeded its end strength goal in FY 2020, (2) compared to FY 2019, its accession fell by 18 percent, and (3) its retention rose, most notably among retirementeligible members with at least 20 years of service. In short, the Air Force primarily met its end strength service goals as a result of the increased retention of service members currently serving. This finding highlights the ever-increasing importance of retaining members that the Air Force has trained while also evidencing the service’s need to focus on talent management and retention just as much as it focuses on talent acquisition and recruiting. The need to recruit and retain, in today’s military, the right number of personnel and individuals with the appropriate skillset in the era of The Great Resignation has led to an increasingly complex challenge that the military must meet head-on in order to retain its competitive edge and be prepared for future conflicts. This research paper aims to shed light into the challenges faced by the United States Air Force in the area of recruiting and retention and highlight on-going efforts by the service to combat these challenges. This article likewise offers retention-focused talent management solutions that the Air Force should adopt to ameliorate the retention of its skilled and trained officer corps. Among these recommendations are to (1) employ a talent management officer or team for each career field, (2) diversify assignment officers and development team, (3) enhance the leadership selection process and devote organizational resources to continuous leadership development, and (4) engage in continuous wholistic barrier analysis and execute a widespread strategic public relations campaign. While the needs of an officer’s family are often a driving factor affecting the decision to continue one’s service, this article focuses on individual considerations that the Air Force and its career field managers can work to influence."--Abstract.