The U.S. Army is kicking off its first nationwide virtual hiring campaign June 30 through July 2 with a goal of recruiting 10,000 new Soldiers to serve in 150 different occupations and the Illinois Army National Guard is doing its part to boost the Army’s strength.
Army National Hiring Days is an all-Army effort to inspire individuals across the nation to “Join Us.”
As part of the three-day hiring event, Army leaders, operational units, recruiters and community partners across America will focus on encouraging individuals to explore the Army’s career paths, ranging from traditional combat roles to support positions in logistics, engineering and technology. They will also highlight the benefits of military service, to include health insurance, retirement plans, training and education opportunities, and family support programs.
Army National Guard recruiters have focused heavily on virtual communications since mid-March when the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a socially distant society. This new virtual hiring event will be the first time the Army has come together as a whole to leverage the digital space in a concentrated all-Army nationwide recruiting effort.
“The last three months have challenged America, and our Army has been part of the team working to fight this pandemic together,” said Maj. Gen. Frank Muth, commanding general for U.S. Army Recruiting Command. “We are adapting our recruiting efforts to the current environment to ensure we can continue to protect and support our nation in the future. We believe Army National Hiring Days will help us find the right people who are ready to ‘Join Us.’”
“The Army has a career for every interest, and many people aren’t really aware of that,” Muth said. “You’ll receive the technical training to succeed in your field and then have access to education benefits to go even further.”
To become an enlisted Soldier in the U.S. Army, individuals must be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident; be 17-34 years old; achieve a minimum score on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery test; meet medical, moral and physical requirements; and be a high school graduate or equivalent.
Qualified applicants are eligible for bonuses up to $40,000 or student loan reimbursement up to $65,000, depending on the selected occupation, ASVAB scores, contract length, and timeline for shipping to basic training.
The Illinois Army National Guard also has the State of Illinois’ National Guard Grant, which waives tuition at every state college or university for Illinois National Guard members.
Civilians interested in enlisting in the Illinois Army National Guard should contact their local recruiter or go to www.nationalguard.com/IL for information or by telephone at (800) GO-GUARD.
A video interview and b-roll package is on recruiting struggles during the pandemic is available at www.dvidshub.net/video/744105/recruiting-struggles-during-covid-19. A b-roll package on Soldiers working on pandemic missions is available at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mB59e8cPNmUladZQdyoDw6Q3-IoEGAox/view?usp=sharing
The Illinois National Guard has had a historic year including fighting record flooding, helped secure two elections from cyber attack, helped prevent flooding (again), fought against a world-wide pandemic by manning testing sites throughout the state, supported medical operations in three different prisons, set up alternate care facilities at McCormick Place and other sites, supported multiple alternate housing sites, provided mortuary affairs support to Cook County, provided hospital screening operations across the state, provided medical, logistics and geospacial planners to the state emergency efforts, assisted county health departments in collecting information on medical capabilities and supplies, helped screen employees at two Developmental Centers, flew specialized medical tents from the Oregon manufacturer to Chicago, ran medical and emergency supply warehouse operations in two locations, set up a force protection team to ensure the health of our troops and their families, provided mobile testing support at about a dozen long-term care facilities, provided command and control of hundreds of troops responding to this unprecedented mission, still have more than 825 troops actively involved in the fight against COVID-19.
In addition, we have continued to deploy hundreds of Soldiers and Airmen overseas. We have more than 1,000 deployed now.
For more information, contact the Illinois National Guard Public Affairs Office at 217-761-3569 or ng.il.ilarng.list.staff-pao@mail.mil