Each winter for the last six years, The Heritage Foundation Job Bank has hosted its annual Conservative Career Fair to connect job-seekers directly to recruiters and employers in the conservative movement. Despite constraints due to the COVID-19 pandemic that limit in-person gatherings in Washington, D.C., 2021 was no exception.
Job Bank staff recognized that with so many professionals transitioning from the Trump administration and Capitol Hill due to the election results, conservative friends and allies needed Heritage more than ever. The Job Bank team sprang into action to find an innovative alternative to Heritage’s usual in-person Career Fair.
The Heritage Foundation’s Job Bank hosted the conservative movement’s first-ever all-virtual career fair with 22 employers showcasing hundreds of job, fellowship, and internship opportunities for our 530 registered job-seekers.
“With so many conservatives looking for new positions right now, we at Heritage really wanted to help,” said Truluck Center Director Kristine Bramsen. “By using a virtual platform for the Career Fair, Heritage was able to chart new ground with this event and help a lot of good folks connect to actual job openings.”
The online platform also allowed the Heritage Job Bank to convene employers and participants from around the country who had never participated in the Job Bank’s previous career fairs.
Job-seekers from California, Utah, Texas, and Illinois were able to “meet” with recruiters in Arizona, Kansas, Oregon, and Pennsylvania. Employers offering remote-work options were also featured.
The Job Bank also broke all previous Career Fair records by collecting over 460 résumés from conservative job-seekers and distributing them directly to the recruiters prior to the fair, making the connections as beneficial as possible. One recruiter from a conservative D.C.-based public relations firm declared the event “a booming success.” Recruiters from two allied partners commented that it was “an amazing experience” and “the Heritage team was amazing—it was so easy to talk with the applicants!”
The Job Bank team will utilize key insights and learning from this event to increase Heritage’s audience reach and participant engagement for the next Career Fair scheduled for summer 2021.
In addition to the Career Fair, the Job Bank team is helping transitioning Trump administration and Capitol Hill staff by holding one-on-one meetings and career and résumé consultations. The team has made over 150 recommendations to conservative hiring managers in the last few weeks, intently tracking to hear news of successful interviews and offers. To date, we have seen placements in the private sector and on Capitol Hill in scheduler, operations director, legislative assistant, and chief of staff positions, as well as at Heritage for a new legal fellow in the Meese Center.
To learn more about the Heritage Job Bank, click here.
