On March 27, Commerce’s Aerospace & Defense Team (ACES) hosted a free aerospace career fair at Rose State College which drew more than 800 job seekers. The event included 23 companies with active job openings, as well as 10 educational/career tech entities offering training and upskilling for the industry. 

“Access to workforce is critical to sustaining the continued growth we’re seeing in the aerospace and defense sector,” said Vince Howie, State Director of Aerospace & Defense, Commerce. “This is our fourth time hosting an aerospace career fair for Oklahoma companies and we continue to be blown away by the participation from job seekers and employers.” 

Companies participating in the Oklahoma City area career fair included some of the largest names in aerospace – Lufthansa Technik, Tinker Air Force Base, the Federal Aviation Administration, The Boeing Company, BizJet, Northrop Grumman, Delaware Resource Group, Frontier Electronic Systems – and others.  

Final survey results from the exhibiting companies have not been completed, but one exhibitor reported hiring approximately 75% of its 160 open positions due to the event.  

ACES will host an additional aerospace career fair for the Tulsa area on Nov. 7 at Tulsa Technology Center.