More than 200 Sailors attended Navy Recruiting District Philadelphia’s official transformation ceremony to a Navy Talent Acquisition Group (NTAG) held at the Franklin Institute Jan. 24.
The event commemorated and celebrated years of work completed under the legacy model of recruiting, as the command became the 11th Navy Recruiting Command’s NTAG to transition to a new recruiting model.
Under the old NRD construct, recruiters had to focus on and be experts in all aspects of three disciplines: talent scouting, assessing, and onboarding. In other words, recruiters were required to cover quite a broad list of jobs and responsibilities that did not always match their strengths. With the new model in place, recruiters refine their focus to the details of the discipline they work under.
Once an NRD has transformed into the new model, it is rebranded an NTAG. NRDs will eventually become obsolete as specialized and more organized methods of recruiting become the Navy-wide standard.
“This is a significant Navy event to formalize the establishment of NTAG Philadelphia,” said Cmdr. Kemi Elebute, commanding officer of NTAG Philadelphia. “It commemorates many years of hard work by the Sailors and civilian staff to continue recruiting in the Philadelphia area, which covers five states.”
The multi-purpose event provided all-hands training on key transformation topics, a Q&A session with Navy Recruiting Command Director of Field Operations, Cmdr. Patrick Copeland and NRC National Chief Recruiter, Master Chief Navy Counselor Franklin Tiongco, an awards ceremony, followed by a traditional cake cutting ceremony, and culminating in celebration of the momentous milestone for the command.
The preparations for Philadelphia transformation began almost a year in advance to ensure a smooth transition, which will allow improvements in recruiting practices, customer service, and quality of life for the applicants and recruiters, said Elebute.
“We want to ensure we have the right people for the job, and as we start putting it into practice, I am certain we will see all of the hard work pay off,” said Elebute. “I am confident that NTAG Philadelphia will be as successful as NRD Philadelphia was.”
In addition to streamlining recruiters’ responsibilities and jobs, the command has undergone a transformation in the field. NTAG has developed two subordinate talent acquisition onboarding centers (TAOCs) – TAOC Philadelphia for the north and TAOC Baltimore for the south. Each TAOC governs 4 and 3 areas respectively that include several Talent Acquisition Sites (TAS), and a Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS) each.
“The transformation is a new way of recruiting and applying the disciplines across the process. As part of NTAG, our recruiters will start exercising their specialty – talent scouts, assessors, or onboarders – concentrate in these specific areas, and be more efficient in recruiting talented men and women in the area,” said Elebute.
NTAG Philadelphia encompasses regions of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and West Virginia, providing recruiting services from more than 30 stations.
Navy Recruiting Command consists of a command headquarters, two Navy Recruiting Regions, 15 Navy Recruiting Districts and 11 Navy Talent Acquisition Groups that serve more than 815 recruiting stations across the world. Their combined goal is to attract the highest quality candidates to assure the ongoing success of America’s Navy.
