Employer Speaker Series to kick off with Wright-Patterson contract specialist jobs

Full-time jobs that involve helping the Air Force negotiate contracts and buy night vision goggles, simulators, aircraft and other essential military equipment.

That will be the focus of the first installment of the campus-wide Employer Speaker Series organized by Wright State University’s Career Services.

The event will be held Thursday, Oct. 10, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in 109 Oelman Hall.

Over the course of the academic year, the series will feature speakers who will discuss job and internship opportunities. A representative of the Secret Service is scheduled to speak Nov. 14.

At the Oct. 10 event, Andre White, a procurement analyst at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and two other recruiters will detail the requirements for contract specialist jobs.

White says contract specialists must negotiate contracts with the corporate giants of the defense industry, which will put the interns in negotiations with companies like Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrop Grumman. The goal is to obtain the greatest technologies possible to support the warfighter and do so at a price that is fair and reasonable to both the defense contractor and the American taxpayer.

Contract specialists undergo three to four years of training that includes opportunities to work on a broad spectrum of programs.

Much of it will be on-the-job training from mentors, other contract specialists and experts from finance, program management, engineering and logistics fields. There will also be classroom courses in the art of negotiation, contract law, contract pricing and more.

Those applying for the full-time positions must be U.S. citizens and have at least 24 semester hours in business-related courses.