The Army’s effort to modernize its recruiting enterprise reached an important milestone with the graduation of the first warrant officers to become talent acquisition technicians.

Twenty-five warrant officers who were serving in 19 career fields in the Regular Army were recognized July 11 upon completing the Talent Acquisition Course. They are the first to become recruiting warrant officers in the Army’s newest MOS, 420T.

The 420T warrant officers will fill in the ranks at multiple echelons as leaders, advisers, trainers and technical experts, bringing a new generation of recruiting support into the career field. Talent acquisition warrant officers will play a key role in recruiting operations, data analytics, marketing techniques and public relations, according to an Army news release.

“I was recruited back in 2006, so the times have drastically changed,” Chief Warrant Officer 2 Juana Trujillo, a 420T graduate, said in the release. “We are more focused on recruiting talent and ensuring that our benefits and incentives remain competitive with civilian markets.”

The creation of the new MOS is part of the Army’s broader strategy to address a stubborn recruiting crisis that has kept the service from meeting recruiting needs for more than three years.

Among a set of initiatives announced in October aimed at overhauling the recruiting enterprise are creation of the warrant officer MOS, expansion into new talent markets, reorganization of the curriculum at the Recruiting and Retention College, better identification of soldiers suited to the recruiting job and establishment of an experimental group to rapidly test and field new ideas for attracting future soldiers.

By overhauling the way it recruits, the Army hopes to turn the tide in a bid to attract talent into the ranks.

“As a former recruiting company commander and battalion commander, I see the value [these new warrant officers] bring instantly to the team,” Col. Rick Frank, Recruiting and Retention College commandant, said in the release. “Wish I had them on my team as a recruiting battalion commander.”

Frank added that the new MOS is “a great investment and one of the many changes that we will need to make to accomplish our mission not only now, but in the future.”