The Air Force will overhaul how it fills several key developmental roles next year, opening them to volunteers through its online assignment platform and moving away from a nomination-heavy process intended to give Airmen more control over their careers, according to the service.
Beginning Oct. 1, 2025, Airmen can volunteer for seven developmental duties via Talent Marketplace: military training instructor, military training leader, academy military training noncommissioned officer, officer accessions instructor, first sergeant, professional military education instructor at NCOA/SNCOA, and recruiter.
Under the current approach, most Airmen enter these roles after being nominated by local leadership and released by their career field manager. The new model allows Airmen to view openings on Talent Marketplace and submit themselves for consideration. Volunteers will be screened by a developmental duty hiring team; if they advance, their unit leadership will review the application and records and provide a recommendation. Final selections will be made from the pool of volunteers the hiring team approves.
To streamline releases from primary career fields, the Air Force is setting preset quarterly limits on how many Airmen each specialty can send to developmental duties. If a career field has not exceeded its cap for the quarter, an Airman who is selected can be released from their primary AFSC for a limited period. If a field has no releases remaining in a given quarter, Airmen in that field will be unable to volunteer until capacity opens again.
The service said the change is designed to add flexibility for Airmen while ensuring high-quality personnel fill positions critical to the future force.
Applications open Oct. 1, 2025, on Talent Marketplace. Additional information on the process is available on MyFSS.
