Employment Assistance Programs Are Looking for Veterans!

Executive Director for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Hiring Our Heroes program and Call of Duty Endowment partner, Kevin Schmiegel was recently featured in a Fox Business article encouraging veterans to take advantage of benefits and assistance programs when looking for employment. According to Fox, a recent government audit of veteran job training programs found that nearly 60,000 slots were unused.

Curtis Coy with Economic Opportunity at the Department of Veterans Affairs also points out that less than half of the applicants approved to receive assistance from the Veterans Retraining Assistance Program (VRAP) have actually enrolled.

Schmiegel explains that although many organizations offer veterans employment support, the usefulness of these tools depends on a veteran’s initiative to take advantage of them.

Are you a veteran looking for employment assistance? Check out Hiring Our Heroes’ new ResumeEngine.org, which helps veterans refine their resumes.

Google Launches VetNet – A Great Resource for Veterans Looking for a Civilian Career

Last week Google launched what is being called by NBC as “the largest online hub to help men and women exiting the military” – VetNet. This website is a collaborative effort from the nation’s leading veteran employment organizations – Hire Heroes USA, Syracuse University’s Institute for Veterans and Military Families, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Hiring our Heroes Campaign.  The Call of Duty Endowment is excited to announce that two of these three leading organizations are our partners in ensuring opportunities for veterans to find suitable employment.

Check out what VetNet has to offer:

• Resume help and career skills training through online forums (participate in the Ultimate Elevator Pitch session starting here at 3pm ET today).
• Connect with industry leaders, fellow veterans and spouses (join them here at 1pm ET today as representatives from Walmart and Verizon Wireless talk about career opportunities in retail).
• Attend online classes to learn how to start your own business (join them here at 3pm ET Tuesday for the Be the Boss session with Dr. Mike Haynie).

Opportunities for Veterans Looking for Civilian Work and Training

Are you a veteran looking for civilian employment and/or training? Read up on an Endowment-sponsored career fair below. Interested in starting your own business? Check out UConn’s entrepreneurial boot camp below, designed specifically for disabled veterans.

• The Call of Duty Endowment is a proud supporter of the US Chamber of Commerce’s Hiring our Heroes career fairs. The Casper Star Tribune recently reported on one of these local career fairs, to be held in Casper, Wyoming today. The article highlighted that “more than 25 employers are expected to participate, with jobs available for veterans and military spouses of all ranks and levels of experience.” To learn more or to register for free, visit www.hoh.greatjob.net

• The Hartford Business Journal featured an interview with Michael J. Zacchea, program manager for the University of Connecticut’s Entrepreneurship Boot Camp for Veterans with Disabilities. In it, he explains that “our program is really an intervention into the economic life of the veteran, by which we give him or her the tools to create self-employment and financial independence. This creates a positive-reinforcing loop for stable housing and mental health.” To learn more, visit http://ebv.business.uconn.edu/

Hiring our Heroes August Career Fairs

Are you a veteran or military spouse looking for a job and need some help? Try attending one of these Hiring our Heroes career fairs, coming to a city near you in August:

August 7, 2012 – Lake Charles, LA

August 9, 2012 – Camp Lejeune – Miltary Spouse Event

August 9, 2012 – Rollinsford, NH

August 9, 2012 – Houston, TX

August 11, 2012 – Great Falls, MT

August 13, 2012 – Quantico, VA

August 14, 2012 – Albuquerque, NM

August 15, 2012 – Sioux Falls, SD

August 16, 2012 – Richmond, VA

August 16, 2012 – Palm Desert/Indio, CA

August 16, 2012 – Dover, DE

August 16, 2012 – San Diego, CA

August 21, 2012 – North Scottsdale, AZ

August 21, 2012 – Statesboro, GA

August 21, 2012 – Romeoville, IL

August 22, 2012 – Modesto, CA

August 23, 2012 – Columbus, OH

August 23, 2012 – South Hill, VA

August 23, 2012 – Huntsville, AL

August 23, 2012 – Miami, FL

August 24, 2012 – Warr Acres, OK

August 24, 2012 – Greensboro/Winston Salem, NC

August 25, 2012 – Indianapolis, IN

August 28, 2012 – Los Angeles, CA

August 28, 2012 – Chester, WV

August 29, 2012 – Fort Belvoir Wounded Warrior Event

August 30, 2012 – Fort Bragg, NC Wounded Warrior Event

For information on these events, or the US Chamber of Commerce’s Hiring our Heroes initiative, check out their website: http://www.uschamber.com/hiringourheroes

Upcoming Career Fairs for Veterans

For those veterans or military spouses looking for employment, attending a local career fair is a great way to meet with potential employers. Here are some June fairs coming to a city near you:

June 21: A Hiring Our Heroes career fair in New York City, NY.

June 21: A Hiring Our Heroes career fair in Los Angeles, CA.

June 22: A free career fair for veterans, current military and their spouses will be held June 22 at the Kansas City National Guard Armory, 7600 Ozark Road.

June 23: The first construction-specific career fair for veterans and military personnel in New Jersey will begin at 9am June 23 at the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst.

June 26: A Hiring Our Heroes career fair in Johnstown, PA.

June 26: The Cobo Center in Detroit, MI will host a three-part event for veterans June 26 focused on jobs, small-business growth and benefits: the National Veteran Small Business Conference and Expo, the VA for Vets Hiring Fair and the VA Open House.

June 26: A Hiring Our Heroes career fair in El Paso, TX.

June 28: Join us on Thursday, June 28 from 10am-2pm at the Norris Conference Center in San Antonio, TX for a free job fair. Over 25 major oil and gas companies are participating.

June 28: A Hiring Our Heroes career fair in Atlanta, GA.

June 28: A Hiring Our Heroes career fair in Washington, DC.

June 29: A Hiring Our Heroes career fair in Cleveland, OH.

June 29: A Hiring Our Heroes career fair in Accomack County, VA.

Are You a Veteran or Military Spouse Looking for a Job? Read this Now!

Career fairs are a great way for veterans and military spouses to be proactive in finding employment. Not only does it show potential employers that you are serious and dedicated, but it also allows employers to see all of your great personality attributes that they sometimes can miss from a resume.

Here are some local career fairs that may be coming to a city near you:

April 25: The Veterans Memorial Building in Tulare, California will host the Veteran’s Opportunity Day Wednesday morning, with a career fair starting at 9am.

April 27: The eighth Heroes 4 Hire Career and Benefits Fair will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday at the Rentschler Field Ballroom in East Hartford, Connecticut.

May 19: Newton, Massachusetts is hosting a job fair and a celebrity basketball game May 19 to benefit veterans. The job fair will begin at 12:30 p.m. at Newton South High School, followed by the basketball game at 1:30 p.m.

May 19: Holt Cat, the Caterpillar Equipment and Engine dealer for South, Central, North and North East Texas has recently announced an upcoming job fair to be held in Irving, Texas. The job fair will be held Saturday May 19, 2012, from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at HOLT’s facility at 2000 E. Airport Freeway in Irving.

As a sponsoring organization, the Endowment is also proud to announce that the Chamber of Commerce’s Hiring our Heroes program will be hosting 25 other career fairs in cities across the country over the next month. To learn more, visit their website, http://www.uschamber.com/hiringourheroes/events

This Week: National Attention Focuses on Veteran Employment Efforts

There has been some much-needed attention to the issue of veteran unemployment this week from MSNBC News, the Call of Duty Endowment, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and government entities.

On Tuesday, Advisory Council member Lisa Rosser was featured in an MSNBC article and video interview titled “Veterans find work at ‘Hiring our Heroes’ job fairs.” In addition to consulting a Call of Duty Endowment representative, the article highlights the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Hiring our Heroes job fairs, which the Endowment announced a partnership with last Fall.

In advocating for the hiring of a veteran as a good business investment, Rosser explains that “the military person has the skill sets you need…Eighty-one percent of the jobs fit what you have in your organization, and the other skills that we bring are managerial and operational and training and leadership experience. What employer doesn’t need those types of skills in their workplace?”

In addition to these efforts, Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis joined members of the Senate Veterans Jobs Caucus this week for an event to kick off their ‘I Hire Veterans,’ which is an “initiative to encourage members of the Senate and the public to show their commitment to hiring veterans by displaying a simple logo in their offices and businesses.”

It is encouraging to see some many different sectors working together to accomplish a goal which we all believe to be of the utmost importance- our veterans are smart and valuable employees who deserve support and opportunities for success in a civilian workplace.

NBC News Shows Support for Veteran Employment

NBC News has recently taken a larger role in bringing national and local media attention to the issue of high veteran unemployment rates with its Hiring our Heroes news segment. Adding to these efforts, they have partnered with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to host a few Hiring our Heroes career fairs.

Both national NBC and MSNBC reporters such as Ann Curry , Tom Brokaw, and Chuck Todd have spent time uncovering this issue in recent video spotlights and interviews. To give a local perspective, MSNBC even invited Representatives Scott Rigell and Bobby Scott, and Senator Jim Webb to discuss some known obstacles and possible solutions to veterans’ unemployment in Virginia.

In honor of the U.S. Chamber’s one year anniversary of the Hiring our Heroes career fair program, job fairs from Fort hood to Chicago will be co-hosted Wednesday, March 28^th by NBC News. NBC’s Today Show will even be broadcasting a fair live at New York’s USS Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum.

For more information, visit the Chamber’s website: http://www.uschamber.com/hiringourheroes

For those veterans and military spouses that cannot attend the fairs in Chicago, Fort Hood, or New York, NBC’s Today Show and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce will also be partnering with Monster/Military.com to host a virtual career fair. For more information and/or to register, visit their website: http://www.veteransvirtualcareerfair.com/

U.S. Chamber of Commerce to Host 400 Career Fairs this Year

Last year the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s 100 Hiring our Heroes career fairs were very effective in offering veterans helpful resume and interviewing tips, as well as opening doors for connecting with employers and on the spot job placements. Today the Chamber announced that in partnering with Capital One, they are now able to offer 400 career fairs this year, throughout the county.

Since its start in March of 2011, the Hiring our Heroes fairs have hosted “more than 90,000 veterans and military spouses and given them the opportunity to meet with over 4,600 different employers. As a result, the Chamber has helped more than 8,000 veterans and military spouses find employment.”

Check out the Chamber’s Hiring our Heroes website to learn more about the exciting new opportunities for veterans to find employment.

Companies Taking Notice: GE Plans to Hire 5,000 Veterans over the Next Five Years and Comcast launches “Hire a Veteran on Demand”

Veterans continue to struggle with high unemployment rates, but some leading corporations are stepping up to help.

GE announced on Monday that the company will hire 5,000 veterans over the next five years. The company also touted its commitment to host 400 veterans’ job fairs this year in partnership with the US Chamber of Commerce’s “Hiring our Heroes” program.  GE currently employs more than 10,000 veterans and has about 100 U.S. employee reservists currently serving overseas.

Comcast also recently announced an innovative new service aimed at helping Veterans. The company launched “Hire a Veteran on Demand” in Massachusetts.  A series of video profiles 26 unemployed veterans talking about their experiences serving, the skills they acquired, and why they would be good employees.  The program features 26 veterans picked by the Department of Veterans’ Services from the over 37,000 veterans that have returned to Massachusetts since 9/11.

As the Boston Globe points out the program is unique in several ways.  Rather than a direct commitment to hire the veterans, Comcast donated its technology and resources to allow veterans to talk about themselves and what they did in the military.  We have blogged before about the difficulties translating military service into civilian terms, and the Comcast program may prove most valuable in this respect.  As the Globe puts it:

The state and Comcast may not put a significant dent in national veteran unemployment rates, but they’ve moved the effort along by trying to overcome a more fundamental challenge: how to translate military assignments into civilian sector needs.

It may not be the universal language of love, but closing the linguistic gap between skills acquired in war and the impenetrable names the military assigns basic functions is no small – in military speak – mission.