Transition Insight

Hire Vets Initiatives

By Barbara Adams, CPRW, CEIP, CMRC, CFRW
www.militaryresumewriters.com and www.careerproplus.com

In a recent press release from the White House it was noted that over 1M veterans will transition from the military from 2011 to 2016. With the veterans unemployment rate currently at 14.5% which is higher than the overall public sector industry average, the President was tasked with coming up with a plan. We have seen a few initiatives already launched such as the addition of tasking select employees within various federal agencies to assist veterans apply and earn federal jobs. But more needed to be done.

Just recently President Obama proposed even more initiatives aimed at improving employment opportunities for veterans.

• First, he proposed a Returning Heroes Tax Credit for businesses that hire unemployed veterans. Under this program, businesses could receive a maximum credit of $2,400 for every short-term unemployed veterans they hire, and $4,800 for every long-term unemployed veteran they hire. Sounds like a pretty good incentive and good news for veteran job seekers.
• Additionally, he proposed boosting the Wounded Warriors Tax Credit for businesses that hire veterans with service-connected disabilities who have been unemployed long-term, up to $9,600 per veteran. This can only help our wounded warriors to make smooth transitions back into the workplace.
• The Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs will also be leading a new task force to help exiting service members get the kind of training, education and credentials they need to transition into the civilian workforce or pursue higher education. This would include a "Reverse Boot Camp" concept to provide extended career counseling and guidance.
• The Department of Labor will develop and launch an "enhanced career development and job search service package" for transitioning vets.
• The Office of Personnel Management will create a "best practices" guide to help private-sector companies identify and hire more vets.
• Finally, President Obama has challenged businesses to commit to hire or provide training to 100,000 unemployed veterans and spouses by the end of 2013. A number of major U.S. firms, including Microsoft, AT&T and Lockheed Martin, have already committed to the program.

Are these initiatives enough? Time will tell, but our veteran’s deserve the best possible assistance and treatment upon their return from war.

Barbara Adams, President and CEO of CareerPro Global (CPG), the parent company of www.careerproplus.com and www.militaryresumewriters.com, has been a member of the careers community for the past 20 years. Ms. Adams holds four prestigious industry certifications. CareerPro Global is the only ISO 9001-2008 Certified Career Service in the industry, as well as one of the fastest-growing Military, Federal, and Civilian Resume-Writing and Careers-Coaching companies. The team of Certified Professional Federal and Military Resume Writers at CPG assist thousands of clients in applying for and gaining employment each year. We can help you land your military to civilian job.

Back

Microsoft donates cash, software to help military vets get IT skills

Microsoft is backing a jobs for American vets effort with $2 million in cash and up to $6 million in software and training to help U.S. military veterans get IT training.

Microsoft is expanding the Redmond software giant’s Elevate America Veterans initiative by partnering with the U.S. Department of Labor to distribute 10,000 technology training and certification packages to veterans.

Microsoft timed its announcement to coincide with President Obama's announcement earlier this month of new measures to help returning vets tackle a high unemployment rate.

Microsoft VP Curt Kolcun applauded Obama's efforts to help prepare veterans to make the transition to the civilian workforce in a company blog post on August 5: As a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and a member of the board of the United Service Organizations, these issues resonate and are deeply personal. I am proud to work for a company that is committed to offering solutions to help our veterans.

With the new cash and donated software, Microsoft’s commitment in supporting training for veterans adds up to $12 million in cash, products and other services.

Microsoft also recruits veterans through the company’s Military2Microsoft program, which helps veterans and those serving in the National Guard and Reserve to find job opportunities at Microsoft.

Back

Missing credentials hamper jobless veterans

In the tight job market, recent veterans say they're passed over for jobs not because they are unqualified, but because they lack required credentials, a formal education or a way to describe their military skills that employers understand.

"I compare myself to civilians I know and I have had leadership opportunities -- making the hard choice -- that I don't see in my civilian counterparts," said David Nawrocki, a 30-year-old staff sergeant.

He ran an ammunition supply point in Afghanistan and, as a logistics coordinator in Washington, worked out ways to save the Army more than $1 million earlier this year.

"I don't know how to translate it into civilian terms," said Nawrocki, who joined the Army at 17 and hasn't finished college.

He has applied for 800 jobs since February and has had just one interview. His Army job in Washington ended this summer.

"There is a sense of abandonment," said Daniel Nichols, former chief of staff for the Labor Department's Veteran Employment and Training Services (VETS). He is now director of Military to Medicine, which trains veterans and their spouses for jobs in healthcare.

Veterans, he said, think: "I served my country and provided all this, and come back and what do I have now? Maybe a lot of bad memories that I don't want and skills that nobody recognizes."

More than a dozen government programs aim to tackle veteran unemployment through job search courses, career centers, hiring fairs and grants for states and local agencies.

But many former servicemen say what they really need is a waiver from the often lengthy training process required to get jobs for which they are already effectively qualified.

The GI bill and some Pentagon programs will reimburse vets for training and certification exams, but the training itself can last weeks to several years.

According to the Defense Department, 88 percent of military jobs have "direct civilian counterparts." But most states require veterans to retrain before they can take similar civilian positions.

According to the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians, paramedic training takes about 18 months. Air traffic controllers must retrain for one to two months according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

"They come back from doing 24/7 medic work and can't even drive an ambulance," said Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat who is chairwoman of the Veteran Affairs committee.

Murray proposed a bill in May to ease licensing requirements for veterans in five military jobs with civilian equivalents. Republican U.S. Representative Jeff Miller proposed another, which focuses on five to 10 positions.

Nichols, the former chief of staff at VETS, is skeptical. "They have studied those 10 MOS's (military occupational speciality) since I was in there ten years ago," said Nichols.

One of the biggest hurdles to helping veterans is the abundance of government agencies that aim to do it, he said. Three federal departments handle veterans' issues, and states set most of their own licensing requirements.

Labor Secretary Hilda Solis says her department is doing its part. "We're committed to doing all that we can to help returning service members navigate their way through the difficult transition into the civilian work force," she said in an email. She pointed to a new Labor program offering free certification training for young veterans. The Veterans Affairs and Defense departments offer others.

But the Pentagon acknowledges it needs to do more. Ed Kringer, director of the Pentagon's State Liaison & Educational Opportunity Office, says the department is conducting a "wholesale review" of employment for people leaving the military. "We have heard the concerns and are actively engaged in addressing them," Kringer said

In Virginia, a frustrated Sergeant Nawrocki is starting an online training course in logistics -- even though he has 13 years' experience. "I know I can do the job but I know employers don't understand that and want to see the certification," he said.

Back

G.I. Bill expands coverage, still faces budget uncertainty

By Caitlin Fairchild

More changes are coming to the post-Sept. 11 G.I. Bill. The third round of updates is scheduled to roll out Oct. 1, according to a Veterans Affairs Department announcement last week.

New provisions include eligibility for educational programs that do not lead to a college degree, such as flight training and apprenticeships. Additionally, the bill now will provide a housing allowance for students not on active duty and enrolled only in distance learning. In addition, active-duty students will receive a stipend for books and supplies.

Previous updates of the expanded act, which President Obama signed in January, began in March and August. Keith Wilson, director of VA's education service, called the changes a significant expansion.

Brian Hawthorne, a board member of the Student Veterans of America, said he was very pleased with the expansion and the administration's timeliness in enacting the changes.

More than 130,000 people have applied for VA benefits for fall 2011 enrollment, and VA has processed more than 110,000 of those applications. The department requested $11.1 billion for the bill for fiscal 2012, an increase of more than $2 billion from the previous year's request.

Despite the gradual expansion of the program, some cuts could be on the horizon. Veterans organizations suspect the upcoming budget cuts required by the 2011 Budget Control Act will target the G.I. bill along with other veteran and military benefits. The act combines the discretionary budgets of several agencies -- including VA and the Defense, Homeland Security and State departments -- and forces reduction in the combined budget.

The White House recently sat down with veterans groups to assure them their benefits would be protected in deficit-reduction talks, but Joseph Chenelly and Joseph Violante, both from the Disabled American Veterans, said that the White House did not address whether the G.I. bill would be safe from cuts.

Recently, Senate majority leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., selected Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., to co-chair the deficit reduction super committee. Murray also chairs the Senate Veteran Affairs committee.

"Hopefully, she will protect veterans' benefits as a member of the super committee," SVA's Hawthorne said. "We have a good relationship with her and she knows how important the G.I. bill is."

Back