A Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Study published in March 2007 entitled “Characteristics and Pay of Federal Civilian Employees” reported that in 2005 the average permanent full-time civilian federal employee was 47 years old.  The average federal worker in that group retires at age 59.  In the same study the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) reported that it expected a peak in federal retirements to occur between 2008 and 2010.   It is reasonable to assume that this expected peak has been delayed by a few years because of the ongoing recession, but it will come eventually.

So, what can the Federal Government be doing now prepare to replace all of those people? The government competes with the private sector for the same applicants, and oftentimes the private sector wins because it offers a better salary or more (perceived) prestige.  And the process for applying for a federal job is so complicated (compared to private industry) and takes such a long time that applicants with high demand skills feel the road to a career in the private sector is just easier to pursue.

To make federal employment more appealing to young Americans, Representatives David Price (D-N.C.) and Michael Castle (R-Del.) introduced the House version of a bill called the Roosevelt Scholars Act in July 2009.  In November 2009 Senators George Voinovich (R-OH) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) submitted the Senate version.   Both versions of the Roosevelt Scholars Act would provide scholarships to students in skilled fields such as engineering, information technology, foreign languages and public health in exchange for a federal government service commitment of three to five years. Both versions of the bill would establish a small foundation to administer the scholarships, and provide tuition and living expenses of up to $60,000 per year.  The primary difference between the two versions is that the Senate version covers both undergraduate and graduate (masters, law and doctoral) students, where the House version applies only to graduate students.

The Roosevelt Scholars Act is aimed at those pursuing education that is directly related to one or more occupational areas designated as “mission critical”.  The top areas where the government is hiring include medical and public health, security and protection, compliance and enforcement, legal, and administration/program management.  Go to Where the Jobs Are 2009 to see additional federal agency hiring projections by professional field (IT, education, engineering, etc.).

Students who receive Roosevelt scholarships would be required to intern with a Federal Agency while pursuing their degree.  After completing their degree, the Federal Agency can use a Special Hiring Authority to make a non-competitive appointment for a period not to exceed 2 years.  After which, the appointee can be converted to career or career-conditional employment to serve out the remaining 1-3 years of the commitment.  Uncle Sam hopes that at the end of the commitment the scholar’s experience will have been so fantastic and rewarding that he/she will want to stay with the government for a longer career.

It sounds like a great idea.  It should – the Roosevelt Scholars Act is modeled after the Reserve Officer Training Program (ROTC), a college-based commissioning program which has been highly successful in producing roughly 40% of the officers serving in todays military.

So, here is my crazy idea – why not modify/amend the Roosevelt Scholars Act to create a special avenue for military veteran scholars?  The selection process to become a Roosevelt Scholar would work the same and the veteran would have the same 3-5 year federal commitment after completing his/her degree.  The bonus is that the service member already has use of the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill to cover tuition, books, and living expenses.  And, if the veteran chooses a college that participates in the Yellow Ribbon Program, which is designed to supplement the difference between undergraduate and graduate tuition costs, much if not all of the costs of the graduate degree will be covered.   In this way, all parties win:

• The veteran gets an (advanced) degree and a federal job;
• The Theodore Roosevelt Scholarship Foundation (which would administer the program) retains the money which can then be used to fund more scholarships for non-veteran students; and,
• The Federal Government gets great quality hires AND has an additional way to support the new Executive Order #13518 (“Employment of Veterans in the Federal Government”) AND can accept an unlimited number of veterans into the program because it isn’t restricted by the amount of money in the foundation available to fund scholarships.

If you think this is a good idea contact your congressional representative and/or senator and let them know you’d like to see the bill updated to better support veterans.

If you want to check on the status of either version of this bill go to The Library of Congress’ THOMAS search engine for the Bill Summary and Status Search of the 111^th Congress (2009-2010) and type in “Roosevelt scholars”.  THOMAS, named after Thomas Jefferson, is designed to make federal legislative information freely available to the public.

Every company has certain categories of positions that are in constant need of filling. Whether those positions are computer programmers, help desk technicians, quality assurance inspectors or warehouse and distribution specialists, it becomes frustrating when your company and your company’s competition are both fishing in the same ponds for the same people. How long does it take you to fill these positions? And, do you have to pay more to get these people in order to beat your competition, or are you constantly losing out because you can’t match the salaries offered by your competition? Did you have to bring on workers with H-1B visas to meet the demand? Is there a better way to build a pipeline of qualified applicants to fill the constant demand? Is there a different “pond” you could be fishing in for underutilized talent? There is – read on!

As mentioned in my last blog, more than 80% of the jobs we have in the military have a civilian equivalent. Generally, the main differences between the qualifications of civilian applicants and military applicants doing the same work are that the military applicants:

• Might not possess a particular certification or required license. This occurs because the military doesn’t require them to have the civilian certification/license in order to do the job in the military.
• Might not have working knowledge of specific commercial applications used by civilian companies. This is because, given some of the unique requirements we have in the military, many of our military applications have been custom built for us. So, if you ask the veteran with 12 years of human resources experience whether he/she has used Taleo (a talent management system), he/she will say “no”. But he/she will be very familiar with the military’s custom built version of a talent management system, and will have a deep understanding of the full talent management lifecycle.

These surmountable differences leave us with a huge military talent pool every year who have most of the knowledge, skills and aptitudes needed to do a great job for a civilian company. More than 200,000 veterans leave the service each year (due to retirement or end of contract) and most struggle for months to find a job commensurate with their abilities and level of management/supervisory experience. This is a talent pool that is grossly underutilized and that would be a bounty for any savvy employer who was willing to try this idea to recruit veterans.

Consider creating an on-the-job training (OJT) program and market it to veterans. OJT programs can be designed for any kind of job, from human resource specialists to business analysts to security guards to any manner of technical positions. The benefit to the employer is that they can build a pipeline of heavily skilled, easily trainable quality candidates who will be groomed in exactly the way needed for the jobs in highest demand in their organization. The benefit to the veteran is an opportunity to either build on the training he/she has already received in the military or to pursue a new career in the civilian workplace.

So, maybe right now you are thinking that an OJT program could be a good way to tap into that pool of transitioning service members and help build your pipeline, but you are holding off because you know your company’s training budget has been severely reduced. The good news here is that there is a way for employers to recoup much of the costs to produce the training by structuring the training such that it qualifies as an approved education or training program eligible for the G.I. Bill. This means that the veteran can use his/her G.I. Bill benefits to pay to participate in the OJT program, thereby allowing the employer to recoup some of the cost to produce the training (i.e., instructional designer’s fee, facilities rental, material production, etc.)

Here are a few basic things to know about creating an OJT program that qualifies for G.I. Bill reimbursement:

• The new Post 9/11 G.I. Bill does not cover OJT programs. Earlier versions of the G.I. Bill (i.e., Montgomery G.I. Bill and Reserve Educational Assistance Program or REAP) do cover OJT programs. View a comparison chart of the types of training covered by different versions of the bills.

• Veterans who are eligible for both the Post 9/11 and one other version of the G.I. Bill have to make an irrevocable decision if they want to take advantage of the very generous Post 9/11 G.I. Bill. So, the earlier you market these OJT programs to the military community, the greater likeliness you will find those veterans who have not yet made the irrevocable decision to switch to the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill.

• The G.I. Bill benefits are paid directly to the veteran, who in turn pays you. They are generally paid one month in arrears. So, for example, if they begin training on September 1st, they will receive their benefit check for the month of September in October. Keep that lag time in mind as you determine your tuition and payment plan.

• In order for your training program to be declared G.I. Bill –eligible it must first be approved by your State Approving Agency. State Approving Agencies approve the programs within their borders and determine which programs are appropriate for veterans to enroll in to utilize their VA educational benefits.

• The program must include an employment objective (i.e., “Help Desk Technician” or “Computer Software Engineer” or “Storage and Distribution Manager”)

• Hint: go to O*Net Online and type in your position name. It will display a number of related occupational titles with associated Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) Systems codes.

• Select the occupational title(s) that most closely resembles the position for which you are designing the OJT program and review the lists of tasks performed and tools used by that occupation.

• Incorporate those tasks and tools into your training design, plus any other specific requirements.

• In order to be classified as an OJT program, the training must be for a minimum of 6 months and a maximum of 24 months in length. 6 months equals 1,000 hours of training if the OJT program is full time.

• The OJT program must have an associated incremental pay scale. This means that while the costs of the program can be offset by the G.I. Bill, the employer is still required to pay a wage to the trainee. The starting wage can be minimum wage (or higher). The ending wage should be equivalent to the hourly wage you would pay if you were hiring someone who was already fully qualified. There should be at least one incremental pay increase between start and finish for a six month program and more if your program is longer than 6 months. Pay increases can be tied to training milestone achievements (i.e., pass this exam or assessment) or to program duration milestones (i.e., every 4 weeks).

• The OJT program must include a detailed training plan. So, for a 6 month training program, what will you cover during the 1,000 hours of training?

Once you submit your training plan for review, the SAA approval can be granted in as little as 2-8 weeks if you’ve met all the criteria and have structured the program correctly. If you would like assistance in designing an OJT program, please contact me. There are minor record-keeping requirements that must be kept on file and also reported so that the veteran will be paid. Your SAA will provide you with those details.

Once you get approval for your G.I. Bill –eligible OJT program, you need to market your program to veterans. But where should you promote your program to get the attention of the military member? There are at least a half dozen avenues you can use to get the word out to the veteran community, from military transition centers to social networking sites. If you are interested in learning more, I encourage you to register for my web seminar entitled “Military Applicant Sourcing Options” (now available on demand).

While no one is yet sure when this will translate into increased numbers of veterans applying to colleges and universities in order to pursue college degrees and/or certificates, there is no denying that interest in using the program is very high, unlike previous versions of the G.I. Bill.

So, what should colleges and universities be doing now to prepare for a return of military veterans to campus in the coming years?  This question and many more are addressed in a new 1-day workshop offered by The Value Of a Veteran. If you are a College/University Director of HR, Admissions, Student Life, Veterans Services, Office of Disabilities, or Diversity, I encourage you to go to The Value Of a Veteran website for more details on this workshop and to request a sample agenda.

But, wait a minute – isn’t this a forum for recruiters and hiring managers?  Why should we care about the new Post 9/11 G.I. Bill? You may already know that I advocate using colleges & universities as a source for hiring veterans. I cover the technique in my web seminar “Military Applicant Sourcing Options” and I have written two blog articles in this forum on the subject. Here’s how you can use knowledge of the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill and its effects on veterans applying to higher education institutions to help you recruit on campus:

Let’s say you have a recurring need to hire geospatial analysts. The ideal candidate should have a bachelor’s degree in Geospatial Intelligence (or related program), a minimum 4 years of experience, and a current security clearance. Wouldn’t it be extremely helpful to for you to know:

• Which colleges/universities offer geospatial intelligence degrees? (You may already have this information.)
• Whether those colleges/universities have created a “veteran friendly” environment to maximize the likeliness that service members will want to use their Post 9/11 G.I. Bill benefits there? (You’ll have to ask.)
• Whether those colleges/universities are marketing their geospatial degree programs to the military to attract veterans with clearances and real-world experience in geospatial intelligence? (You’ll have to ask.)
• Whether you could build/improve your relationships with those colleges/universities and offer internships or other incentives to influence those degree-seeking veterans to apply to your company?

If you determine that some of your standard sources of colleges/universities are missing the mark when it comes to attracting veterans to campus, you can let them know they are missing a huge opportunity by not actively trying to attract veterans to their degree programs. Then you can tell them to give me a call and I’d be happy to get them on the right path

• Establishing a specific military hiring initiative as part of its overall HR strategy;
• Recruiting at military job fairs, through military job boards and on military installations;
• Preparing their recruiters and/or hiring managers on how to screen a veteran resume and interview service members;
• Updating their marketing materials to attract the military.

Advanced Technology Services (ATS) is known for making factories run better. ATS improves the productivity and profitability for many of the world’s most respected manufacturers through the managed services of production equipment maintenance, information technology and spare parts repair. Founded in 1985, ATS employs over 2,300 people across the U.S., Mexico and United Kingdom. ATS is headquartered in Peoria, IL with offices and services centers located in Greenville, SC, Chicago, IL, Detroit, MI, Monterrey, Mexico and the United Kingdom.

ATS began an aggressive recruiting campaign targeting military veterans in 2005 and haven’t slowed down since. Today service members comprise almost 28% of their total workforce. In 2008 ATS hired approximately 300 veterans (about 33% of total hires for that year).

Holly Mosack, ATS Recruiting Manager and an Army veteran herself, knows how talented service members are. “They bring a level of dedication - a can-do attitude – that is hard to find in the civilian sector. They understand mission accomplishment, have leadership skills that you can’t find elsewhere and bring with them the ability to look ahead instead of just being reactive. They work well on teams, think outside of the box, make things happen and instead of complaining, they find the solutions. They don’t like to fail and they take pride in all they do.”

ATS appreciates and takes advantage of the mechanical training many military members have attained while working on tanks, generators, aircraft, electronic equipment, and vehicles. Says Mosack, “We find that veterans pick up the technical skills easily. At ATS, we specialize in factory maintenance. Most veterans leaving the service have never worked on factory equipment. However, they are able to take the skills that they’ve learned in the military and easily transfer those skills to our business.”

To better facilitate the veterans transition to working with factory equipment ATS sponsors a Multi-Skilled Technical Training program. It is an accredited, ten-month course designed to take someone from having a mechanical or electrical aptitude and turn them into a skilled Manufacturing Maintenance Technician. ATS has found veterans to be a great match for this program and military members enjoy the benefit of applying their GI Bill to pay for the program.

In addition to reaping the cost benefit of a hiring a skilled workforce, ATS also takes advantage of the various tax credits for hiring veterans and the relocation cost savings that can be realized by connecting with active duty service members early in their transition process.

A military recruiting best practice I recommend in my web seminar “Translating the Military Resume and Interviewing Tips” is to use recruiters who have been trained to screen and interview veterans, including screening a veteran resume. ATS has four recruiters who are also former military members. These recruiters enjoy speaking with service members and can quickly help them understand how their skills translate into positions at ATS. Mosack continues, “Having military veterans as recruiters has been a huge advantage for us. These recruiters understand the skill sets that the veterans possess and can easily translate those skills to hiring managers who may not be familiar with the military.”

Another military recruiting best practice I recommend in my web seminar “Marketing to Attract the Military Applicant” is to make sure service members know from every possible recruiting vehicle (i.e., your career website, your recruiting materials, etc.) that your company is “military-friendly”. You can do this through:

• Partnering with various Department of Defense employment initiatives
• Establishing supportive HR policies and programs

“Four years ago, most veterans had probably never heard of ATS, where now we are considered one of the top military-friendly companies,” says Mosack. “Veterans receive support and recognition from our President and CEO as well. We proudly display service flags for all of our Reservists and National Guardsmen that are currently deployed and provide support to their families. We have a great relationship with the Army’s Partnership for Youth Success program and look forward to continuing to grow our veteran population at ATS.” ATS is also a proud supporter of the National Guard and Reserves and is the recipient of two awards given by the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserves for its military-friendly policies

For more information about ATS visit its website at www.AdvancedTech.com.

The number of veterans pursuing higher education after completing service is on the rise, and is expected to explode in the coming years, thanks to the new and very generous Post 9/11 G.I. Bill (www.gibill.va.gov/S22/Post_911_Factsheet.pdf), which goes into effect in August 2009. With increased veteran presence on college campuses comes the need for learning institutions to provide services to support those military members.

Student veterans groups are popping up on campuses across the country. A driving force behind that effort is the Student Veterans of America (www.studentveterans.org). The SVA was established in January 2008 with the goals of “develop[ing] student veteran groups on college and university campuses and coordinat[ing} by region between existing groups; connect[ing] student groups with resources; [and] advocat[ing] on behalf of student veterans at the state and national level.”

The state of California created Troops to College (www.troopstocollege.ca.gov) with the express purpose of attracting more veterans to California’s public universities and colleges by making campuses more veteran friendly.

So, why should recruiters target the student veteran groups? Let’s look at the typical population of a student veteran group:

• Former service members who have separated from the military and who are now pursuing higher education.
• Military guardsmen or reservists who are on campus to build additional skills or obtain certifications.
• Active duty service members who are pursuing advanced degrees or certifications.
• Veteran’s family members or loved ones who work on campus or who are students themselves.

Employers looking to hire military can provide a service and create a recruiting link by establishing a relationship with student veterans groups. Open up a dialog with them by making it known that you are a company that values and supports military service. Be clear that you want to hire former service members, and that you embrace the opportunity to promote your company brand to this constituency. Then do just that – come to campus for career day, or sit on a career panel, or host an “open house” just for the veterans.

If you are within a 3 hour drive of the campus, invite the veterans to your location for a special “welcome veterans” event. Provide a tour of your company. Arrange for a meet-and-greet with some of your veteran-employees who can share their experience with transitioning to civilian employment and who can explain how their military skills are being utilized in a corporate job.

If your office is not near a campus, you can still send a contingent of veteran employees and a recruiter to campus for a special afternoon/evening, perhaps at a local restaurant or a catered event at a local hotel.

To find colleges and universities with a student veteran group go to www.studentveterans.org/chapterinfo/search.php.

Posted by Lisa Rosser, Author of and Speaker/Workshop Leader on The Value Of a Veteran(TM): The Guide for Human Resource Professionals to Regarding, Recruiting, and Retaining Military Veterans

]]> http://www.HireMilitary.com/2008/10/finding-military-veterans-on-college-campuses-part-2/feed/ 0