• For employers: Insights to recruiting and retaining military, as well as an overview of translating military culture and values to civilian.
• For veterans: Insider (read: recruiter-provided) information on how to apply for jobs and translate military skills to civilian nomenclature and adapt to a civilian work environment.

First, the bad news:  Low employer attendance.  I counted roughly 35 people in the room (once the sessions split into their tracks), but that included the speakers and their entourages, a number of vendors offering military-placement services, and SHRM supporting staff.  So the number of actual employers/HR professionals in attendance was probably closer to 20.  I feel this had a lot to do with limited promotion of the event, not lack of employer interest. I didn’t find out about the event until about 30 days earlier – and all I do is talk to employers about hiring military, so you might think I’d be in the know about these things .  For those HR professionals who made their flight arrangements early, it would have been tough (and expensive) to change plans under short notice, no matter how interested a person was to hear the information.

The good news (and there is a lot of it):

• SHRM President and CEO Lon O’Neil, who attended the opening event, committed to the group that SHRM is going to offer this event each year at the annual conference.   So mark your calendars now for Vegas, baby!  June 26-29, 2011 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.  Expect to see details on the agenda and the dates/times of the military event by late January.
• The keynote speaker for the event, Raymond  Jefferson, the Assistant Secretary for the Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (VETS) at the U.S. Department of Labor, knocked it out of the park.  Click here to see a highlight video of the event (Ray’s remarks begin at 6:18).  Impassioned, dynamic and charismatic – Ray had several calls to action for the HR professionals in attendance.  The two that I think are most beneficial to this readership:
• He asked employers to take advantage of the free services of the more than 2000 Local Veteran Employment Representatives (LVERs) and Disabled Veteran Outreach Program (DVOP) specialists across the US whose job it is to connect veterans in transition with employers looking to hire military.  To find your local LVER or DVOP go to America’s Service Locator to locate the One-Stop Career Center nearest you.
• He announced a new veteran-specific demonstration project in partnership with Job Corps, another Department of Labor initiative.

In case you are not familiar with Job Corps, it recruits, provides free education and career training and placement services to over 60,000 students ages 16-24 annually.

VETs (Ray’s office) and Job Corps are partnering in a demonstration project that will provide Job Corps’ comprehensive array of career development services to eligible veterans 20 to 24 years old to prepare them for successful careers.  This is an accelerated, customized program developed specifically for veterans. This program recognizes the maturity and life experience that veterans have gained from their military experience

Up to 300 service members can participate in this demonstration.  This is a fully-funded, all-expense-paid demonstration project which includes transportation to and from the Job Corps center, housing, meals, basic medical services, academic and career technical training, bi-weekly living allowance, and job placement and post-graduation support.

Career technical training options include, but are not limited to:

• Advanced Manufacturing
• Automotive and Machine Repair
• Construction
• Finance and Business
• Healthcare
• Homeland Security
• Hospitality
• Information Technology
• Renewable Resources and Energy
• Retail Sales and Services
• Transportation

Upon completion of training, Veterans will be assigned to a career transition counselor to assist them with job placement or enrollment in higher education.

Veterans always have the option to enroll in Job Corps training programs at any of the 123 Job Corps Centers across the US; however, this veteran-specific program, while in its year-long demonstration/pilot phase is being run out of only 3 Job Corps Centers:

1. Atterbury Job Corps Center in Edinburgh, Indiana;
2. Earle C. Clements Job Corps Center in Morganfield, Kentucky; and
3. Excelsior Springs Job Corps Center in Excelsior Springs, Missouri.

Veterans:  To  enroll click here go to the Job Corps recruitment site

The enrollment at any of those three centers will be open and continuous until a center reaches 100 Veterans. It is expected that Veteran participants will be enrolling and graduating at various rates. Although Job Corps has set aside 300 slots for the demonstration project, actual participation during the year may exceed that number due to the continuous enrollment.   By the end of the demo year DOL wants to show demand for the program and its effectiveness so they can look to expand it.

So, here is my call to action to employers & higher education institutions:

Having a bunch of really well trained, highly-experienced veterans sitting around unemployed is not going to demonstrate a successful program.  The Job Corps wants to partner with you to make this veteran-specific program a success.

HOW you can partner:

• Internships: Job Corps offers many work-based learning programs and they need employers to offer those internship opportunities.  It’s a Win-Win for all parties:  The veteran gets to demonstrate his/her exceptional skills in a civilian environment; the employer gets a skilled intern at no cost, and has first dibs when it’s time to hire.
• Entry-level hiring: If you are hiring now or anticipate hiring in the next 6-12 months for entry-level positions, the Job Corps will screen eligible students to give you the best possible candidates.  Build a relationship NOW with your local Job Corps contacts to better position your company at the top of the list when the veteran-students graduate from their programs.
• Degree Programs: Some Job Corps centers have cooperative agreements with community colleges or related institutions to teach career area courses or to have individual students take courses to gain college credit. Job Corps will also work with students to help them transfer into college programs when appropriate.  Colleges/Universities: If you are not currently partnered with your local Job Corps Center, get on the band wagon now, in advance of this program being rolled out nation-wide.

WHY you should partner:

• Training tailored to your company’s needs: Your company can establish a training partnership with Job Corps.  Job Corps will specifically tailor their programs to teach the skills your company is looking for in its employees.  For example, Walgreens has a Pharmacy Technician training program offered in a number of Job Corps centers.
• Work Opportunity Tax Credit. Hiring veterans through this program can save you money at tax time by earning you tax credits under the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) program.  Refer to the two earlier blogs I wrote on how to apply for the WOTC.

For complete details including brochures and fact sheets on the program go to http://www.dol.gov/vets/jc-info.htm .

And, lastly, for my VOSB/SDVOB readers out there:  Job Corps spends $1.2B on operational, construction and rehabilitation contracts.   A quick search on Federal Business Opportunities for Department of Labor/Employment Training Administration (which runs Jobs Corps) shows over 500 active requests for proposals posted in the last 90 days.  Also, Job Corps is considering re-implementing the mentor-protégée program that will enable young entrepreneurs specifically veteran and service disabled veteran owned small business leaders to learn the Job Corps business model and how they can prepare their businesses to grow and prosper in this environment.

Lisa Rosser

The Value Of a Veteran

www.TheValueOfaVeteran.com

It is outrageous to think, with the tanking economy and the spiraling unemployment rates over the last 18 months, that any employer believes this is a good recruiting strategy.  HELLO!  This is your Company Brand and Reputation on the line.  In this age of social media, can any employer afford to be so callous and expect no repercussions?  Just because it is not illegal to discriminate against the unemployed doesn’t mean it is a smart move.

I am most concerned with how this attitude impacts military veterans searching for civilian employment.  In 2008, CareerBuilder.com conducted a survey of veterans to gather data on their transition-to-civilian-employment experiences.  Even back then, before the general unemployment situation got really bad,  17% of veterans reported it took more than 6 months to find a job after leaving active duty; 10% said it took over a year.  This lag has a lot to do with the military person struggling to communicate his/her skills in civilian terms, but also has a lot to do with employers not recognizing the skills and talents veterans have to offer.

So, if service members as a group already struggle with higher unemployment because it takes them longer to find employers who understand their value and are willing to hire them, can you see how this “Unemployed Need Not Apply” policy would disproportionately weed out veteran applicants?  As of March 2010, the unemployment rate for young veterans was at 21%.

I’d be willing to bet it unfairly impacts persons with disabilities from applying as well.

Let’s examine why.  I’ll describe their skills using military terms with the related business terms in parentheses.

Combat arms professionals are highly trained and have deep experience in:

1. Understanding the situation

• What is the (business/industry) environment?
• Who are our enemies (competitors)?  What are their strengths and weaknesses?  Where have they been spending their time, money and resources?
• Analyzing raw data and looking for patterns
• Identifying possible enemy (competitor) courses of action based on the patterns

2.  Visualizing the end state, the nature and the design of the operation (business strategy)

• Offense (What steps we must actively take to reach our goals and objectives)
• Defense (What steps we can take to respond to all the potential counter moves by the competition)
• Stability (How we can capitalize on the positive responses we’ve achieved or minimize/mitigate the negative responses)
• Civil Support (What things we need to do to build good will with the customers/clients)

3.  Identifying time, space, resources, purpose and actions required to achieve the end state (project management)

4.  Directing forces (assets – people, equipment, technology, partnerships, etc.)

“OK, so, they have all these great analytical skills – but the industry the military guy knows best is the defense industry.  I am a retailer.”  Should an employer be concerned that the combat arms veteran won’t be able to develop knowledge of another industry, such as energy, finance, telecommunications, etc.?

If you are thinking that trying to teach an infantry guy about a new industry is going to be a challenge, keep in mind that the way the military operates today presents service members with many different types of “business environments” and “competitors” to analyze.  One year the service member is focused on providing humanitarian assistance for natural disasters in Haiti or Chile; the next year he is training Iraqi military; a year later he may be developing national terrorism response plans for a major headquarters.  Today’s service members are quite flexible in moving from one environment to the other and learning what they need to know in order to accomplish the mission.

The last concern employers have is usually about how much experience veterans have with business intelligence applications.  Likely they want someone who already has Cognos or Business Objects experience.  Admittedly, this is where the veteran may fall short.  The service member is most likely going to have experience with BI applications, but it will be with the customized BI products that were developed for the unique needs of the military.  However, since service members as a group are highly trainable and very used to working with new technologies and getting up to speed quickly, employers who are willing to provide some training time on the desired commercial application will soon appreciate that they have hired a highly proficient analyst from the military.  And as a bonus – many combat arms service members come with security clearances or are clearable.

Computerworld selected Business Intelligence Specialists as one of the “9 Hottest Skills for ’09”.   A recent search on CareerBuilder identified over 3,600 job openings for Business Intelligence Analysts across the US.  The smart company (or BI application seller/training provider *HINT *) is going to figure out that they should develop an on-the-job training program and market it towards the transitioning military member and use that as a means to build a robust pipeline of trained analysts to fill their workforce for years to come.

“The first time I began hiring JMOs I was skeptical.  I wanted to support someone who had supported our country but was worried that he would be so used to giving orders that he would struggle in our unionized manufacturing environment and ‘upset the apple cart’.  The reality was quite the opposite – he was used to doing all the paperwork that our union environment dictated but he knew how to coach and counsel as well. When an employee was written-up, he worked with them so that they actually overcame the documented incident and went on to improve considerably. This was the rule not the exception. I was impressed that he was able to earn the respect of some pretty hard-core long-time employees AND get the job done.  I need to replace some folks that will be retiring soon and as far as I’m concerned JMOs are the way to go.“

1. Lack of awareness. Many veterans have not encountered the many non-military professional associations that represent the occupations they have in the military.  Typically, the first time a military person would become aware of an association is in college or vocational/technical school, since professional associations are referred to during instruction and they often provide educational materials and other resources to the classroom.    Not all service members choose to pursue post-secondary education (at least not immediately after leaving the service), so there is a significant contingent of veterans out there who have the right skills, experience and background to be contributing members of a professional association, but who will not learn of these organizations until long after they need its services the most.
2. Cost. Many associations require membership in order to post a resume.  Of those that don’t require membership, some charge a service fee to a non-member to submit a resume.  Many of the companies, government services and non-profit entities whose mission is to meet the needs of service members in transition do so at no charge to the veteran.  Military members can post their resumes with those groups for free.

In summary – the veteran will conduct his/her job search with the organizations that he/she comes in contact with, particularly if that organization is offering to assist at no charge. Professional organizations may argue that they don’t exist primarily to be job boards for their members (or for companies interested in hiring military veterans).  Their mission is first and foremost to promote knowledge sharing among members, to research and provide “best practices” for their industries, and to professionally develop their constituents.   So why should an association make a special effort to support the needs of veterans in transition to civilian employment?  Two reasons:

1. To grow the membership. An association that has a data base of resumes and jobs is a critical benefit which attracts new members and retains existing members.
2. To provide an equal opportunity to another demographic in need. Most associations already offer student membership rates to encourage those studying the profession a means to afford entry.  More and more associations are also offering a reduced or even free temporary membership (usually to an existing member) who has lost a job within the last membership year in order to facilitate that member staying connected to the organization and to take advantage of the knowledge and benefits (like the job board) offered by the association.

What can associations do to facilitate connecting transitioning military members’ resumes with employers looking to hire those skills?

1. Reach out to the military. Just as employers make the effort to learn where to find sources of military veterans to hire, associations need to contact those same sources and connect to veterans in transition.  Explain to those service members the value of membership as a means to both job leads in their career field as well as a source of industry knowledge that will serve them wherever they land.
2. Offer a special reduced (or free!) 1-year membership rate for veterans in transition.  In this case transition would be defined as going from active duty to civilian life or from a mobilization tour (for National Guard/Reserve) back to civilian life.
3. Create education/training/certification programs specifically to prepare military members for civilian careers in your industry.  The National Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE) is a good example of an organization doing just this.  NACE has a corrosion training program that it offers free to Department of Defense personnel.

If you represent an association that is already doing any of the above three ideas (or related ideas) for military veterans I’d like to hear about it.   Please be sure to comment below.

These lines sum up the article: “Veterans reentering the civilian workforce are increasingly finding a warm welcome. That’s especially true for young officers who have led combat units on the front lines. According to headhunters, human resources executives, and business school admissions officers, these candidates — most in their late 20s or early 30s, with a college degree and leadership experience far beyond that of their civilian peers — are stars waiting to happen.

Whatever one may think of the wars they have been sent to fight, there’s no question that these people can lead. And they are products of a military that has now learned, in response to unconventional warfare, to value independent and adaptive thinking.”

Korn Ferry previously studied the ability of military-experienced talent to translate their skills and training to business leadership and found “Companies led by (military-experienced) CEOs delivered higher average returns than the S&P 500 index over the one, three, five and ten-year horizons.”

Patricia Shiu (the Director of OFCCP) has made the enforcement of affirmative action efforts for covered veterans and persons with disabilities a top priority. Click here to read a transcript of a live Q&A session Ms. Shiu held on December 8, 2009 where she outlined the OFCCP’s priorities (and, yes, if you scroll down to 3:24 in the chat record that is yours truly asking a question about how the OFCCP plans to educate contractors on hiring veterans).  Given the unemployment rate of veterans (particularly in the 18-24 year old age group and especially women service members), the continued expansion of the active military force (most of whose members will return to civilian life at some point), the huge number of Guard and Reserve members who rotate back to civilian life and find themselves looking for new jobs, and the growing number of disabled veterans struggling to find work, it is not surprising that there is a renewed interest throughout many parts of the Federal government in improving veteran employment.

If you have read up to this point and are not convinced that this blog contains information that applies to your organization, you might be surprised to find out what kinds of employers may be required (depending on the size of the contract awarded) to comply with some level of OFCCP regulatory requirements:

• Any business with 50 or more employees and $50,000 or more in government contracts
• Construction contractors and subcontractors who hold a Federal or federally-assisted construction contract in excess of $10,000.
• Teaching hospitals doing research for a university that has a contract with the Federal government.
• Colleges/universities who have been awarded grants or contacts to do research for Federal Agencies.
• Businesses of all sizes that have been awarded American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) funds in the form of contracts or grants.

In particular with ARRA the bottom line is that if the government is giving your company tax-payer dollars to provide goods or services, it wants to know that you are making a sincere effort to employ and promote a diverse population.  That includes women, minorities, veterans and persons with disabilities.

If you are saying to yourself “Now, wait a minute – I only have to worry about my efforts in veteran outreach if my contract is over $100,000”, you would be technically correct (presuming that contract was awarded after December 1, 2003).  But if you recognized that the military demographic is over 41% non-white, almost 20% women, and includes a growing number of disabled veterans, you would quickly realize you could achieve many of your affirmative action goals just by making an effort to recruit service members in transition. Also, I would hope it is part of your long term business strategy to go after and win larger contracts/grants so you might as well begin the process now in preparation for winning “the big one”.

When it comes to outreach to veterans, many companies do the bare minimum the OFCCP requires, which is to list their job openings with their state workforce agency.  While that certainly meets the requirement, it hardly qualifies as an extensive outreach program.  Additional things an employer can do to improve outreach include:

• Provide on-the-job training opportunities to veterans
• Update your career page to attract veterans
• Reach out to veterans on campus in Reserve Officer Training Corps programs and Student Veterans of America chapters
• Host virtual open houses and communicate them to the military transition centers
• Contact the wounded warrior programs offered by each service
• Market your career web site and opportunities on social networking sites where veterans gather
• Post your jobs on military job boards or with military-focused recruiting firms and maintain records similar to what you must keep for outreach to minorities and women

(Click on any hyperlink above to read blog entries I’ve made on the topic or web seminars I offer that cover the topic or additional resources.)

To encourage employers to improve their hiring of veterans and veterans with disabilities the OFCCP came up with the Good Faith Initiative for Veterans Employment (G-FIVE).   Click here to read a blog I wrote 18 months ago on the G-FIVE.  Each December the OFCCP releases its list of organizations that have attained G-FIVE recognition.  Organizations that receive G-FIVE recognition are excluded from an OFCCP compliance evaluation for three (3) years following the date the recipient receives the rating. Companies can self-nominate to be considered for G-FIVE recognition.

If your organization has been through an OFCCP audit recently, or has applied/been considered for G-FIVE recognition, I’d like to hear about your experience and what you have discovered about outreach to veterans and veterans with disabilities.  Please be sure to comment below.

This was easy to explain – JMOs have not only supervised individuals ranging from their teens to their 40s but they have written and delivered annual performance evaluations. This is frequently one of the hardest skills to develop in young managers.

Additionally, part of their duties include coaching, counseling and giving guidance on family issues too. Employers find very few civilians of the same age and education level that match the managerial background of JMOs.

Mo

A recruiter asked me this week, “Why should I focus more attention on military job fairs that take place on the military installations as opposed to off-base events?”  What I explain is that by attending military career fairs on the installations, their chances for connecting with high-value transitioning military job seekers are higher than with “off-base” job fairs. In this same vein, military job fairs held on-base make it easier for the men and women of the military to be able to participate as in many cases they are simply walking from their current military job to the civilian job fair. In addition, the employers I work with enjoy being able to meet the military candidates face-to-face in a setting where the job seekers already have a comfort level.

I have clients that look for maintenance, logistics and driver backgrounds and they have informed me that they have been able to meet more of this profile via an on-base military job fair than with any other channel.  Part of this has to do with the specialized outreach we do to attract candidates, but much has to do with the fact that it is easy for candidates to attend an on-base career event.

While I have seen indications that some agencies have established an office, I haven’t (yet) seen more OBVIOUS evidence on any agency career site that their VEPO exists and is open for business.  And, when I say OBVIOUS I mean a “can’t miss it” link or graphic on the agency career home page that says “Veterans – click here for direct assistance in finding a career at Agency X”.   I’d also like to see a full list of agency VEPO’s with links made available via the FedsHireVets.gov website so veterans have one place to find this kind of information.

(And, speaking of the FedsHireVets.gov website – it just updated its site on Jan 21^st.  Now it has lots of good basic information in one location for both veterans and federal HR practitioners and hiring managers – go check it out.)

To have an OBVIOUS link on the career home page is not such an odd request.  Most of the agency career sites (see a few examples here such as the Department of State, Department of Justice, and Department of Treasury) have a special link for college students, with a page full of information directed toward them on internships and special programs (such as fellowships and clerking opportunities).  Why not add a veteran link from the main career page which lands on an information page targeted at veterans?

Having an OBVIOUS link for veterans on a career homepage with a veteran-specific landing page is a “best practice” tactic I advocate in my Marketing to Attract the Military Applicant web seminar and my employer’s guide to hiring military.  Most of the civilian companies on the G.I. Jobs Top 100 Military Friendly Employers annual list and the CivilianJobs.com Most Valuable Employers for Military employ this tactic, and clearly they have proven their success and experience in attracting veterans to their organizations.

All employers (civilian or government) who want to attract military veteran applicants have to remember that this is a group of people who, while having a tremendous amount of valuable job skills and training, do not have experience in navigating a civilian/federal applicant tracking system.

Rarely does a military person have to “apply” for a job while in the military.  We can express our preferences for where we would like to be stationed, and the higher in rank we are the more room we have for negotiation on types of assignments we’d like to accept, but at the end of the day we go where we are told to go (that’s why it’s called an “assignment”).  In the military we are centrally managed by a group of human resource professionals who know where the job openings are and have access to service members job performance records and basic resume-like information (education, training, previous jobs completed, etc.).  With that information these HR professionals create a list of service men/women who meet the requirements of the upcoming vacancy and who are also in a position to move to their next assignment.  The magic happens from there.   So, you can see why navigating a civilian/federal job site can be overwhelming and frustrating.  Taking that seemingly small step of creating an OBVIOUS link and a veteran-specific landing page makes the whole process easier and less daunting.  It also demonstrates that your organization wants to attract military and wants veterans to apply.

One closing thought, just for our Federal employers:  The government has a web site called StudentJobs.Gov which lists jobs, internships, scholarships, fellowships, grants, apprenticeships and cooperative education within the Federal Government.  I don’t know that we need a VeteranJobs.Gov just yet, since for the most part we can apply to anything in USAJobs.gov.  But, if the government decides to get creative and start offering internships, on-the-job training programs, management trainee programs, fellowships, etc. just for veterans, then it should consider creating it.