Links to Opportunity

The challenges facing veterans upon their return from Iraq and Afghanistan have been well documented: difficulty transitioning into civilian life after enduring extreme stresses in theater; discrimination based on disabilities (45 percent of the 1.6 million Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have filed service-related disability claims); a greater risk of joblessness and homelessness in a sputtering economy; and family stresses brought on by repeated tours of duty.

There is no shortage of awareness of these challenges among both the public and private sectors. Many of the veterans who have found jobs have done so through the initiative of employers who have publicly proclaimed a desire to hire from a demographic known for dedication, loyalty, and skill.

However, veterans should temper their expectations when searching the sites launched by these private-sector efforts: Some initiatives have been derided as publicity stunts, undertaken to bolster the reputations of the nation’s biggest job outsourcers, and navigating the links on their sites can be a frustrating journey through third-party recruiters (many of them overseas), ads for “purple squirrels” (the rare perfect candidate who does not exist), job site aggregators, sales pitches for job application/résumé software, and conflicting job requirements.

Among the private-sector efforts to hire and train workers reliable sources include:

• Veterans on Wall Street (www.veteransonwallstreet.com), an initiative to help support, educate, and recruit former active-duty service members, as well as members of the National Guard and Reserve and their families, as they transition to the civilian workforce;
• Troops to Energy Jobs (www.troopstoenergyjobs.com), a program sponsored by the Center for Energy Workforce Development and the Edison Electric Institute to help veterans transfer their training and experience into college credits that will bring expertise to utility companies and help meet the nation’s energy demand;
• Veterans Green Jobs (www.veteransgreenjobs.org), a nonprofit dedicated to connecting veterans with meaningful employment opportunities that serve America’s communities and environment; and
• National Veterans Transition Services, Inc. (NVTSI), a San Diego, Calif.-based nonprofit launched by retired Navy Rear Adm. Veronica “Ronne” Froman in July 2010, sponsors three-week REBOOT Workshops™, a “reverse boot camp” that helps veterans ease back into civilian life. The workshops are available free of charge for veterans, active-duty personnel, and spouses. For more information, go to www.nvtsi.org.

The federal government’s partnership between the VA, DOL, and other federal agencies has developed several Web portals that help veterans to find work with a variety of services including recruitment, training, and placement. Among the most prominent are:

• the Web portal for the White House’s Joining Forces initiative (www.whitehouse.gov/joiningforces), which contains information and resource links for service members, veterans, and their spouses;
• the DOL’s Veteran Employment and Training Service  (www.dol.gov/vets) conducts a number of initiatives, including the Gold Card program (www.dol.gov/vets/goldcard.html), which provides unemployed post-9/11 veterans with intensive job preparation and placement services;
• the employment section of the VA’s eBenefits links (www.ebenefits.va.gov), which includes job boards, training and career planning, resources for military spouses, and small business assistance.

Despite the funding challenges faced by every executive branch agency, the federal government is also the nation’s largest employer, and an active recruiter of service members and veterans who have proven well adapted for civilian work in the federal government. Unsurprisingly, both the DoD (www.militaryconnection.com) and the VA (www.vaforvets.va.gov) recruit heavily from among former service members, but the federal government extends preferences to veterans in federal hiring (http://vaforvets.va.gov/Pages/default.aspx) throughout the executive branch and independent agencies. The White House’s Office of Personnel Management maintains a complete listing of available federal jobs at www.usajobs.gov, and the Department of Education’s Troops to Teachers program (www2.ed.gov/programs/troops/index.html) funds the recruitment, training, and support of former active-duty military members as teachers in high-poverty schools.

For service members who are considering the launch of a small business, two key resources are the National Resource Directory and the VA’s Center for Veterans Enterprise (CVE), which is dedicated solely to assisting veterans in starting and building businesses. The center maintains a portal for veteran-owned businesses, www.vetbiz.gov.

A number of online job boards and search engines are designed specifically for servicemen and women and veterans, but not all are reputable; it’s best to consult the ones vetted by eBenefits or other government portals. Several of these are powerful search engines that match job opportunities to a service member’s work experience, including:

• My Next Move (www.mynextmove.org/vets), a joint VA/DOL creation;
• the government’s National Resource Directory, a  military/veteran support portal, operates the Veterans Job Bank (www.nationalresourcedirectory.gov/home/veterans_job_bank), which allows veterans to search opportunities by keyword, MOS/MOC, and location;
• Military.com’s Veteran Employment Center (www.military.com/veteran-jobs);
• www.HireAHero.org; and
• Transition Assistance Online (www.TAOnline.com), an e-recruiting site founded by former military personnel.

Other reputable job boards and recruiting programs include RecruitMilitary.com, helmetstohardhats.org, the VFW’s VetJobs.com, MilitaryHire.com, and The Riley Guide (rileyguide.com/vets.html).

It’s important to remember that relying solely on these online resources is to cast yourself into a sea of electronically submitted résumés and applications, in which recruiters and human resources departments are currently drowning. In launching a new career, there can be no substitute for building relationships: discovering the kind of work you want to do, finding other people who like to do it, and forming the bonds that will help launch and sustain a career.

Meanwhile, at the very least, it’s possible to take some comfort in knowing that a nationwide network of advocates – including the people for whom you might someday work – is pulling for you.

This story was first published in The Year in Veterans Affairs & Military Medicine 2012-2013 Edition.