How can we employ Veterans?

ForefrontAustin's picture
Submitted by ForefrontAustin on Tue, Jun 12 2012 - 5:50 PM

While the nation’s overall unemployment rate for April 2012 was recently reported at 8.1 percent, the U.S. Labor Department calculated that 9.2 percent of the veterans who have served in the military since 2001 are now jobless. For veterans of all generations, the Labor Department reported that April’s jobless rate was 7.1 percent. Learn more about veteran employment at: http://bit.ly/Lu7MvA

Today’s veterans have worked with some of the most advanced technology we have ever seen, making them extremely tech-savvy and retaining a skillset and work habits that many civilians to do not obtain. What measures can we take to ensure employers embrace this returning workforce?

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softwarejanitor's picture

I'm sad to say that it is

Submitted by softwarejanitor on Wed, Jun 13 2012 - 4:02 PM.

I'm sad to say that it is often a tough sell here in Austin as there are so many ultra liberals who have a very negative outlook on anyone with a military background. There is a lot of fear and misinformation out there that needs to be combatted. A lot of people are afraid of veterans because they've been told repeatedly by the media that they may be mentally unstable (PTSD) and/or may have medical issues like "Gulf War Syndrome". Of course reality is while those things are not non-existant, most veterans are well adjusted people that just need to be given an honest opportunity. In fact I would bet that many of the people who have these phobias may deal with people who are veterans on a day to day basis without even knowing it.

Another issue is that while many veterans may have experience with high tech gear, much of it is very specialized and they may need re-training to be applicable to the kind of generic equipment used in the business world. While I know that most of these people could easily make the transition, sadly the business world is so into "instant gratification" that they will often not consider candidates who are not 110% "buzzword compatible", meaning they have exact matches for all of the required skills on the exact kind of gear used, plus most if not all of the "nice to haves". This isn't just a problem that veterans face, although they may have it worse than most, but all long time techies face this to a certain degree.

What can be done about it is a good question. I think part of the issue may be to educate employers on why their pre-conceptions about veterans are bogus and that in general they should be willing to think outside the box, especially if they believe they are having trouble finding the kind of talent they need.

I've seen a few claiming that Austin in particular has a shortage of talent, but I don't believe it. Instead I think that we are not taking advantage of all the talent we already have available.