Hiring Our Heroes; Veterans on Wall Street
Laughing Wolf from Blackfive sends us a link to information about a program from the US Chamber of Commerce’s Hiring Our Heroes folks who’re combining with a group of Wall Street types who’ve begun a Veterans on Wall Street program next Thursday for a 2012 Veterans on Wall Street Conference in New York on Thursday, June 21. There will also be a job fair.
Laughing Wolf’s Cooking With The Troops will be there, too.
So if you’re in the NYC area next week and I know some of you are, and you’re looking for work or looking to improve your situation, here’s your opportunity.
Category: Veterans Issues
When you go to the Hiring Our Heroes link above, one of the things it talks about is how Hiring Our Heroes is teaming with Hollywood as part of that ‘Got Your 6’ thing. Not very encouraging.
Sorry to sound like a downer but I always am very skeptical about these veteran hiring announcements and programs. For sure it’s a great P.R. thing for corporations and the like. But I suspect a lot of it is feel good stuff and not actually hiring veterans in need.
I’m sure many of those jobs require education and skill sets many veterans do NOT have from their service. It’s almost like one has to possess a very detailed set of skills/education to even be considered for those jobs in the first place, for example, not too old, bachelor’s/master’s degree, computer/engineering experience and skills, and so on and so forth. If you meet those criteria, AND only if you do, THEN if you are a veteran, they will consider you.
There are many great non specific skill sets veterans possess, such as initiative, drive, focus, etc. Ideally, a company truly dedicated to hiring veterans will do so with on the job training and opportunities to attend school and whatnot. But it doesn’t seem to work that way.
Tman, I can’t blame you for being cautious, but I can tell you that the job fair part of the event — which if you read you will know is only ONE part of the event — has gone to great lengths to ensure that all there have jobs, immediate jobs, to be filled. Check out VOWS, and you will see a group truly dedicated to getting fellow vets jobs. They also work to help them get the education needed, again, something clear in the reading. Look at the actual job placements (data is there) and see the story. This is a good event, and good for job placement. Be skeptical, but do research the facts as I think they will allay your fears. Don’t be scared, the water is fine.
LW
I received this on a bifold card in the mail yesterday (6/14/12):
The VA is hosting a Veterans’ Hiring Fair and Open House in Detroit, MI on June 26 thru June 28. It’s being held at Detroit’s COBO Center, One Washington Blvd, Detroit, MI 48226. All experience and career types welcome.
They’re offering career coaching, training in federal resume building and successful interview techniques, onsite interviews, and career opportunities with federal agencies and private sector employees.
The phone number (toll free) to call is 1-855-VA4Vets.
You can register a VAforVets.VA.gov/Detroit.
Sounds good Laughing Wolf. Seems like they really are looking to hire all veterans and not lip service as I feel it has been in the past with other such announcements.
I hope they have one on the west coast soon.
Tman – I understand your skepticism, but regardless of whether or not the banks are doing this strictly for PR is irrelevant. The boots on the ground at the event — the former service members who are now bankers, traders, portfolio managers, etc. — go with the sole intention of helping their brothers and sisters in arms. And while you do have a point that a company won’t hire someone without the requisite skill set as an investment banker or derivatives trader, why would we expect them to? Being a veteran shouldn’t entitle anyone to write their own ticket and get any job they want regardless of qualification, but it should entitle them to the utmost support in areas of career guidance and networking and that’s exactly what this is. It’s a foot in the door and an opportunity to network with fellow veterans whose only desire is to help you achieve your goals. And the attributes you mentioned ARE important and the finance community certainly realizes that veterans possess those qualities. Wall Street also realizes that market environments and combat environments are extremely similar (minus the imminent physical danger of the latter, of course) and that those who are successful in one are likely to be successful in the other. At the end of the day, this event is a forum for vets who want to work in finance to meet the vets who already do and to capitalize (no pun intended, haha) on the guidance and help they can provide.
This may sound harsh- but in our tough economic times when people are struggling to find work or barely holding to one they have, the reponse to the vets are get in line buddy! No preferential treatment and I don’t care if you are a war hero. The competition for jobs is ferocious and to help one group (vets) get jobs, another group (non vets) get squuezed out. Got to be very careful, because it creates extreme resentment/divisions. Also too much of a helping hand creates negative self-esteem issues in vets (learned helplessness).
I applied for a entry level job at USAA after I retired. I wasn’t hired so corporations that even cater to military don’t even really consider hiring vets a priority.