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Defense forum addresses veterans unemployment

The military must educate personnel on transitioning to civilian life as well as it does indoctrinating them into the service — but the task of preparing veterans for private-sector employment should not be shouldered by the Pentagon alone, a panel of industry and labor experts said Monday.

Speaking at a defense forum on wounded-warrior care after active duty, business leaders said veterans’ employment — for all, not just the disabled — must be addressed in concert by the Defense Department, Veterans Affairs Department and private companies.

Paul Cofoni, CEO of Arlington, Va.-based defense contractor CACI, said veterans are looking to gain skills, use their clearances and find jobs in locations where they feel comfortable.

CACI, which hires roughly 100 disabled veterans a year, has teamed with various military transition programs to hire service members with skills adaptable to the company’s mission.

“If we can get the Fortune 1000 to have the same percentage, 3 to 4 percent of their personnel are veterans, we would knock this issue of veterans’ unemployment on its head,” Cofoni said.

According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the overall veterans’ unemployment rate is hovering at 9.9 percent. For Iraq- and Afghanistan-era veterans ages 18 to 24, that figure is much higher, estimated at 26 percent to 30 percent.

Veterans aren’t getting hired or keeping jobs partly because many employers know little or nothing about the military and those who serve in it, said Ismael Ortiz, the Labor Department’s deputy assistant secretary for veterans’ employment and training services.

With just 1 percent of Americans serving in the military and roughly 10 percent reporting that they know anyone in the military, veterans are isolated, and the private sector is unfamiliar with their capabilities, Ortiz said.

“We have an education problem — not with our troops, but with the people who employ them,” he said.

Military personnel change jobs three times within the first three years after leaving the service, according to some estimates.

DoD must do a better job of helping service members analyze their skill sets, develop career goals and adapt to the civilian work force, said retired Marine Lt. Col. Kevin Schmiegel with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce,

“There is no bridge plan, so they make uninformed decisions,” he said. “Mentors could help, to make better decisions, to show them the path and give them options.”

Veterans often choose where they want to live first, figuring they’ll worry about employment when they get there, Schmeigel said.

“If we’re going to have an impact, it has to happen in the local communities. That’s where they are going,” he said.

Veterans are seeking real jobs, but too many companies hire them as a public relations move, the panelists said.

“I interviewed with a lot of organizations,” said retired Marine Corps Capt. Chris Ayres. “But they wanted trophy pieces. I’m not a trophy. I only want to work, to provide for my family.”

Each corporation and organization represented on the panel — Northrop Grumman, Walmart, CACI, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Labor Department — has launched initiatives to hire more veterans.

The Chamber, together with the Labor Department’s Veterans Employment and Training Service, is hosting 100 job fairs across the country aiming to engage large corporations as well as small businesses and veteran-owned companies.

“If the nation’s small businesses would just hire one veteran, it would cut the unemployment rate in half,” Schmiegel said.

The forum was sponsored by the U.S. Naval Institute and the Military Officers Association of America.