The military-to-
The Opportunity Expo will be the 67th of 68 such events scheduled for 2009. An all-star team of veteran-friendly organizations will conduct one-on-one interviews with the job seekers—organizations that will include corporate employers, law-enforcement agencies and other government employers, franchisors, educational institutions, veterans service agencies, and veterans associations.
Already in the line-up are Aviation Institute of Maintenance, Capella University, the Dallas Police Department, Defense Contract Management Agency, DeVry University, Education Corporation of America—Virginia College Online, Fleet Enterprises, Grand Canyon University, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Lockheed Martin Corporation, Military Sealift Command, Northrop Grumman, Prudential Insurance Company, Schlumberger, Shorter College, Strayer University, The Art Institutes, UEI College, and Wackenhut Corporation. RecruitMilitary is expecting at least 10 more exhibitors to attend.
RecruitMilitary will produce the Opportunity Expo in cooperation with The American Legion; HireVetsFirst, a unit of the United States Department of Labor; and the Military Spouse Corporate Career Network (MSCCN).
More than 1,275 organizations attended 147 RecruitMilitary events in 2007 and 2008. Those Expos generated television coverage by ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and FOX affiliates as well as local independent channels; articles in major metropolitan and local newspapers as well as The Wall Street Journal; and extensive radio coverage, including remote live broadcasts from events.
The American Legion (http://www.legion.org) is an association of veterans who served during times of war. The Legion has 2.7 million members in nearly 15,000 posts throughout the world. Congress chartered The American Legion in 1919. HireVetsFirst was created by Congress in 2002 to develop awareness among employers of the outstanding attributes of men and women who are transitioning from active duty to civilian life.
The Military Spouse Corporate Career Network (http://www.msccn.org) was founded in 2004 to provide career opportunities and job portability for military spouses. The organization is made up of military spouses, caregivers to war wounded, and retired military personnel.
WHY EMPLOYERS ATTEND VETERAN EXPOS
Employers are eager to hire veterans for their skill sets and for their personal characteristics such as leadership, initiative, self-discipline, and an excellent work ethic. In addition, veterans are diverse in gender and ethnicity. Employers attend Expos because they can meet hundreds of highly qualified job seekers in the course of a few hours. Furthermore, their contact with the job seekers begins at what is normally one of the last stages of the hiring process—a face-to-face interview.
MILITARY WORK EXPERIENCE
Veterans offer civilian employers a wide variety of skill sets that they acquired while in the service. The overwhelming majority of active-duty personnel work in military employment categories that have easily recognizable civilian counterparts, ranging from “Engineering, Science, and Technical” and “Machine Operator and Precision Work” to “Transportation and Material Handling” and “Executive, Administrative, and Managerial.”
In many cases, the skills are immediately applicable to in the workplace. In other cases, the employers need to provide job-specific training—but the veterans’ skill levels are already so high that they absorb that training quickly.
Law-enforcement agencies are eager to hire veterans who had a “Combat Specialty”—often referred to as “Combat Arms.” And employers in a wide variety of industries value combat arms veterans for their leadership and decision-making skills.
WHY FRANCHISORS ATTEND VETERAN EXPOS
Franchisors are eager to help set veterans up in business because the franchisors value the veterans’ job skills, initiative, resourcefulness, and responsibility. In addition, veterans—especially those who served for several years—are likely to have the financial resources to handle a franchise investment. Franchisors attend veteran Expos to meet well-qualified individuals without having to sort them out from large numbers of unsuitable candidates—as they would at general job fairs or career fairs.
WHY EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS ATTEND VETERAN EXPOS
(1) Veterans make good students because of the same personal traits that make them good military personnel—initiative, self-discipline, and a great work ethic.
(2) Veterans who left active duty recently are eligible for educational benefits under the GI Bill—for 15 years under the Post-9/11 GI Bill, which took effect last August.
(3) Almost all veterans who served in the enlisted ranks have at least a high school education, but relatively few have college degrees. Thus, present and former enlisted personnel are prime candidates for degree-granting institutions. For example, of the more than 250,000 present and former enlisted personnel who have registered as job seekers in RecruitMilitary’
(4) Of the lower-ranked present and former commissioned officers in the database—lieutenants and captains in the Army, Air Force and Marine Corps; ensigns and lieutenants in the Navy and Coast Guard—slightly more than 25% have advanced degrees. So the remaining 75% are prime candidates for graduate school.
(5) Recruiters for educational institutions also attend veteran Expos to hire teachers and other staff. Many veterans have highly specialized technical skills as well as experience in teaching those skills to others in the military.
EXPOS SCHEDULED FOR 2010
RecruitMilitary has scheduled 72 Veteran Opportunity Expos for 2010, including events in the Atlanta area on March 18, June 24, and October 7. Other venues will include Austin, Baltimore, Birmingham, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New Orleans, New York, Norfolk, Oakland, Oklahoma City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland, Raleigh, St. Louis, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Tacoma, and Tampa.
The Opportunity Expo will be the 67th of 68 such events scheduled for 2009. An all-star team of veteran-friendly organizations will conduct one-on-one interviews with the job seekers—organizations that will include corporate employers, law-enforcement agencies and other government employers, franchisors, educational institutions, veterans service agencies, and veterans associations.
Already in the line-up are Aviation Institute of Maintenance, Capella University, the Dallas Police Department, Defense Contract Management Agency, DeVry University, Education Corporation of America—Virginia College Online, Fleet Enterprises, Grand Canyon University, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Lockheed Martin Corporation, Military Sealift Command, Northrop Grumman, Prudential Insurance Company, Schlumberger, Shorter College, Strayer University, The Art Institutes, UEI College, and Wackenhut Corporation. RecruitMilitary is expecting at least 10 more exhibitors to attend.
RecruitMilitary will produce the Opportunity Expo in cooperation with The American Legion; HireVetsFirst, a unit of the United States Department of Labor; and the Military Spouse Corporate Career Network (MSCCN).
More than 1,275 organizations attended 147 RecruitMilitary events in 2007 and 2008. Those Expos generated television coverage by ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, and FOX affiliates as well as local independent channels; articles in major metropolitan and local newspapers as well as The Wall Street Journal; and extensive radio coverage, including remote live broadcasts from events.
The American Legion (http://www.legion.org) is an association of veterans who served during times of war. The Legion has 2.7 million members in nearly 15,000 posts throughout the world. Congress chartered The American Legion in 1919. HireVetsFirst was created by Congress in 2002 to develop awareness among employers of the outstanding attributes of men and women who are transitioning from active duty to civilian life.
The Military Spouse Corporate Career Network (http://www.msccn.org) was founded in 2004 to provide career opportunities and job portability for military spouses. The organization is made up of military spouses, caregivers to war wounded, and retired military personnel.
WHY EMPLOYERS ATTEND VETERAN EXPOS
Employers are eager to hire veterans for their skill sets and for their personal characteristics such as leadership, initiative, self-discipline, and an excellent work ethic. In addition, veterans are diverse in gender and ethnicity. Employers attend Expos because they can meet hundreds of highly qualified job seekers in the course of a few hours. Furthermore, their contact with the job seekers begins at what is normally one of the last stages of the hiring process—a face-to-face interview.
MILITARY WORK EXPERIENCE
Veterans offer civilian employers a wide variety of skill sets that they acquired while in the service. The overwhelming majority of active-duty personnel work in military employment categories that have easily recognizable civilian counterparts, ranging from “Engineering, Science, and Technical” and “Machine Operator and Precision Work” to “Transportation and Material Handling” and “Executive, Administrative, and Managerial.”
In many cases, the skills are immediately applicable to in the workplace. In other cases, the employers need to provide job-specific training—but the veterans’ skill levels are already so high that they absorb that training quickly.
Law-enforcement agencies are eager to hire veterans who had a “Combat Specialty”—often referred to as “Combat Arms.” And employers in a wide variety of industries value combat arms veterans for their leadership and decision-making skills.
WHY FRANCHISORS ATTEND VETERAN EXPOS
Franchisors are eager to help set veterans up in business because the franchisors value the veterans’ job skills, initiative, resourcefulness, and responsibility. In addition, veterans—especially those who served for several years—are likely to have the financial resources to handle a franchise investment. Franchisors attend veteran Expos to meet well-qualified individuals without having to sort them out from large numbers of unsuitable candidates—as they would at general job fairs or career fairs.
WHY EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS ATTEND VETERAN EXPOS
(1) Veterans make good students because of the same personal traits that make them good military personnel—initiative, self-discipline, and a great work ethic.
(2) Veterans who left active duty recently are eligible for educational benefits under the GI Bill—for 15 years under the Post-9/11 GI Bill, which took effect last August.
(3) Almost all veterans who served in the enlisted ranks have at least a high school education, but relatively few have college degrees. Thus, present and former enlisted personnel are prime candidates for degree-granting institutions. For example, of the more than 250,000 present and former enlisted personnel who have registered as job seekers in RecruitMilitary’
(4) Of the lower-ranked present and former commissioned officers in the database—lieutenants and captains in the Army, Air Force and Marine Corps; ensigns and lieutenants in the Navy and Coast Guard—slightly more than 25% have advanced degrees. So the remaining 75% are prime candidates for graduate school.
(5) Recruiters for educational institutions also attend veteran Expos to hire teachers and other staff. Many veterans have highly specialized technical skills as well as experience in teaching those skills to others in the military.
EXPOS SCHEDULED FOR 2010
RecruitMilitary has scheduled 72 Veteran Opportunity Expos for 2010, including events in the Atlanta area on March 18, June 24, and October 7. Other venues will include Austin, Baltimore, Birmingham, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New Orleans, New York, Norfolk, Oakland, Oklahoma City, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland, Raleigh, St. Louis, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Tacoma, and Tampa.
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