Two months after completing his five-plus years as an Army medic, Dan Huber is still looking for a job. And while he’s had some promising interviews, he has no assurances the search will end soon.
That’s given him some insight that he shares with some of his buddies back at Fort Polk in Louisiana: Don’t wait until you’ve left the military to determine how you’ll make ends meet as a civilian.
“I’ve told them: ‘Hey, man, you guys have really got to start planning months and months in advance,’” said Huber, 26, of Waukesha, Wis.
The job problems for younger vets, who tend to have a much harder time finding work follwing the Sept. 11 attack, have continued despite a wide range of private and public efforts. Congress approved tax credits for companies that hire veterans. Federal agencies stepped up their preferential hiring of vets. Many thousands are taking advantage of a generous package of educational benefits instead of entering the job market. Companies such as Wal-Mart, General Electric and many others announced programs designed to hire more veterans. And organizations like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have helped put on hundreds of job fairs around the company.
Kevin Schmiegel, a retired lieutenant colonel who spent years trying to get young Marines to re-enlist, says the youngest vets are making a couple of critical mistakes when it comes to searching for a job.
With little job experience outside the military, many can’t explain how the skills they learned in the military translate to the private sector, said Schmiegel, now executive director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Hiring Our Heroes program. The program has helped more than 14,000 veterans land jobs and will be fine-tuning its focus over the coming year to help younger vets, as well as military spouses.
Trooper Deon Cockrell, military liaison for the Texas Department of Public Safety, had a similar take at a recent job fair in Oklahoma City. He said the discipline and skills acquired during military service translate well to a career in law enforcement.
“A lot of them don’t know that they’re eligible,” Cockrell said.
Congress tried to help with the transition to civilian life. Since November 2011, departing service members are required to attend various workshops designed to help them with such things as how to write effective resumes and cover letters and improve their interview skills. Previously, the training was voluntary, which greatly lessened participation rates.
Schmiegel said the second problem he sees most frequently among young veterans is the desire to go home regardless of job prospects.
“They are making a decision of the heart. They are not going to where the jobs are. They are not going to the industries that are hiring,” Schmiegel said.
His organization has developed a computer website with Google and various federal agencies designed to point veterans to the 100 fastest-growing cities and the five or six industries within those communities that are doing the most hiring. The aim is to push veterans to use their educational benefits to get training in a high-demand field and then relocate.
Curtis Coy, an undersecretary at the Veterans Affairs Department, said expanded educational benefits are playing an important role in lowering the unemployment rate as hundreds of thousands of veterans attend college through a program that covers tuition and fees, housing, books and relocation expenses. Participation in the Post 9/11 GI Bill program has jumped from about 366,000 in 2010 to 646,000 in the latest year. Some of those enrolled are spouses or children of a veteran. The program allows veterans to transfer their benefits to immediate family members if they have six years of service and commit to another four.
Coy said he’s confident the employment trend is moving in the right direction. He says younger veterans often need a little time to figure out what they’re going to do when they get out of the service. “I’m a 24-year veteran, so I’m acutely aware of standing there at the steps going, ‘So what do I do now?’”