New York City Council Veterans Committee 5/10/11

1. Veterans are disconnected from the civilian work force, and their jobs because they are in the service.  Although most jobs today are acquired through the “grapevine” or “networking” or “personal contacts,” they are cut off from this nexus.  According to internet sources, from 43-80% of job seekers find jobs through networking family, friends and contacts.

2.  Industry does not accept military experience as adequate job experience-they ask that the veteran get “industrial, commercial or civilian” experience before being hired.  There should be a comparison between the duties of a soldier’s DOD in a specific area, e.g., driving, areas of information technology, clerical.

JOB DESCRIPTION: Duties and Responsibilities

Secondly, industry or prospective employers should be asked to provide training in specialized equipment, e.g., types of document software. Large firms create their own special software that their staff is trained in-house to use it, and very often in job descriptions, a phrase similar to “experience in the (specialized software or equipment, methods, etc.) used at this particular firm or institution,” which means they are looking for specific experience within the in house staff or exactly the same software, to save money.  One example would be a recent job ad looking for an IT administrator at a nursing home.  This nursing home wanted someone well versed with “Great Plains” software.  This software is not commonly used; an experienced IT person could learn it in a few months, or even weeks, especially if there was someone on site who had experience as well; but since the firm did not want to experience a ‘learning curve,’ they stipulated that the candidate must already know the software.

3.  Veterans traditionally have had to live with their families for 2-3 years until they find a job or become homeless soon after returning.  Due to the stress of transition or influence of even light post traumatic stress disorder, they may get into domestic disputes and get kicked out before they find a job or have funds for shelter.  Once homeless, veterans can begin a downward spiral and become involved with drugs, alcohol etc to self medicate, not counting not having an address to give a prospective employer.  There are shelters in certain cities, but not enough beds or staffing.

4.  Veterans need individual assistance in creating a viable resume that translates skills from the acquired in the military to civilian applications: “an infantryman once told me that he had been in the Army for 23 years (E-9/Command Sergeant Major), and felt he had no skills or direct value to offer corporate America.

     He said he operated tanks, weapons, and dug ditches.

    “However, after our discussion, we determined that this Command Sergeant Major directly supervised, trained, and evaluated 40 personnel, supporting over 2,000 troops in four countries, with an inventory list of 1,500 line items, and material assets valued at $65M (including large vehicles).

    “His functional areas of expertise included personnel management, logistics, and operations. As he moved up the ranks, to a level of senior management, he also gained considerable responsibility for strategic planning and tactical application.

    “This soldier accepted a management position with a major retailer as a logistics expert with oversight supervisory responsibility for several hundred employees, and multiple warehouses in a multi-state area (he doubled his salary, and banked his military retirement pay).

    In a different example, an Army Major / Bomb Disposal expert, decided to move into pharmaceutical sales (as a Regional Manager) when he retired.

    “So, we worked together to translate “Bomb Disposal expert” into “sales and marketing”. We identified his leadership skills, ability as a public speaker and briefer when “selling and marketing” new programs to convince management to revise and improve processes, very savvy negotiation abilities, and skill at writing and communicating effectively.

    “We also focused on his experience in leading large size programs and supervising dozens of personnel while managing multi-million dollar budgets. In the final resume, there is only one line referring to his extensive knowledge as a bomb disposal expert.

     In each of these examples, we translated not only individual military acronyms and terms, but also career experience and skill sets; we dug deep into each career history to identify those experiences and skills not directly related to the career field (perhaps you are designated as a recruiter for a year, an event planner, or trained in IT—you just never know), as well as those skill sets directly related to the career field.” By Diane Hudson for job-hunt.org

5.  The MOS or job title of a soldier is often not updated to reflect his or her actual experience and responsibilities.  For example, a soldier whose MOS is IT work could have a classification of 31R at the beginning and end of his tour of duty.  This 31R does not reflect that the soldier may have acquired years of experience in modern, up to date equipment, but he or she was not given credit for this experience by the military.  There is a dead end “hopeless” feeling expressed by many soldiers and veterans in terms of getting credit for soldiers’ experience in the military—they feel they cannot get out because they do not get credit for all their responsibilities and duties, and the DODshould take responsibility for putting in place more truthful accurate job descriptions to aid troops who want to make the transition from military to civilian life.  On Saturday May 7 a veteran said that he fixed radar equipment for field artillery, and did not think he could get a job in civilian life because in civilian life trucks do not use radar equipment.  He said veterans could mostly only either a) stay in the military, b) get a job with a military contractor. This results in many divorces, separations, homelessness, or poor morale among those troops who feel they are trapped in dead end jobs with no hope of upward mobility.

6.  The following chart tracks the status of over 30 veterans and their employment status:

Of 33 soldiers, 6 are dead, 1 from suicide;

5 were completely disabled, one from Multiple disorders, 3 from PTSD, 1 from TBI

1 was a Conscientious Objector who has severe PTSD who got a dishonorable discharge

2 were never deployed; 3 are female; 1 is a mother

11 are working; of those 11, 4 are lifers and officers; 3 have found jobs with civilian companies; 2 work for government; 1 found a job and was redeployed; 4 are seeking employment

9 are full time students; 2 part time students-will be seeking jobs in 6 months-3 years

7.  Before discharge, at least three months, every soldier should have a questionnaire: Do you have a job, do you have a place to stay, do you foresee any challenges making the transition to civilian life?  Also, a test for post traumatic stress disorder should be mandatory, not voluntary, because there is a high incidence of denial, and then the family and community have to deal with a situation they are not prepared for.  This questionnaire should be made up by a committee of veterans, a representative of the VA, and medical/psychological experts and a representative from a civilian company that are pro veteran.

8.  In their job quest, Veterans who do not utilize the GI Bill need legislation that identifies them as a discriminated minority with legislation to enforce, protect and special help, and standards that can measure progress.  If you cannot measure results, you have no idea of whether progress is being made. This is a well known fact in the business community.  In light of this, the licensing for peddling in New York City has been one shining example of success and win-win solutions; the veteran community needs a lot of help from the New York City Council Veteran Committee because they are currently being threatened with losing or diminishing the number of licenses available for new entrepreneurs.

9.  In Conclusion, Veterans and their families sacrifice and enlist due to love of country, and then suffer from homelessness, unemployment, losing their houses, losing ties to their communities and friends, as well as physical and mental health ailments.  Legislation in the following areas would help the veterans of recent wars: 1) designation as a discriminated minority with laws to deter violation, such as requesting transitional training programs, which could be as simple as one-on-one coaching; 2) informational brochures sent to leading employers and small businesses about veterans, and encouraging cooperation in hiring practices; 3) questionnaire to all soldiers before leaving the military to assess if they have a job waiting; 4) period of enforcement regarding job retention for National Guard and reservists; 5) enforcement of free resume creation at Department of Labor; 6) requiring DOD to update MOS of all soldiers if their list of duties is upgraded so that they can get credit for it in job seeking; 7) expanding number of peddling licenses for New York City veterans, and monitoring same; 8) bill requiring all employers to accept veterans’ experience as equal to that of experience in industry or commerce.  Witness requests establishment of a civilian subcommittee of Veterans Committee to work on employment issues and creation of a “vet-friendly” atmosphere in NYC.

Respectfully submitted, Military Families Speak Out