Returning veterans are turning to the Internet to find work
THE WORDS WRITTEN BY one American military veteran seem to speak volumes for the thousands of others asking the same question these days: "Where do I go from here?"
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Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 10/8/07
The Internet is full of blog posts from those leaving the military, many returning from multiple tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. And nowhere is the confusion, anger and frustration in getting a job back in the civilian world possibly more evident than on Hire a Hero (www.hireahero.org), a free social networking Web site that has been developed to help vets make the kind of contacts they need to get a good job.
"I need a foot in the door," says one post from a vet, who says that while he's tried the large online job boards, he's been "unsuccessful in even getting an interview."
Notes another vet from New Mexico: "Man, this is so crazy. I don't feel like the world owes me anything for serving in the military, but can they just give me a chance?"
Dan Caulfield is all too familiar with those kinds of stories, and that's why he began Hire a Hero with $500,000 of his own money. With 225,000 men and women leaving active duty this year, and another 150,000 in the National Guard currently seeking employment, Caulfield says military unemployment rates are higher than the civilian population.
Part of the reason is because "the military does a horrible job of transitioning vets back into civilian life," and part of it has to do with a lack of connection between private employers and the military, he says.
"It is overwhelmingly true that people who do the hiring must have a personal relationship with someone in the military in order for them to hire someone who comes from the military," Caulfield says. "If you don't, the chances of you taking a chance on an ex-military person is as close to zero as you can get."
Caulfield says many hiring managers — often college-educated females in their 20s — don't have experience with anyone in the military. And, while many of those hiring often see someone in the military as "disciplined", Caulfield says that's just a way of saying "you're an automaton and capable of front-line work only."
Caulfield says that the Hire a Hero Web site helps teach vets that the old adage — "it's not what you know but who you know that matters" — is very true when it comes to getting a good job in the civilian world.
The site focuses on bringing together military job seekers and "military friendly" companies, while the technology helps best match military skills with jobs. The social networking aspect helps vets transition into civilian life, dealing with the everyday stresses of finding a good job, and letting vets network in their own community to find a job.
Also a priority: Teaching employers that former military personnel make excellent employees.
"Those in the military have been led to believe that their service will be good for them, will help them get good jobs," Caulfield says. "But the reality is that stereotypes exist that if you didn't go to college, you're a loser."
As a result, he says, many of those in the military return to find they change jobs up to five times in the first two years of civilian life, mostly because "the jobs they get are so crappy."
Caulfield says this "military service penalty" and the patronizing attitude shown to many vets by employers has prompted some in Congress to call for more funding to help vets transition back into the civilian work force more successfully.
"There is now an enormous hurdle for these people coming back from active duty overseas," Caulfield says. "In fact, it's much more profound than I thought. There is significant trauma in these people's lives, and on top of everything else, they lose their network when they leave the military.
"Reintegrating into the civilian life is very difficult, and these people are going back into a society where the military is a tricky subject."
Anita Bruzzese is syndicated by Gannett News Service.