The truth is the government buys just about everything you can think of.  And it’s not just the obvious items such as general contracting/construction, training development, office supplies and vehicles.  Here is a sample list of recently requested items that may surprise you:

• Aerobics and fitness instruction
• Document storage and reproduction
• Trash removal and recycling
• Shoeshine kits, hairbrush and comb sets, lint brushes
• Cosmetology instructor
• Lodging and conference services
• Meeting facilitation

As a bonus – being a Veteran Owned Small Business (VOSB) or Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) is an advantage.  Federal agencies have procurement goals for doing business with VOSBs and SDVOSBs.

So, how does one “do business with the government”?  As someone who is going that route herself, here is the down and dirty list.

1.  The SDVOSB is a certifiable designation, so you have to go through a formal process to attain the designation.  It’s not hard to do, but you do have to do it.  The Department of the Veterans Affairs VetBiz page has a good explanation of the process

2.  Get a DUNS number .  It is a unique 9-digit identification number assigned to a business.  It is free to obtain.  You’ll need it for the next step.

3.  Register with the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) website.  You cannot get a government contract if you are not in the CCR.  It is free to register.

4.  Figure out which North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes are related to your business and make sure you associate them with your profile in the CCR.  For example, if your company does junk removal and recycling you can look up NAICS codes for those services using “recycling”, “sanitation”, “hauling”, “garbage”, etc. as keywords.  Be very thorough and pick as many NAICS codes as necessary even if it just touches on what you do.  Read the next tip to find out why.

5.  Once you are in the CCR, register in Federal Business Opportunities (commonly known as FedBizOps).  You can set up watch lists for your various NAICS codes so you get daily/weekly emails with any Requests For Proposals/Presolicitations, etc. that are newly posted to FedBizOps.  Agencies sometimes send out a blast email to companies with a particular NAICS code in their profile to alert them to an opportunity coming down the pike, so it is a good way to find out information early.

6.  Contact your local Procurement Technical Assistance Center (PTAC).  They can give you advice, training, and help you make connections and introductions in the federal government.  Most of their services are free.  Some of their classes may cost a minimal amount ($25-100 depending on the topic).

7.  Contact the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization (OSDBU) for each federal agency you want to do business with.  They are very helpful and it is their job to help you make connections within the agency and to explain “how to do business” with that agency.

8.  Search each agency’s OSDBU web page to see if the agency has a “vendor outreach” day or other event where SDVOSB/VOSB’s can come to the agency and meet with various contracting officers from that agency (sort of like speed dating for contractors).  There are also a lot of conferences you can attend (two good lists are at http://www.osdbu.gov/general.html and at http://www.fbcinc.com/search.aspx)  to do a larger-scale meet and greet with a lot of federal agencies and other small businesses and learn something from the seminars offered at the conference.  A lot of these events are in the Washington, DC area but several are held in other locations.  Two big ones you should try to attend: 20^th Annual OSDBU Procurement Conference, April 21, 2010 in Chantilly, VA (near Dulles Airport in the DC area), and there is a really big one just for veterans called the 6^th Annual National Veteran Small Business Conference and Expo in Las Vegas July 19-22, 2010.

9.  Decide if being on a General Services Administration (GSA) schedule is right for you.  There are many different schedules, covering lots of different types of products and services.  You can search for schedules by keyword at GSA’s eLibrary.  For example, recycling services are covered under 9 different schedules.  You can be on more than one schedule, and that eLibrary site will display which companies are registered under each schedule (a good way to check out your competition).

Basically, being on a schedule makes it easier for the government to do business with you because you are already “pre certified” in their eyes.  Many agencies will look to schedule holders first when announcing opportunities (schedule holders have their own website where opportunities are posted that are not posted in FedBizOps).  If it makes sense for your business, all the steps for the process and even video how-to’s are on GSA’s web site.  However, the more specialized your product or service, the less sense it may make to be on a schedule.  It is great for commodities (i.e., pens, lumber, gravel, office supplies) and highly competitive general services (i.e., janitorial services).

You can “get on the schedule” yourself and it is free; however, it is a 4-8 month process and a lot of writing and paperwork to get on a schedule, so don’t think you can do this in a weekend.  Know that once you are registered in the CCR there are companies who will send you emails and snail mail offering to “help you get on the schedule”.  They generally charge anywhere from $6,000-20,000 to do it.  Many of them do offer free seminars on “how to do business with the government”, and those can actually be fairly helpful (some more than others).  The PTACs also offer those kinds of classes for no or low cost and GSA has those classes for free as well.

Last but not least:  the most important thing to keep in mind when trying to do business with anyone/any agency is that your status as a SDVOSB/VOSB is NOT what is going to get you a contract.  You have to have a product or service that an agency needs, and you still have to sell yourself as the best provider of that product or service.  Being a SDVOSB/VOSB is the “icing on the cake” because agencies do have goals for doing business with disadvantaged businesses.  However, they aren’t just going to hand you a contract because of your status.

I just came back from a conference in Tampa for SDVOSBs and VOSBs and I cannot tell you the number of business cards I was handed that said something along the lines of “Bradley and Company – a Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business” and NOTHING ELSE.  One day from now when I am going through these cards I am not going to have any idea what Bradley and Company does.  Are they a general contractor?  A records and documents company?  A seller of office supplies?  One tidbit I learned in a class was to put my status (I am a VOSB and a WOSB – a Woman Owned Small Business), my DUNS, my CAGE code and all of my associated NAICS codes on my business card.  I printed up a bunch of labels with that info and plastered them on the back of my existing cards.  I also made a tri-fold prospectus for my company and put all that info on the back of the prospectus as well.  I use those cards and marketing materials when I attend the vendor outreach days/conferences so the contracting officers know what I do from the front of the card and how to do business with me from the back of the card.

USAA is a financial services company headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, with offices in Phoenix, Colorado Springs and Tampa. USAA provides a wide range of insurance, financial and banking services for military service members and their families. It was founded in 1922 by a group of Army officers who wanted to self-insure each other after they were unable to secure auto insurance due to the perception they were a high-risk group. Recruiting veterans has been central to USAA’s successes from the beginning. Says John DiPiero, Colonel, USAF, Retired, USAA’s senior officer/NCO Military Talent Manager and one of four sourcer/ recruiters for USAA’s military recruiting team, “Who better to understand the needs of the military service member and his or her family than those who have served themselves?”

As part of their holistic approach, USAA has created a stand-alone “center of excellence” for any issues associated with the USAA military community. This new center of excellence focuses on enhancing their ability to attract, develop and retain veterans and military spouses.    It appears to be working: USAA has been recognized in the top 10 of GI Jobs’ Top 50 Military Friendly Employers since the award’s inception in 2003. It is currently #4 overall and the #1 financial services company. It is also #1 on Military Spouse Magazine’s 2009 Top 10 Military Spouse friendly employers. Finally, USAA was recognized by CivilianJobs.com, where America’s military connects with civilian careers, as a 2009 Most Valuable Employer (MVE) for Military.

USAA employs more than 4,000 veterans and military spouses, about 18.5% of its total population.  Roughly 250 of those employees are active in the National Guard and Reserves, and at any time 25-30 of those Guard/Reserve members are deployed somewhere around the globe. In 2008, USAA hired over 300 veterans and more than 150 military spouses.  They source talent from all segments of the military community, including senior officers and NCOs, junior officers, wounded warriors, junior NCOs and military spouses.  In fact, USAA’s wounded warrior recruiter, Brian Neuman, was wounded in Fallujah on Veteran’s Day, 2004. Brian worked for the Wounded Warrior Project prior to coming to USAA in 2008. His primary focus is on sourcing wounded warriors for employment and supporting them during the recruiting and on-boarding process.

Veterans and military spouses excel in a variety of areas at USAA.  Veterans exist at the senior most levels in the organization, including members of its Board of Directors, executive management group and other managerial roles.  They have also achieved success in call center operations, financial planning, human resources, information technology, banking, insurance, strategy, corporate finance and every other  aspect of the business that requires discipline, leadership and a “can do” attitude.

The USAA Military Talent Management team uses a number of “best practices” for attracting service members and their spouses to their organization. A military hiring “best practice” that I advocate in both my hiring guide and my “Translating the Military Resume and Interview Tips” web seminar is to use dedicated recruiters for military hiring, so that they may become the experts in understanding military skill sets, translating military resumes, and knowing where to place veterans in an organization. Another best practice mentioned in both the hiring guide and my “Military Applicant Sourcing Options” web seminar is to source veterans from military job fairs and job boards. And, yet another best practice reviewed in my “Marketing to Attract the Military Applicant” web seminar is to reach out to veteran organizations, the Guard and Reserves, and other places where service members can naturally be found to create awareness in the military community about your company and to passively recruit. The USAA Military Talent Management team can attest to the effectiveness of all of these recruiting tactics.

In 2008, they attended more than 100 military related events and used more than 18 different websites for job postings and mining.  Both recruiters and hiring managers attend the job fairs. They also attend transition assistance briefings at many military installations. USAA also incorporates a very competitive employee referral program with monetary rewards for successful hires. In addition they attend quarterly meetings at the Center for the Intrepid at Ft. Sam Houston, Texas, to brief transitioning wounded warriors regarding job searches and preparing for a civilian career.  They are also reaching out to another wounded warrior support group specifically dedicated to increasing IT skills.

Their Military Affairs team promotes financial solutions and services to current and prospective members while reinforcing and enhancing USAA’s image worldwide. The team, consisting of more than 50 military veterans with more than 1,200 years of combined military experience, strengthens relationships with USAA members through participation in a wide variety of venues.  These include Morale Welfare and Recreation (MWR)/Service-sponsored activities, National Guard/Reserve Family Days, air shows, service academy visits, national conventions and conferences.  During 2008, the team attended more than 4,600 events reaching over one million attendees and responding to over 100,000 requests for USAA information, including requests for employment opportunities.

I was very pleased to hear that USAA uses on-the-job-training (OJT) programs for many of their positions including call centers, Six Sigma-related requirements, project management and financial planners, as I recently wrote a blog about how companies can use OJT programs to hire veterans. USAA has also created a junior military officer career development program for 30 recently separated JMOs that will give them a rotation through different aspects of the enterprise before they land in their initial assignment.

In terms of retention, the Military Talent Management team partners with management and executives and the newly hired vets to ensure that all are working toward the same goal of the service member’s successful transition to the corporate environment. USAA uses a combination of new employee onboarding which is specific for the veterans and mentors who are also veterans.  In addition, they have created an internal website, VetNet, designed as a veteran/military spouse social media site, which covers numerous subjects important to their employees.  Knowledge sharing and personal development is also very important, so an emphasis is placed on ensuring employees come to understand “all things military”. The Military Affairs team sponsors contests and events to educate USAA employees about the unique challenges the military community faces.

To view employment opportunities visit their career page. To learn more about USAA go to www.USAA.com.

Every company has certain categories of positions that are in constant need of filling. Whether those positions are computer programmers, help desk technicians, quality assurance inspectors or warehouse and distribution specialists, it becomes frustrating when your company and your company’s competition are both fishing in the same ponds for the same people. How long does it take you to fill these positions? And, do you have to pay more to get these people in order to beat your competition, or are you constantly losing out because you can’t match the salaries offered by your competition? Did you have to bring on workers with H-1B visas to meet the demand? Is there a better way to build a pipeline of qualified applicants to fill the constant demand? Is there a different “pond” you could be fishing in for underutilized talent? There is – read on!

As mentioned in my last blog, more than 80% of the jobs we have in the military have a civilian equivalent. Generally, the main differences between the qualifications of civilian applicants and military applicants doing the same work are that the military applicants:

• Might not possess a particular certification or required license. This occurs because the military doesn’t require them to have the civilian certification/license in order to do the job in the military.
• Might not have working knowledge of specific commercial applications used by civilian companies. This is because, given some of the unique requirements we have in the military, many of our military applications have been custom built for us. So, if you ask the veteran with 12 years of human resources experience whether he/she has used Taleo (a talent management system), he/she will say “no”. But he/she will be very familiar with the military’s custom built version of a talent management system, and will have a deep understanding of the full talent management lifecycle.

These surmountable differences leave us with a huge military talent pool every year who have most of the knowledge, skills and aptitudes needed to do a great job for a civilian company. More than 200,000 veterans leave the service each year (due to retirement or end of contract) and most struggle for months to find a job commensurate with their abilities and level of management/supervisory experience. This is a talent pool that is grossly underutilized and that would be a bounty for any savvy employer who was willing to try this idea to recruit veterans.

Consider creating an on-the-job training (OJT) program and market it to veterans. OJT programs can be designed for any kind of job, from human resource specialists to business analysts to security guards to any manner of technical positions. The benefit to the employer is that they can build a pipeline of heavily skilled, easily trainable quality candidates who will be groomed in exactly the way needed for the jobs in highest demand in their organization. The benefit to the veteran is an opportunity to either build on the training he/she has already received in the military or to pursue a new career in the civilian workplace.

So, maybe right now you are thinking that an OJT program could be a good way to tap into that pool of transitioning service members and help build your pipeline, but you are holding off because you know your company’s training budget has been severely reduced. The good news here is that there is a way for employers to recoup much of the costs to produce the training by structuring the training such that it qualifies as an approved education or training program eligible for the G.I. Bill. This means that the veteran can use his/her G.I. Bill benefits to pay to participate in the OJT program, thereby allowing the employer to recoup some of the cost to produce the training (i.e., instructional designer’s fee, facilities rental, material production, etc.)

Here are a few basic things to know about creating an OJT program that qualifies for G.I. Bill reimbursement:

• The new Post 9/11 G.I. Bill does not cover OJT programs. Earlier versions of the G.I. Bill (i.e., Montgomery G.I. Bill and Reserve Educational Assistance Program or REAP) do cover OJT programs. View a comparison chart of the types of training covered by different versions of the bills.

• Veterans who are eligible for both the Post 9/11 and one other version of the G.I. Bill have to make an irrevocable decision if they want to take advantage of the very generous Post 9/11 G.I. Bill. So, the earlier you market these OJT programs to the military community, the greater likeliness you will find those veterans who have not yet made the irrevocable decision to switch to the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill.

• The G.I. Bill benefits are paid directly to the veteran, who in turn pays you. They are generally paid one month in arrears. So, for example, if they begin training on September 1st, they will receive their benefit check for the month of September in October. Keep that lag time in mind as you determine your tuition and payment plan.

• In order for your training program to be declared G.I. Bill –eligible it must first be approved by your State Approving Agency. State Approving Agencies approve the programs within their borders and determine which programs are appropriate for veterans to enroll in to utilize their VA educational benefits.

• The program must include an employment objective (i.e., “Help Desk Technician” or “Computer Software Engineer” or “Storage and Distribution Manager”)

• Hint: go to O*Net Online and type in your position name. It will display a number of related occupational titles with associated Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) Systems codes.

• Select the occupational title(s) that most closely resembles the position for which you are designing the OJT program and review the lists of tasks performed and tools used by that occupation.

• Incorporate those tasks and tools into your training design, plus any other specific requirements.

• In order to be classified as an OJT program, the training must be for a minimum of 6 months and a maximum of 24 months in length. 6 months equals 1,000 hours of training if the OJT program is full time.

• The OJT program must have an associated incremental pay scale. This means that while the costs of the program can be offset by the G.I. Bill, the employer is still required to pay a wage to the trainee. The starting wage can be minimum wage (or higher). The ending wage should be equivalent to the hourly wage you would pay if you were hiring someone who was already fully qualified. There should be at least one incremental pay increase between start and finish for a six month program and more if your program is longer than 6 months. Pay increases can be tied to training milestone achievements (i.e., pass this exam or assessment) or to program duration milestones (i.e., every 4 weeks).

• The OJT program must include a detailed training plan. So, for a 6 month training program, what will you cover during the 1,000 hours of training?

Once you submit your training plan for review, the SAA approval can be granted in as little as 2-8 weeks if you’ve met all the criteria and have structured the program correctly. If you would like assistance in designing an OJT program, please contact me. There are minor record-keeping requirements that must be kept on file and also reported so that the veteran will be paid. Your SAA will provide you with those details.

Once you get approval for your G.I. Bill –eligible OJT program, you need to market your program to veterans. But where should you promote your program to get the attention of the military member? There are at least a half dozen avenues you can use to get the word out to the veteran community, from military transition centers to social networking sites. If you are interested in learning more, I encourage you to register for my web seminar entitled “Military Applicant Sourcing Options” (now available on demand).

Employers I’ve spoken with who want to recruit veterans are often surprised to discover that more than 80% of the jobs we have in the military have a civilian equivalent. And even the direct combat jobs have transferable skills. For example, many service members have extensive real world experience in various aspects of emergency management operations (e.g. global and national natural disaster response, riot control, etc.). But, typically, the veteran won’t describe his/her knowledge and skills as “emergency management” on a resume, and therefore may not think to seek out companies with emergency management positions. Countless transitioning veterans have lamented to me that “if they’d just give me a chance, I could show them how much I do know and how quickly I could pick up the rest.”

So, how can we help both employers and veterans bridge this gap? In my next few blogs I am going to explore some creative ways that employers can “test drive” veterans and veterans can explore civilian careers. This first blog is about internships.

Although most people associate internships with 20-something college juniors, the demographics of the “typical intern” has changed over the last two decades. Beginning in the early 1990’s, through the Dot Com implosion, the tragedy of 9/11, and well into this current recession, more and more people in their late 20’s to 50’s (and even 60’s) have been turning to internships as a way to explore new careers. Whether these career switches came about as a result of career field downsizing (due to technology advances) or in response to general dissatisfaction with a chosen career path, experienced workers are increasingly seeking low-risk opportunities to use their knowledge and skills in a new way or to try out a new industry. As the transition from a military job to a civilian job is the very definition of a career switch, an internship could be an employer’s low-cost option for finding under-utilized talent and for veterans to explore options to find the best post-military fit. And yes, of course, these types of internships need not be exclusively for veterans, but since my company specializes in helping employers develop strategies for hiring veterans, that is the population on which I am going to focus.

Planning considerations for developing internships for experienced professionals are not dramatically different from those used to develop ones for college juniors. However, there are a few things to keep in mind:

1. Determine whether this is a paid or unpaid internship. While college students have different options (such as earning college credit) that would justify the use of an unpaid internship, employers should check with their human resources department regarding compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). There are six criteria employers should use to determine whether an employer-employee relationship exists within the nature of the work being done during the internship. All six criteria would need to be met in order for there to not be a presumed employer-employee relationship. If an employer-employee relationship does exist then the internship should be a paid position. Essentially, if the employer is benefiting from the work done by the intern, it is obligated to pay at least minimum wage. The federal minimum wage rate just increased to $7.25/hr (as of July 24^th). Some states also have minimum wage laws. The intern would be entitled to the higher of the two (federal or state) wage rates. You can also choose to pay more than minimum wage.
2. Incorporate a veteran-employee as a mentor/evaluator. If you already employ veterans, solicit some volunteers to serve as mentors and/or intern evaluators. This tactic will give the veteran a peer that he/she can confide in and who can offer the kind of personal advice that is beyond the scope of a non-veteran’s job search experience. It will also offer the company a level of insight into the service member’s potential to be successful in the job that might otherwise be overlooked if assessed by a non-veteran.
3. Increase the internship’s level of complexity. As would be expected of any experienced professional, the service member will bring more skills, knowledge, and managerial experience to the internship than the typical 20-something college student. Therefore, the internship should be structured such that the veteran is challenged in the role. And, don’t forget to get the service member’s feedback on the organization and structure of the internship. Ask him/her what should be incorporated to make the program better and to make it easier for them to really get a feel for the job.
4. Spend some time explaining your company’s culture and exposing them to examples of it. The military has a very strong culture, and if it is the only culture a veteran has experienced in his working career, it will help greatly if you explicitly let them know that on the whole, they should expect a different style of work environment and culture with civilian companies. This is not to say that veterans will have difficulty adapting; in fact, most will be excited to experience a different style. The point is that you need to give them a heads-up that it is different, and to illuminate some specific examples of culture fit in your company. A person’s ability to embrace a company’s culture is directly related to job satisfaction and employee engagement. So, introduce culture early and often during the internship and specifically assess both the veteran’s perception and demonstration of his/her “fit” in this new environment.
5. Use a different marketing strategy to advertise these internships to veterans. It’s a fairly straightforward process to alert students to internships – simply notify the university career center. But where should you broadcast your experienced professional internships to get the attention of the military member? There are at least a half dozen avenues you can use to get the word out to the veteran community, from military transition centers to social networking sites. If you are interested in learning more, I encourage you to register for my web seminar entitled “Military Applicant Sourcing Options” (now available on demand).

If your recruiters have begun to recruit veterans, have been screening veteran resumes and have been setting them aside because they are not finding the “square peg to fit in the square hole”, ask them to call up those resumes again. Contact those veterans and let them know you have these new internships for which they can choose to apply. And, if you are approached by a veteran who asks if you have or would consider developing internships for experienced professionals (sometimes called “adult” or “senior” internships), now you have some information you can use to make the internship a great experience for transitioning veterans.

Coming up in Part 2: Develop G.I. Bill eligible on-the-job training programs.

“Our success has been going like gangbusters with much of that being credited to the BMI (military) candidates we have hired,”…prior service members have what it takes to get the job done.

Please find the full case study here.

“When followers have trust and confidence in a charismatic leader, they are transformed into willing, rather than merely compliant, agents. In the lingo of leadership theorists, such influence is termed transformational leadership, and it is the dominant style of military leaders.”

Read the full post here.

While no one is yet sure when this will translate into increased numbers of veterans applying to colleges and universities in order to pursue college degrees and/or certificates, there is no denying that interest in using the program is very high, unlike previous versions of the G.I. Bill.

So, what should colleges and universities be doing now to prepare for a return of military veterans to campus in the coming years?  This question and many more are addressed in a new 1-day workshop offered by The Value Of a Veteran. If you are a College/University Director of HR, Admissions, Student Life, Veterans Services, Office of Disabilities, or Diversity, I encourage you to go to The Value Of a Veteran website for more details on this workshop and to request a sample agenda.

But, wait a minute – isn’t this a forum for recruiters and hiring managers?  Why should we care about the new Post 9/11 G.I. Bill? You may already know that I advocate using colleges & universities as a source for hiring veterans. I cover the technique in my web seminar “Military Applicant Sourcing Options” and I have written two blog articles in this forum on the subject. Here’s how you can use knowledge of the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill and its effects on veterans applying to higher education institutions to help you recruit on campus:

Let’s say you have a recurring need to hire geospatial analysts. The ideal candidate should have a bachelor’s degree in Geospatial Intelligence (or related program), a minimum 4 years of experience, and a current security clearance. Wouldn’t it be extremely helpful to for you to know:

• Which colleges/universities offer geospatial intelligence degrees? (You may already have this information.)
• Whether those colleges/universities have created a “veteran friendly” environment to maximize the likeliness that service members will want to use their Post 9/11 G.I. Bill benefits there? (You’ll have to ask.)
• Whether those colleges/universities are marketing their geospatial degree programs to the military to attract veterans with clearances and real-world experience in geospatial intelligence? (You’ll have to ask.)
• Whether you could build/improve your relationships with those colleges/universities and offer internships or other incentives to influence those degree-seeking veterans to apply to your company?

If you determine that some of your standard sources of colleges/universities are missing the mark when it comes to attracting veterans to campus, you can let them know they are missing a huge opportunity by not actively trying to attract veterans to their degree programs. Then you can tell them to give me a call and I’d be happy to get them on the right path

So why are military-experienced job seekers targeting these areas, as well as being targeted by the energy sector for open positions?

Prior-military service members have always been a significant part of the energy industry’s, oil and gas industry’s, and energy utilities’ hiring plans. Because of their related training and work ethic, military-trained project managers, engineers, maintenance technicians and field service technicians can walk into any energy-related company and begin providing an immediate positive impact.

The focus on green energy hiring in areas such as solar, wind and biomass derives from the rapid ramp-up that is happening in those industries, in addition to the government’s focus on green energy. Some published reports have discussed how the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has energy-specific provisions that will create more than 500,000 energy jobs. And don’t forget the energy-related manufacturing sector. Manufacturing has always been an area of strength for military talent, and as the solar panels, rechargeable battery cells and wind turbines are being produced, many military job seekers will find great careers in these areas.

One of the other big drivers of the military to energy trend is “doing something good”. One of the reasons that people sign up for the military is that they have a strong sense of service. Then when they are in the military, many times they are doing high-speed jobs working with cutting-edge projects. So green technologies appeal to both the “sense of service / doing something good” that these military job seekers have, plus the desire to do something on the new frontier in the civilian world.

Bradley-Morris, Inc. (BMI), a firm that helps employers hire military, was quoted in the article:

Bill Scott, a vice president for marketing at Bradley Morris, a military job placement company, also noted the importance of nuclear training.

“Many job seekers come out of the military with training that is directly applicable to civilian energy needs, for instance in the nuclear power sector,” he wrote in an e-mail message. His company, he said, is having a military hiring event specifically geared toward energy and renewables in Houston next month.

You can read the full New York Times piece here.

• BNSF Railway Company
• CACI International Inc
• Consolidated Edison, Inc.
• CSX Corporation

For the full list, see the official announcement here.

Abbott also advises those considering the military-to-civilian transition to carry their unique commitment to duty from the military into their civilian jobs.

“That dedication to mission that service members have is a definite plus in the civilian world,” said Abbott.

Read the full article: “From USMA to eBay”