[House Hearing, 114 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
EXAMINING 21ST CENTURY PROGRAMS AND STRATEGIES FOR VETERAN JOB SEEKERS
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED FOURTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15, 2016
__________
Serial No. 114-73
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs
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COMMITTEE ON VETERANS' AFFAIRS
JEFF MILLER, Florida, Chairman
DOUG LAMBORN, Colorado CORRINE BROWN, Florida, Ranking
GUS M. BILIRAKIS, Florida, Vice- Minority Member
Chairman MARK TAKANO, California
DAVID P. ROE, Tennessee JULIA BROWNLEY, California
DAN BENISHEK, Michigan DINA TITUS, Nevada
TIM HUELSKAMP, Kansas RAUL RUIZ, California
MIKE COFFMAN, Colorado ANN M. KUSTER, New Hampshire
BRAD R. WENSTRUP, Ohio BETO O'ROURKE, Texas
JACKIE WALORSKI, Indiana KATHLEEN RICE, New York
RALPH ABRAHAM, Louisiana TIMOTHY J. WALZ, Minnesota
LEE ZELDIN, New York JERRY McNERNEY, California
RYAN COSTELLO, Pennsylvania
AMATA RADEWAGEN, American Samoa
MIKE BOST, Illinois
Jon Towers, Staff Director
Don Phillips, Democratic Staff Director
SUBCOMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY
BRAD WENSTRUP, Ohio, Chairman
LEE ZELDIN, New York MARK TAKANO, California, Ranking
AMATA RADEWAGEN, American Samoa Member
RYAN COSTELLO, Pennsylvania DINA TITUS, Nevada
MIKE BOST, Illinois KATHLEEN RICE, New York
JERRY McNERNEY, California
Pursuant to clause 2(e)(4) of rule XI of the Rules of the House, public
hearing records of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs are also
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of converting between various electronic formats may introduce
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C O N T E N T S
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Wednesday, June 15, 2016
Page
Examining 21st Century Programs And Strategies For Veteran Job
Seekers........................................................ 1
OPENING STATEMENTS
Honorable Brad Wenstrup, Chairman................................ 1
Honorable Mark Takano, Ranking Member............................ 2
WITNESSES
Honorable Michael H. Michaud, Assistant Secretary, Veterans'
Employment and Training Service, U.S. Department of Labor...... 3
Prepared Statement........................................... 22
Mr. Eric Eversole, President, Hiring Our Heroes, U.S. Chamber of
Commerce Foundation............................................ 5
Prepared Statement........................................... 32
Mr. Terry D. Howell, Chief Petty Officer, USCG (Ret), Senior
Director, Military.com......................................... 7
Prepared Statement........................................... 35
Mr. LeRoy Acosta, Assistant National Legislative Director,
Disabled American Veterans..................................... 9
Prepared Statement........................................... 38
Mr. Greg Call, Head of Veterans Program, LinkedIn................ 10
Prepared Statement........................................... 42
EXAMINING 21ST CENTURY PROGRAMS AND STRATEGIES FOR VETERAN JOB SEEKERS
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Wednesday, June 15, 2016
Committee on Veterans' Affairs,
U. S. House of Representatives,
Washington, D.C.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:37 p.m., in
Room 334, Cannon House Office Building, Hon. Brad Wenstrup
[Chairman of the Subcommittee] presiding.
Present: Representatives Wenstrup, Zeldin, Costello,
Takano, Rice, and McNerney.
OPENING STATEMENT OF BRAD WENSTRUP, CHAIRMAN
Mr. Wenstrup. Good afternoon, everyone. The Subcommittee
will come to order. I want to thank you all for joining us here
today for our hearing entitled ``Examining 21st Century
Programs and Strategies for Veteran Job Seekers.''
I am excited for today's hearing, which is designed to be a
continuation of the discussion we had at the Subcommittee
hearing last month, where we examined how we can help veterans
find careers in the tech industry, but today, we will focus
more on the general veteran job seeker, and how we can work
together in a more holistic approach to connect them to
meaningful careers across the economy.
As I mentioned last month, the unemployment rates among
veterans continue to decline or remain stagnant. But seeing as
there is still an unemployment rate and lower workforce
participation rate for our Nation's veterans of all
generations, it is clear that more work still needs to be done.
One issue that we have heard from transitioning
servicemembers and veteran job seekers in the past is that when
they throw themselves into the job search, they find that the
process is often daunting, and finding a sustainable meaningful
job is, in fact, a job in and of itself.
I know that this is the case among all Americans as they
try and enter the workforce after college, or at a certain time
in their lives, but veterans often face a greater uphill battle
when searching for a job in the civilian sector than what their
civilian counterparts face. Often, due to the many avenues and
platforms currently available in the job searching space, they
are unsure where to even start the process of finding the best
job for both themselves and their families.
We have also heard concerns that veterans and transitioning
servicemembers are often unsure as to how to facilitate the
connections and networks they built during their military
service to help them find a job outside the military.
And lastly, one of the largest issues we continue to hear
is that veterans are not always aware of how advantageous their
military careers and skills can look on a resume for a civilian
sector job. We need to help veterans articulate and advertise
these skills in a way to prove that they are a competitive
candidate for the job.
So great strides have been made over the past several years
to help the men and women who have worn the uniform to bridge
this gap between their military experience and translatable
skills for civilian jobs, but more work needs to be done at the
Federal, State, and local levels to build this bridge in a more
meaningful way, while also ensuring employers in the private
and public sectors understand the advantages of hiring
veterans.
Further, while the unemployment rates have declined, the
rate did increase over the past month for female veterans
overall, and for post-9/11 males, which is a trend that is not
new. And while it is unreasonable to believe that the
unemployment rate will completely drop to zero overnight, we
need to examine why women veterans have an overall higher
unemployment rate than their male counterparts, and what we can
do to work with groups like those testifying before us today,
to continue to work at chipping away at the unemployment rates
for all of those who have served.
As we have said in the past, it is also important that we
discuss how employers can better recruit servicemembers for
jobs earlier on in their transition to lessen the likelihood of
a lapse in employment and a steady income as they leave the
military. The best way to beat unemployment is to ensure that
there is not even the briefest of windows for it to occur in
the first place.
I hope that with the expertise of the witnesses before us
today, we can have a meaningful conversation about how to
address these concerns; the continued overall unemployment
rates for veterans; and feedback we have heard over the years
from veterans and other stakeholders to improve the overall
experience and outcomes for veteran job seekers.
I will now yield to my colleague, Ranking Member Takano,
for any opening statement he may have.
OPENING STATEMENT OF MARK TAKANO, RANKING MEMBER
Mr. Takano. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this
hearing today to talk about veteran employment in our
contemporary economy.
Veteran unemployment is at a historic low at 3.4 percent
overall, down from 5 percent this time last year, and down from
a high of 9.9 percent just 5 years ago. Veteran unemployment
has remained lower than, or just about equal to the national
average for 24 months.
This excellent news is thanks to the combined efforts of
the administration, this Committee, public and private sector
employers, nonprofit advocates, and, of course, thanks to the
hard work and determination of veterans themselves. And while
we have made significant progress, we all need to do more to
make sure that every veteran job seeker is able to find work
that pays well, and is aligned with that veteran's strengths.
This is particularly the case for women veterans and
younger veterans, as we will hear today. As the fastest-growing
military cohort, women veterans face a persistently higher rate
of unemployment than men, although the reasons for this
difference are not fully understood. Given that approximately
200,000 women are expected to leave the military over the next
5 years, it is imperative that we identify and implement a
strategy to better support women veterans in their effort to
find employment.
Post-9/11 veterans under the age of 25 also face an
unemployment rate that is higher than the national average. A
variety of factors contribute to this problem. Our Subcommittee
Members on both sides of the aisle want to listen and discuss
ways to improve outcomes for younger veterans.
We also know that military spouses continue to face
difficulties in finding the right job and keeping it when they
have to move. I would appreciate your recommendations to
address this challenge and improve employment outcomes for
military spouses.
As our military prepares for a significant drawdown in the
coming years, it is critically important that we have in place
employment programs and services that effectively help
transitioning servicemembers find satisfying and stable
civilian jobs. I am looking forward to listening to our
witnesses' testimony regarding their efforts in this matter, as
well as their thoughts on how the Federal Government can help
improve job outcomes for all veterans.
I want to thank each of these witnesses for their
commitment to connecting transitioning servicemembers,
veterans, and military spouses, with high-quality civilian
jobs.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I yield back.
Mr. Wenstrup. Thank you, Mr. Takano.
I now want to recognize our first and only panel of
witnesses today. With us today, we have the Honorable Michael
Michaud, Assistant Secretary For the Veterans' Employment and
Training Service for the U.S. Department of Labor; Mr. Eric
Eversole, Senior Adviser and President for Hiring Our Heroes at
the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation; Mr. Terry Howell,
Senior Director for Military.Com; Mr. LeRoy Acosta, Assistant
National Legislative Director for the Disabled American
Veterans; and Mr. Greg Call, Head of LinkedIn's Veteran
Program.
Assistant Secretary Michaud, it is great to have you back
with us again. Let's begin with you. You are now recognized for
5 minutes for your opening statement.
STATEMENT OF HONORABLE MICHAEL H. MICHAUD
Mr. Michaud. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member,
and distinguished Members of the Committee. I am very excited
to be here this afternoon to tell you what we are doing at the
Department of Labor. I appreciate the opportunity to report on
the Department of Labor's efforts to provide better services
that led to improved employment outcome for our Nation's
veterans.
Through the collective and sustained efforts and
partnerships with many public, private organizations, the
employment situation for veterans continues to improve, and
veterans' unemployment rates are trending down. The
unemployment rate for veterans has fallen from a high of 9.9
percent in January 2011, to 3.4 percent in May of 2016. It
remains lower than the nonveterans' unemployment rate of 4.4
percent in May of 2016.
The charts displayed before you show that this considerable
improvement also applies to veterans age 18 to 24, and to
female veterans. While the overall veterans' unemployment rate
continues to trend lower, we at the Department of Labor will
not rest as long as any veteran needs assistance finding
meaningful civilian employment. To that end, VETS has pursued
six integrated lines of efforts.
First, we engage our servicemembers before they are
transitioning into civilian life. We continue to improve the
Department of Labor's employment workshop as part of TAP to
ensure it remains relevant to the needs of transitioning
servicemembers. We have expanded the ability of servicemembers
at risk of successful transition to meet with DVOPs, and are
working closely with DoD to connect them with the American job
centers before they leave active duty.
We are actively connecting our employer network to DoD
through its Skill Bridge Program that allows servicemembers
meeting certain qualifications to participate in civilian jobs
and employment training in their last 180 days of active duty.
VETS is also engaged with Employer Support of the Guard and
Reserve, ESGR, programs to assist Reserve servicemembers when
connecting to their local American job centers so that they can
obtain local employment while still retaining the ability to
support the mission of their assigned units.
Second, we are providing a lifetime of employment support
for our veterans, for all veterans regardless of where they
serve. Jobs for Veterans State Grants support veterans-focused
staff in the public workforce system in all 50 States and four
territories through American job centers in local communities.
We have improved our intensive service rates to nearly 90
percent nationwide to ensure that our veterans receive the help
they need to connect to the civilian workforce, and I am
pleased to report that the employment retention rate for JVSG
participants has increased to 82 percent.
Third, we are engaging and mobilizing communities to
establish collective partnerships to better support our
veterans where they live. VETS is working with a variety of
national base constituencies, including the National
Association of State Workforce Agencies, the National Governors
Association, and the National Conference of State Legislatures,
to address local employment obstacles like the unique
requirements to obtain professional licenses and credentials.
We are also partnering with the VA in their MyVA Community
Initiative to encourage community-driven solutions for
veterans, and to ensure that the public workforce provides the
employment foundation for these communities.
Fourth, we continue to work to end homelessness among our
veterans by providing services that help them establish a
stable, long-term employment. And I am happy to note that the
President supported our request for an additional $12 million
in fiscal year 2017 to fully fund our homeless veterans
reintegration program in recognition of its measurable impact.
Beginning in July, we will require grantees serving
homeless veterans to co-enroll participants in the public
workforce system through their local American job centers, and
we are working with faith-based organizations to further expand
the resources available to these important, but vulnerable
population.
Fifth, we are addressing the skill gap between veterans and
employers who are seeking employees with industry-recognized
credentials and helping veterans receive occupational,
classroom, and on-the-job training. On June 1, we published the
results of a 2-year study with the National Governors
Association on steps States can take to accelerate professional
licensing and industrial credentials for veterans. We continue
to work with DOL's Office of Apprenticeship to encourage
companies to establish registered apprenticeships that can help
veterans earn while they learn in new careers.
And sixth, we have dramatically expanded employer outreach
to make it easier for companies to find and hire veterans by
leveraging Federal, State, and local resources. VETS Office of
Strategic Outreach, fully manned just a year ago, is now
working with nearly 600 companies across the country on active
veterans hiring campaigns. This team provides valuable bridges
between the national and regional employers who are eager to
hire veterans and workforce development staff at the AJCs, who
build local employment relationships and assist veterans in
finding meaningful employments in their communities.
We also rolled out our Veterans.Gov Web site on May 1.
Veterans.Gov was built in response to the veterans and
employers' feedback. It is a critical resource that will help
connect veterans to civilian employment and help connect
employers to job-seeking veterans through the public workforce
system.
VETS is committed to reducing veterans' unemployment
nationally by helping each veteran through individual services.
And by bringing together our partners for this important
mission, VETS is leading the way in helping our veterans find
meaningful civilian employment today and tomorrow.
So Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member Takano, Members of the
Committee, thanks again for inviting me here today. I look
forward to your questions. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Michael H. Michaud appears in
the Appendix]
Mr. Wenstrup. Thank you, Mr. Secretary.
Mr. Eversole, you are now recognized for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF ERIC EVERSOLE
Mr. Eversole. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member
Takano. My name is Eric Eversole. I am the president of Hiring
Our Heroes, a program of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Foundation, and we are honored to be here to testify about the
tremendous value that veterans and military spouses bring to
our workforces across America.
I think before we really start talking about the
``Examining 21st Century Programs and Strategies for Veteran
Job Seekers,'' I think it is also important to talk for just a
couple of minutes about the tremendous progress that has been
made in this space. As both the Ranking Member and the Chairman
noted in their opening comments, there has been tremendous work
done in this space, and that work should help guide us as to
what we need to do to continue to serve the veterans and
military spouses that are continuing to struggle, because there
are segments of that veteran and military spouse population
that are struggling, they haven't found the opportunities they
have desired, and that has created some real challenges, both
in the near term and the long term, to ensure that those young
men and women who raise their hand are delivered the promise of
better economic opportunities once they have ended their
military service.
One of the things that we have learned from, from really
the outset of our efforts from a program perspective, we have
hosted more than 1,000 hiring events in the last 5 years, and
we have done that in every State in the country, the
territories, overseas locations, and really, pretty much
anywhere where we can find a veteran or military spouse who is
struggling.
And the one thing we have learned from day 1 of our efforts
is that it is a community effort. It is a collaboration between
both the private sector and the public sector, between
nonprofits and companies, to help ensure that we are making
meaningful connections to those young men and women who are
looking for those opportunities.
There is no magic bullet in this space. It takes a
community effort, and it is the collective efforts of those
organizations and groups like Department of Labor VETS and the
Federal agencies as well as the State and local agencies,
nonprofits, that are really going to make a difference in this
space. And that is where we have seen the most success.
The other thing that we have really learned, is that you
have to avoid taking the ``Field of Dreams'' approach to
helping veterans and military spouses find meaningful
employment opportunities. You can create great job
opportunities with lots of pay, but there are a lot of young
men and women who don't understand fully what real economic
opportunity looks like in this country.
They come from those low- and middle-income families, like
my family, as a first-generation college student from the
midwest, who really have one of two options back in your
hometown. If you want a better life, you are going to do one of
two things: You are going to join the military or you are going
to go to college.
But a lot of these young men and women, after that 4 years
or 6 years or 8 years of military service, still don't know
what that economic opportunity looks like. They still need that
extra hand to find that meaningful opportunity, because they
know what service is, they know what commitment is, they know
what hard work looks like, but they don't necessarily have the
connections or the background that is going to help them take
that tremendous experience and then sell it to the civilian
sector.
And that really leads to my third point, which I think is
equally critical: Digital programs play an incredibly important
role in this space because they have the ability to connect
servicemembers and military spouses with great employers at a
moment's notice, regardless of where they are stationed in this
world.
At Hiring Our Heroes, we have created a number of digital
programs, like our Virtual Job Scout, our resume engine, our
Career Spark for Military Spouses, that helps to make those
meaningful connections. And we have seen tremendous success to
be able to reach people, whether they are in Germany and
looking for a job in the United States, or they are located in
California and they are looking for a job in northern
California.
Regardless, we can make those connections, but you still
have to have a ground game. You still have to have people that
are involved and are going to help those young men and women
who don't know what they don't know to take that next
meaningful step. We have found our programs to be most
effective when we integrate them with the on-the-ground
approach, and we have seen good success.
With that said, I will yield the remaining amount of my
time and look forward to the panel's questions. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Eric Eversole appears in the
Appendix]
Mr. Wenstrup. Well, thank you very much.
Mr. Acosta, you are now recognized for 5 minutes. I am
sorry, Mr. Howell is next.
Mr. Howell, you are now recognized for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF TERRY D. HOWELL
Mr. Howell. Thank you very much. Thank you, Chairman
Wenstrup and Ranking Member Takano, and the other Members of
the Subcommittee, for inviting us here today to talk about this
important subject.
My name is Terry Howell, and I am the Senior Director for
Editorial Operations and Strategic Alliances for Military.Com.
I joined Military.Com in 2003 after serving the Coast Guard for
20 years. In 1999, Military.Com was founded with the premise
and the purpose of connecting servicemembers, veterans, and
their families with the benefits of service. Those benefits
include not just the Federal and State benefits, but discounts,
scholarships, and other opportunities that come with having
served their countries. Since we were founded, we have grown to
over 10 million members, and we have 7 million unique visitors
a month.
In 2004, we joined forces with Monster Worldwide, and in
doing so, we were able to team up together to take on quite a
few projects for the government. We have worked on
transitioning employment programs and online tools for the
Department of Defense, the Veterans Affairs, private
corporations, and State agencies. Over the years, we have
developed several online tools to help connect employers and
veterans, and aid in the transition process.
Our most widely used tool is our Military Skills
Translator. As we referred to earlier, technology is a big part
of it, though it is not the only answer. We are very proud of
the fact that we have created the skills translator that is
being currently used by over 60 different companies. We share,
at no cost, with nonprofit organizations like the American
Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and we also provide it
for organizations like the Northern Virginia Technology
Council, who use it, teamed up with junior colleges in their
area and other means to help provide opportunities for veterans
to find jobs within the high-tech fields.
We recently made significant changes to improve people's
awareness of what we are doing in these areas. We have created
new tools to help people apply for jobs online or at the
desktop, whereas before, it was kind of a complicated process.
We have simplified these processes to make it simpler and
easier for veterans to apply for jobs.
We have also added a new skills--or correction, we will be
launching a new transition app which essentially takes the TAP
process and puts it in a mobile device giving them personalized
checklists and reminders and notifications through their device
of when they need to reach certain milestones, certain
accomplishments they have to hit before they are ready to
transition. And we are very proud of that tool. It will be
launching hopefully in the next few weeks.
Let's see, we also, each year, create the Veteran Talent
Index. This is an annual report that kind of gives us a
snapshot of what--not only the BLS data, but also surveys of
what employers and servicemembers and veterans have to say
about the veteran experience as far as in the job searches and
transition. In fact, let me--I did bring a copy with me. I
would like to submit it for the record with your permission,
sir. Thank you.
So one of the things that came from our study is that--and
this may seem like a no-brainer--but employers who actually
commit to hiring veterans have a much better record of hiring
and retaining veterans than those that don't. And what I mean,
is it is easy for a company to say they want to hire veterans,
but we have found that companies who truly commit to it by
installing veteran-specific hiring practices, bringing on tools
and interfaces on the Internet that are specifically catered to
veterans, and building the culture within their companies and
support systems within their companies, have a much higher rate
of success, especially in the retention area than those that
don't.
So I will just wrap by saying it is our belief that there
is no single solution. It has already been said, right. But the
problems are as diverse as the members of the veteran community
that we serve. So it would be foolish of us to sit here and say
that my skills translator is the only thing that is going to
work. And it is foolish for anybody to say one thing.
We have found that it is a collaborative effort, that works
together. Of all these organizations here at the table today,
the Federal Government and Congress, have brought us a long
ways down the road to success in this area. But it is not time
to lighten up on the pedal. There is still--again, as mentioned
earlier, there is women veterans and younger men veterans,
post-9/11 veterans, who are currently still suffering from lack
of employment. If we were to lighten up now based on our
successes, we wouldn't be seeing the job all the way through.
So it is my belief that, through innovation and
collaboration, we continue to move this forward. And when I
speak about collaboration, we have worked several times with
the Federal Government to come up with some very innovative
fixes, but it is also going to require collaboration between
the private sector--or I am sorry. It is going to take a lot of
collaboration between all the private sectors in the room too,
because it can't be just done in one area.
So at this point, I thank you for inviting me to speak
today, and I conclude my statement, and I am open to any
questions you may have. Thank you very much.
[The prepared statement of Terry D. Howell appears in the
Appendix]
Mr. Wenstrup. Thank you, Mr. Howell.
Mr. Acosta, you are now recognized for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF LEROY ACOSTA
Mr. Acosta. Thank you. Chairman Wenstrup, Ranking Member
Takano, and Members of the Subcommittee, DAV appreciates the
opportunity to provide testimony for this hearing to outline
just a few innovative and effective employment transition
programs. We look forward to working with this Subcommittee to
ensure that the men and women who stood up for America have the
tools, resources, and opportunities that they need to
competitively enter the job market and secure meaningful
employment.
In 2014, DAV empowered America's veterans by establishing a
national employment program and committed more than $800,000 to
its startup so the program could begin work immediately. DAV's
employment program connects transitioning active duty, Guard
and Reserve members, veterans and their spouses, with employers
nationwide.
Through our partnerships with Recruit Military and Veteran
Recruiting, DAV has sponsored more than 130 all-veteran career
fairs in cities nationwide, as well as three virtual events to
connect veterans with employers who are committed to hiring
them. Visitors to Jobs.DAV.Org will find a schedule of future
all-veteran career fairs. In addition, our job search database
has over 250,000 employment opportunities. Our Web page,
Jobs.DAV.Org, averages about 15,000 hits per month.
Since the inception of DAV's employment program, over
54,000 participants have connected with more than 7,000
exhibiters, and this has led to nearly 16,000 job offers.
Outside of the DAV, another program specialized in military-to-
civilian reintegration is a nonprofit San Diego-based National
Veterans Transition Services, Incorporated. NVTSI emphasizes
the need to resocialize transitioning veterans via a reverse
boot camp.
NVTSI's signature 3-week reboot workshops conducted across
the Nation are innovative, evidence-based, and intensive. A DAV
member that participated in reboot last year commented that
reboot helped ease their focus on transition from military to
civilian life by providing purposeful time to make deliberate
career choices, and to build a strong network to create a
program for life beyond the military.
The third program I will discuss is concentrated on
reducing unemployment for women veterans. The nonprofit New
York City-based Operation Reinvent was founded in 2013.
Operation Reinvent is dedicated to providing expert guidance
and resources to help transitioning military women identify
career paths that suit their skills, education, goals, and
interests. An Operation Reinvent workshop occurred last week at
the soldiers support centers at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and
Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Fifty women soldiers attended each
location. The first day of the workshop was Webcast to both
locations in realtime from CBS studios in New York City.
Nationwide Webcast in each time zone are being planned.
Mr. Chairman, DAV appreciates the opportunity to provide
testimony. I would be pleased to address any questions you or
Members of this esteemed Committee may have regarding the
topics I have covered today. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of LeRoy Acosta appears in the
Appendix]
Mr. Wenstrup. Thank you very much.
Mr. Call, you are now recognized for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF GREG CALL
Mr. Call. Chairman Wenstrup, Ranking Member Takano, and
Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for inviting me to
testify today. My name is Greg Call. I am the head of
LinkedIn's Veterans Program. LinkedIn is a professional network
with over 433 million individuals around the world, 128 million
in the United States, and over 2.1 million veteran and military
members.
LinkedIn's vision is to create economic opportunity for
every member of the global workforce by providing networks,
insights, skills needed to succeed in the workplace. To achieve
that vision, we are building the world's first economic graph,
a digital map of the global economy that includes every member
of the global workforce, their skills, all open jobs, all
employers, and all educational institutions.
In my oral remarks, I will focus on two things: First, I
would like to talk about my own story as a veteran, and the
experience that I had after leaving the Marine Corps; second, I
will talk about LinkedIn's Veterans Program, which may be
impactful for our veterans as they transition from military
service to civilian professional life.
I became a Marine officer in March 2008 at the age of 28.
During my service in the Marine Corps, I had the privilege of
leading hundreds of Marines in combat environments, and on the
home front. The young Marines that I led inspired me every day
with their can-do attitude and their commitment to duty,
service, and sacrifice. I transitioned out of the Marine Corps
in 2012 after two deployments and over 4 years of honorable
service.
During this transition, it was extremely important for me
to keep my mission-driven life that I loved about being a
Marine officer. The Marines made me the individual that I am
today. However, like many transitioning servicemembers, I had
no civilian professional identity or professional network after
leaving the military. LinkedIn allowed me to reinvent myself as
a veteran entrepreneur where I founded two tech companies. It
empowered me to connect with people and organizations to
support my new mission in life.
In my current role, one of the projects that I led was our
first annual report on veterans. Our team analyzed the
professional experience, skills, and education of the 2.1
million military personnel and veterans that are members of
LinkedIn, as well as veteran employer data. Among other
insights, the report demonstrates that today's veterans
represent in-demand talent, and that more than 186,000 veterans
identify themselves as executives, vice presidents, or owners
on LinkedIn.
We recognize that according to the Bureau of Labor
Statistics, the unemployment rate for Gulf War II-era veterans,
our youngest generation of veterans, is higher than the
national rate, at 5.8 percent versus under 5 percent for the
general population. And the numbers for Latinos and African
Americans as well as women veterans are higher. So there is
more that we can do, and it is one of the reasons why I really
appreciate the opportunity to talk to you more about LinkedIn's
Veterans Program.
Our Veterans Program is designed to set veterans up for
success and transition, and close the gap between military
service and civilian employment by empowering veterans to build
professional identities, strong networks, civilian careers, and
workplace skills.
We do this by the following: One, providing access to a
network of 2.1 million military personnel and veterans on
LinkedIn; two, helping veterans build a digital professional
profile or a living expression of their experience, education,
and skills; three, providing a 1-year premium service
subscription to LinkedIn; and lastly, providing a 1-year
subscription to Lynda.Com, a leading online learning platform
that helps anyone learn business, technical, or creative
skills.
Lastly, I just want to highlight one key recommendation for
the Subcommittee. LinkedIn has worked with the Transition
Assistance Program to assist servicemembers with access to
post-military opportunities. Among other things, we recommend a
stronger integration of professional tools like LinkedIn before
a servicemember departs from the military.
Imagine if a servicemember has built an online civilian
profile, has support from mentors, and access to our network
while in service. They would be better positioned to identify
skills gaps and to connect with recruiters long before they
transitioned from the military, and would be set up for success
in their post-military career.
We at LinkedIn stand ready to work with Congress to expand
opportunity for every veteran in the United States. This is our
duty, our mandate, and fundamentally tied to our mission and
vision at LinkedIn. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Greg Call appears in the
Appendix]
Mr. Wenstrup. I thank you all for your remarks. And I am
now going to yield myself 5 minutes for some questions. But
first, I would like to make some comments. I really do
appreciate the testimonies that we have heard here today, and I
would like to comment on them, if I may, from this position.
You know, Mr. Eversole, I think you brought up a good
point. You know, many of our young veterans, as they get out,
use their GI bill, and many of them go and use it for a 4-year
degree, and that is great. But that is not for everybody. And I
am concerned in this country we have made that too much of the
standard that the American dream doesn't exist unless you get a
4-year degree. And I would disagree; neither of my parents have
a 4-year degree, and my guess is yours might not either. And
what we can accomplish through work and the opportunity to grow
isn't always for everyone to get a 4-year degree. So I
appreciate what you had to say in that.
And Secretary Michaud, I appreciate the work you have done
with VETS.GOV. I think it has come a long way and certainly an
opportunity for so many. And I appreciate the reaching out to
faith-based organizations. You know, these are people
operating, really, outside of religious beliefs, but as
Americans trying to make things better for fellow Americans.
And that is greatly appreciated.
Mr. Howell, I want to comment on the importance of public/
private partnerships that we have to engage in, because we are
going from basically being public to private, and in that
transition should include both sides.
And Mr. Acosta, I appreciate the work on transition. As a
veteran, I have a little bit of concern with the word
``reboot.'' As a veteran, I don't feel like I needed to be
rebooted, because I am concerned that word by itself may
detract somewhat from the decision that our young men and women
are making to serve their country. I do not believe they need
to be rebooted, but need to be transitioned.
And that leads to what you had to say, Mr. Call, which was,
you know, you are mission-driven, and that is what you want to
continue to do. And I appreciate the opportunities for people
to have a place to go to establish a mission and to drive that
mission onward.
So I think there has been very good testimony today from
all of you, and I appreciate it.
To questioning, what is the number one thing that this
Subcommittee could do to improve opportunities for veteran job
seekers? Looking at us, what we can do. And I would be glad to
go down the line if we can. Mr. Secretary.
Mr. Michaud. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I know both
you and the Ranking Member had talked about women veterans
issues and how you compared it with men's issue. And here is,
first, a comment on that and what the Committee might be able
to do to help that.
If you look at the chart comparing women veterans to female
non-veterans, you can see in that chart that actually the
female veterans' number is lower than the female non-veterans.
I asked my staff how can we analyze what is happening with the
women's veterans population?
Number one, the women veterans tend to be younger, and they
are more likely to be of minority status. At the same time,
they are more likely to be enrolled in school while seeking
employment than their male veterans counterparts. And when you
look at the male veteran' counterparts, the bulk of the
unemployment is actually in the higher age limit. So you really
can't compare women veterans with male veterans, but when you
compare women veterans in the same category as non-veteran
women, you will see actually they are doing extremely well.
One area where actually Congress can help, and it is one
area that my staff had highlighted is Title 38, because at the
time that Title 38 was passed into law, there were fewer women
veterans. And right now, when you look at the definitions, it
is different in different statutes. What would be very helpful
is if you did a thorough analysis of Title 38, and actually
bring it to sync the definition of women veterans. That would
be very helpful as far as helping us out over at the Department
of Labor VETS. Whether Congress does it or CRS does it, that
would be extremely helpful.
Mr. Wenstrup. Thank you. I appreciate that.
Mr. Eversole. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I think that one of the things that is absolutely critical
is that we don't lose sight of the fact that there are veterans
and military spouses who continue to struggle, even though the
unemployment rate has been cut in half over the last 5 years
for most segments of the military population. We can't just
wipe our hands and say that we can declare victory. We have a
lot more work that needs to be done.
And I think this issue, the issue of finding and helping
servicemembers and veterans find meaningful employment
opportunities is really one of national security, because as we
look and have to--at some point in the future have to have--
continue to have an all-volunteer force, we need young men and
women who are willing to raise their right hand for the promise
that it is going to somehow lead to better economic
opportunities.
And if we can't deliver that as a country, and that next
time that we need to make that call, it may be more difficult
for our services to find those young men and women who are
willing to raise their right hand. So from a national security
perspective, but it is also--from a business organization, it
is absolutely critical that we take these talented young men
and women and make sure that they have meaningful
opportunities.
It is absolutely critical for America's workforce that
these highly motivated, highly skilled, highly trainable, young
men and women are that next generation of leaders in those
companies. And we have certainly seen from the business
community that there is a groundswell of support and really of
a fight to find those young men and women.
But hearings like this and continuing to focus on these
issues is absolutely critical in the near future.
Mr. Howell. Thank you for the question.
I think that, first of all, so much of what your Committees
have done and are working towards have been effective, and so,
I don't want to lose sight of the fact that the VOW Act, and
some of these other things have had an impact. Recently, we
spoke with--or I have been speaking with employers who, when we
opened it up to, was it 20/20, the VOW Act or the coverage for
the tax incentives, that created another round of excitement
towards us.
And that may be not the right word, but the idea is that so
many companies had been kind of thinking, well, this is going
to go away, so I am not going to invest because of that. But
now that there is a longer road to this, it is starting to get
a lot more interest with employers. So I want to encourage, you
know, continuing those kind of programs and incentives, and
looking for new ways to try to incentivize it. At the same
time, I know that that can backfire and become, you know,
another entitlement issue that we don't want to get into, but I
think off the top, that is one of the things that I would
continue to pursue.
The other thing is, and I know we haven't talked much about
it, but when a servicemember transitions out of the military,
typically--let's pick an E-5--they are going to be stepping out
from a situation where they have housing and everything
covered, typically a single income at the E-5 level. When they
step out, it is very difficult to step right back into that E-5
pay level, plus they all of a sudden have the weight of the
economy on them, the cost of housing and all these sort of
things.
We have to keep in mind that there is two people that
transition, if not more, when it comes to military family, and
it is the spouse employment issues that we should also be
considering. I know that it is not necessarily a veterans'
issue, but when it comes to impacting a veteran's quality of
life and their opportunities, looking out for the spouse as
they transition, I think, would be an important factor to
consider moving forward.
Otherwise, like I said, the biggest issues that we have
seen veterans talk about are--and more so, we are trying to
listen more to employers is a lack of understanding of what the
military servicemember brings to their company, a lack of
understanding of exactly the incentives for why they would want
to hire them, and we are working very hard to create a
curriculum to help bring employers up to speed on how to hire
veterans, how to retain veterans, and by using the best
practices that we have learned from organizations or companies,
like Verizon, who are doing a fantastic job of hiring and
retaining veterans, looking at what they are doing and then
trying to teach that to other employers.
I don't know how that impacts legislation, but I thought I
should share that while I had the opportunity. Thank you.
Mr. Wenstrup. Mr. Acosta.
Mr. Acosta. Chairman Wenstrup, DAV members, at our last
convention, affirm DAV resolution number 136, which calls on
Congress to work with the Department of Labor, the Department
of Defense and, track the results and status of people that go
through the Transition Assistance Program, the transition GPS,
and to make any changes based on what they may see on that
data.
Mr. Wenstrup. Thank you.
Mr. Call.
Mr. Call. You know, when I get the opportunity to mentor,
you know, servicemembers that are thinking about transitioning
out, I always use the analogy of, in the military, you don't
learn how to fly an F-18 the day before you are stepping into
that cockpit, in an F-18. And so don't learn how to develop a
professional identity and develop a professional network that
you are going to have to leverage when you are transitioning
right when you are going to transition. Do it much earlier than
that.
So anything we can do to drive awareness and promote a lot
of the programs you are hearing about today a lot earlier in
the servicemember's life cycle, in their career, I think will
be hugely beneficial to them as they transition out of the
military.
Mr. Wenstrup. Well, thank you, all.
And I thank my colleagues for obliging me going over a
little in time. I will be glad to extend the same to each one
of you.
Mr. Takano, you are now recognized.
Mr. Takano. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Welcome, Secretary Michaud, Assistant Secretary Michaud.
You have certainly hit the ground running in your new role as
head of DOL VETS, and we are always pleased to see you back
before this Subcommittee or Committee. And congratulations on
the team you have assembled in such a short time, and we truly
appreciate your testimony today.
Veteran employment rates are low overall, but one of our
priorities today is to look a little closer at the higher
unemployment rate for women veterans. And as you know, I am
sponsoring a bill to study the Transition Assistance Program,
which if passed, will take a look at whether TAP can be
improved to meet the needs of women veterans, disabled
veterans, and insular veterans.
In your opinion, what are the main reasons for the lower
employment rate for women veterans?
Mr. Michaud. If you look at, I think, the lower
unemployment rate for female veterans versus the non-veteran
femaile population, it is a combination of all the efforts
collaboratively done by, both public, and private sectors to
bring that unemployment rate down.
As far as the TAP, we are constantly reviewing the TAP
curriculum. As far as how effective it is--I was actually asked
before I came in here if the VOW Act has been effective. How
can you quantify that? It is very hard to quantify because
there is so much being done at the local, State, and Federal
level, to say this is what really caused it to drop.
All I can say, if you look at the charts that I have given
you, those three charts, the VOW Act was passed in 2011. It was
into the TAP curriculum in 2013, and then you can see how the
numbers have been going. So whether it is all because of the
VOW Act, it is pretty hard to say.
You know, there have been several comments about trying to
help servicemembers early in their transition. That is an
issue, and we actually established and implemented a senior
sergeant major professional military education initiative. We
have a full-time sergeant major that works over at the
Department of Labor VETS that actually helps us with the
sergeant majors.
My deputy assistant secretary, Terry Gerton, and Sergeant
Major Coleman actually spoke at the Sergeant Major's Academy to
really impress upon them the importance of trying to get those
that are in the military, as soon as they are sworn in, into an
American job center so they can start that process early on.
The other issue that actually dealt with that same
information, is the Veterans Data Exchange Initiative. This is
the first of its kind, an MOU, that I signed earlier this year
with the Department of Defense, to actually get the information
from those members who are in the military. We were getting 10
years' worth of information and on. So we can actually better
analyze what is happening in the military as they go through,
so we can actually establish policies that will help them as
they get ready to transition out of the military.
Mr. Takano. So you are looking at other ways to gather data
and information. On a slightly different topic related to women
veterans, and this is not so much the unemployment rate, it is
interesting that they have a lower unemployment rate for women
veterans. But we know that they don't--women veterans don't
access their benefits as much as other veterans. Maybe they are
going to work instead. Maybe they are taking up the Chairman's
notion that you don't go to school, but you go into work. Maybe
that is what is happening with our women veterans.
But we have a suspicion that might also have to do with the
fact that they don't identify, they are reluctant to identify
themselves as veterans. Can you shed any light on whether it is
a reluctance to identify, whether they are going into the
workforce? Why is it that they are not accessing their benefits
as much as the male veterans?
Mr. Michaud. This is speculation. Actually, when Judge
Russell came to speak before this Committee a number of years
ago, when I was on the Committee, he asked the audience how
many were veterans, and hands went up. When he rephrased the
question, how many here served in the military? More hands went
up. And the issue is some veterans, whether it is male or
female, they don't self-identify themselves as veterans because
of different reasons.
And within our female veterans population, it is more
problematic than in the male population as far as self-
identifying whether they are veterans. One of the things I
stress as I go around the country and to the American job
centers, rather than ask if you are a veteran, ask them whether
or not they served in the military. That will actually, I
believe, will help us identify those who served. It depends on
how you phrase the question on what the response you are going
to get.
Mr. Takano. Well, along those lines, let's turn to the
American job centers. Do you feel that the DVOPs and the LVRs
at the American job centers are adequately trained to help
employers understand the unique and positive aspects of
recruiting and hiring women veterans?
Mr. Michaud. Absolutely. Our focuses are on all veterans,
women veterans of all different ages. The DVOPs and LVERs have
done a tremendous job. I am very proud of them. And with
VETERANS.GOV that we initiated, there is a site. If you click
on the site, ``Hire a veteran,'' you go to the next page, there
is a "get one-on-one assistance" button, and if the employer
needs X amount of employees in a certain category, they get a
response back within 1 day. One day they will get a response
back from LVERs of what is out there. I am very proud of the
customer service that we are able to provide for the employers
that actually call Department of Labor VETS or go to our
VETERANS.GOV Web site.
Mr. Takano. Just one more question, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Call,
I want to thank you for spending a little time with me
yesterday afternoon. And I certainly want to thank you for your
service as a Marine and thank all the gentlemen who have served
our country, all of you.
You know, the Chairman and I, you know, we did a lot of
work on examining our TAP--the TAP process, and how effective
the Transition Assistance Program is in helping our veterans
transition. Veterans often say that a TAP refresher after 6
months from separating from the military is beneficial to them.
And one of the problems with this is that unless they have
applied for benefits, the VA doesn't necessarily know where all
the separated servicemembers are.
Are there ways that LinkedIn might work with DOL and the VA
to inform veterans on how to reconnect with TAP resources and/
or Soldier For Life personnel?
Mr. Call. Thank you for that question, Congressman.
Like many of the gentlemen have already said up here, you
know, our program at LinkedIn, we don't look at it as the only
solution. We look at it as part of the solution with a lot of
the programs that have been mentioned today. So we are always
looking for ways to collaborate and to partner with any
organization that has the best interest in the veteran
community at heart.
We do have a very solid community, a very engaged veteran
community on LinkedIn. And it would be, you know, a privilege
of ours to be able to promote other programs that are highly
beneficial to that community.
Mr. Takano. Well, specifically, it seems to me that the VA
Assistant Secretary Michaud could really use your help in
identifying and making known things like the TAP refresher
course. Because my experience is servicemembers are in such a
hurry to get out, there is such a lot of information coming in,
and then only after they have been out for a while do they
realize, oh, you know, I don't really know all the services. I
didn't even know that was available and, you know, this program
or that program. But it seems to me that such you have such an
extensive network through LinkedIn that this might be a way for
us to reach those veterans and identify them.
Mr. Call. Yes. And we have been in touch with the
Secretary's team. They have been wonderful to work with, and we
look forward to broadening that collaboration moving forward in
the future for sure.
Mr. Takano. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. That concludes my
questions.
Mr. Wenstrup. Ms. Rice, you are now recognized.
Miss Rice. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Secretary Michaud, is it Secretary? Assistant Secretary. I
am trying to give you a promotion. Sorry about that.
Mr. Michaud. If Secretary Perez is looking at it, he might
be a little nervous.
Miss Rice. Speaking of him, you know, we were talking about
the rate of employment among women veterans versus the greater
veteran population. I have had conversations with Secretary
Perez in the past on the opportunities that apprenticeships
offer for women and minorities. And I wonder how you think we
can encourage more women veterans to seek out apprenticeships?
Mr. Michaud. That is a very good question, Congresswoman.
And that is one area that, as I go around talking with
businesses or with the garrison commanders on the different
bases I attend, apprenticeship is an important tool. It is a
tool that, thanks to Congress, DOL has $90 million more for
apprenticeships. We have been aggressively promoting
apprenticeships among the business community, among the VSOs,
and looking at the skill gaps that are currently out there, and
how we can fill those particular skill gaps in establishing an
apprenticeship program, if there is not one available, and look
at--the women veterans populations, is to fill the skill needs.
It is a very important tool.
Miss Rice. Great. Well, I obviously couldn't agree more.
Mr. Call, I want to thank you for coming and meeting with
me this morning. You definitely did your homework by meeting
with Members of the Committee. I think that is very helpful to
us to get to know all of you and exactly what you are doing.
So you had mentioned this morning, you discussed your
meeting with the Department of Defense Secretary Ash Carter.
And you said that during that meeting that he suggested that
servicemembers should set up their LinkedIn profiles earlier on
in their military careers when they are active so that they
have fully developed online--they have a fully developed online
presence and professional network, or at least time to build a
professional network by the time they are transitioning.
So can you just tell the Committee what your plans, what
LinkedIn's plans are with DoD, the VA, DOL VETS to start
encouraging servicemembers to do that?
Mr. Call. Yeah, sure. And just a quick clarification on
that meeting, we were very honored to have Secretary Carter
come to LinkedIn. It was a great meeting with him and all of
his team, and that was one of the topics that definitely was
discussed during that meeting. I am not positive if Secretary
Carter initiated that conversation, but it was something that
was discussed for sure.
Miss Rice. Well, then I will give credit to you since he is
not here.
Mr. Call. But yes, so we have actually created--I mentioned
Lynda.Com, the online learning platform, that we now offer 1-
year free subscription to servicemembers and veterans that are
members of LinkedIn.
We actually created a course called LinkedIn for Veterans,
and this was--the course was intended to remove the barrier to
really trying to figure out a way to establish a professional
identity and professional network so that you could connect to
opportunity. So it takes you from A to Z and gives you
excellent demonstrations and practical application that you can
do on the platform in a real interactive way. So that--
integrating that course into a servicemember's training earlier
on in their life cycle can be hugely beneficial for them to
both understand why they should be on LinkedIn, but also how to
utilize it.
Miss Rice. Let me just say that I just want to acknowledge
LinkedIn. I mean, there are a lot of--you know, we talk today
about companies that talk about hiring or trying to convince
the private sector about how important it is to hire. And you
are a perfect example, Mr. Call, in my opinion, of the benefits
that companies get by hiring someone like you who you don't
forget the men and women that you served with. And you come
back into the private sector and you are doing everything that
you can to help them.
So I want to thank LinkedIn for giving opportunities to,
you know, great Americans like you who have served our country
and deserve an opportunity to put all the wonderful skills that
they have to use, not just for their own, you know,
professional benefit, but for those of their fellow colleagues
as well. So thank you.
And just one more question, Mr. Chairman, if I may. You
know, Long Island, where I am, Mr. Howell, has a large
population of World War II, Korea, and Vietnam vets. Now,
because I am curious, how do you attract older veterans who
might be less comfortable using, you know, the new technology?
I mean, when I try to explain to kids when I was a DA that when
I was growing up there was one phone in the house and it was
attached to a wall, they look at me like I am a Martian.
So how do you do your best to bring that generation of
veterans into this universe?
Mr. Howell. It is a very good question, and I have got to
tell you that, surprisingly, that is our most active group.
Vietnam era and backwards are the most active group on
Military.Com as far as commenting on articles, engaging with
one another. They seem unstoppable at some point; it is
impressive.
I think that there are programs where--because obviously,
we are finding just a snippet of those, the vet population,
because there are quite a few who are technology, you know,
phobic, so to speak. But I think that what we have done in our
areas, and I think other opportunities for others to draw them
in are through organizations like--there is an organization in
Oregon right now who is actively going out and interviewing and
filming World War II veterans and Korea War veterans, getting
their stories before they pass.
And I know that the Legion has a program like that, but I
am working directly with the Foundation right now in Oregon
where we are gathering these stories and trying to build an
archive. They are actually building curriculum around those
veteran stories so that their stories aren't forgotten.
So as we do that, then, if we can't get them to come to the
site, at least we can get them on the site as far as their
presence and their experience, but like I said, as a whole, we
don't suffer from having a lack of interaction with our older
veterans.
Miss Rice. Great. Thank you. And thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Wenstrup. Mr. McNerney, you are now recognized.
Mr. McNerney. I thank the Chairman for holding this
hearing, and I just want to say how impressive the results have
been. It wasn't that long ago that it looked like a veteran
unemployment was going through the roof, and now it seems to be
controlled, at least, and continuing to move in a good
direction. So you all deserve a lot of credit for that and a
lot of other people do, too.
So Michaud, I have heard that some States are experiencing
a problem with the timing on the money they received for the
jobs for veteran State grants. The JVSG funding which pays for
the DVOP and the LVERs. We serve veterans out of American job
centers, we hear that many States are hiring fewer of these
DVOPs and LVERs in anticipation of delayed funding.
Have you heard about these concerns, and do you have any
thoughts on how we can better ensure that this funding is
provided so as not to cause disruption on the hiring?
Mr. Michaud. Thank you very much, Congressman, for that
question. As I go around the country, and meet with State
agencies, with veterans service organizations, and others, the
issue that comes up when we talk about Jobs for Veterans State
grants actually is two issues. The first issue is that States
want flexibility, particularly rural States, as it relates to
LVERs and DVOPs. I was able to actually provide that
flexibility about a month ago to allow them to better manage
DVOPs and LVERs.
The second issue is the one that you asked me about that
constantly comes up in every State whether it is a large State
like California, or Texas, or small State, like Maine or
Massachusetts.
The funding is an issue. It is a timing issue. JVSG is the
biggest funding program, and money goes directly back to the
States. And when Congress doesn't pass a budget on time, that
causes concerns for the States. And some of the solutions that
actually have come up when I talk to folks is, how can we close
that gap, because what is happening with some States is they
are not hiring DVOPs and LVERs, not knowing whether Congress
will provide the funding, or when it provides it. And the
solutions that some States have proposed is to either put the
JVSG program, similar to other DOL programs, like the Wagner
Piazza on a program year, that is one option.
Another option that has come up is dealing with advanced
appropriations. For a State like California, for instance,
California receives $19 million for JVSG funding. And if they
do not get the funding on time on a monthly basis, I believe it
is probably a little over $1.5 million. So it is an issue.
When I was in Colorado, I actually had a roundtable
discussion with Congressman Lamborn. That issue came up in
Colorado as well. I know Congressman Lamborn was going to look
into it.
Mr. McNerney. Thank you.
Mr. Michaud. We look forward to working with the Committee
to help.
Mr. McNerney. Find solutions.
Mr. Michaud. Find a solution.
Mr. Wenstrup. Mr. Howell and Mr. Acosta, I few years ago, I
think there was a feeling that some of the veterans were
feeling discriminated against because of concerns about post-
traumatic stress and other sorts of stigmas. Is that a problem
or has that more or less dissipated? And if not, what can we do
about that together?
Mr. Acosta. Thank you. That is a wonderful question. PTSD
of course is a prevalent problem among--an issue among
veterans, wounded and ill veterans, disabled veterans
especially. Those veterans are focused on and looked at the VA
health care system, and they are treated there.
As far as their needs, we can assess their needs when they
come in and talk to us and determine what is best going to be
the outcome for them, and what kind of resources we can shed
light on for them.
Mr. McNerney. Are employers sort of stigmatizing, and maybe
discriminating against veterans for that sort of fear--for fear
of that sort of problem?
Mr. Howell. That was a concern we had--pardon me for
jumping in here. Thank you for the question--that was a concern
that we had a number of years ago as--especially when we kind
of peaked on the unemployment. We worked with DAV and other
organizations to get a lot of content, a lot of information out
there to try to destigmatize that to kind of put it in the real
terms that it isn't a danger that an employer has to
necessarily prepare for or plan for or be aware of. I think
that over time, that we have seen that conversation wane with
our discussions with employers. It didn't seem to be at the
forefront of their concerns like it may have been a few years
ago.
So while I don't think there is an active thing we can do,
it is just a matter of keeping it out on the open and talking
about it, and kind of taking the stigma away from it in our
conversations, both here and outside.
Mr. McNerney. Thank you. Mr. Chairman, I yield back.
Mr. Wenstrup. I thank you. I am curious as to maybe on that
very topic that Mr. McNerney brought up, maybe employment and a
sense of purpose reduces some of the symptoms of PTSD. We may
find that it may change the dynamic and actually be helping
rather than being a concern. Anecdotally at least, that may be
the case. Hopefully that is the case, and we can continue that.
Before we close, I ask unanimous consent that LinkedIn's
annual veterans' inside report be included in today's hearing
record. Hearing no objection, so ordered.
Mr. Wenstrup. And I want to thank you all for your
testimony today. I think this was an outstanding hearing. And I
appreciate your thoughtful responses to our questions today. I
appreciate everything that each of you is doing to connect
veterans to meaningful jobs as they exit the military. All your
hard work is paying off as the national unemployment rate
amongst veterans continues to decrease. As was said earlier,
and I think we would all agree, that we as a country still have
more work to do to ensure that all the men and women who have
served this Nation, and want a meaningful career after uniform
are able to do so.
I look forward to our continued partnership going forward,
and I hope that all levels of government and the private sector
continue to collaborate to help veteran job seekers across this
country.
Finally, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5
legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks,
and include any extraneous material on today's hearing. Without
objection so ordered. The hearing is now adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 3:45 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
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Prepared Statement of Michael H. Michaud
Introduction
Good afternoon Chairman Wenstrup, Ranking Member Takano, and
distinguished Members of the Subcommittee. Thank you for the
opportunity to participate in today's hearing. As Assistant Secretary
of Labor for Veterans' Employment and Training, I am excited to report
on Department of Labor (DOL or the Department) efforts to provide
better services that lead to improved employment outcomes for our
Nation's veterans.
I want to take this moment to personally thank every member of this
Subcommittee and the Committee for their strong support of our armed
forces, our veterans, and their families. I have been in this job for
six months, and I greatly appreciate that we are all partners in
promoting opportunities for veterans and in protecting their rights.
Thank you.
I am especially excited to inform you about our new 24/7 online
resource, VETERANS.GOV. VETERANS.GOV is a critical resource that will
help connect veterans and their spouses to civilian employment as well
as employers seeking to hire veterans and their spouses. I will discuss
this in more detail later in my testimony.
Through the collective and sustained efforts and partnerships of
many public and private organizations, the employment situation for
veterans continues to improve and veterans' unemployment rates are
trending down.
The unemployment rate for veterans has fallen from a high of 9.9%
in January 2011 to 3.4% in May 2016; lower than the nonveteran
unemployment rate of 4.4% in May 2016. The chart on the next page shows
that this is considerable improvement from this time in previous years.
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
While the overall veteran unemployment rate continues to trend
lower, we at DOL will not rest until all veterans have access to
meaningful civilian employment. DOL is fully committed to supporting
veterans of all ages. In addition to supporting veterans under 25 and
those approximately 200,000 Service members who transition to veteran
status every year, we also make sure that veterans over 45 have the
support they need for employment success. Among the 495,000 unemployed
veterans in 2015, 57% of them were age 45 and over.
As I mentioned, the overall declining rates are the result of the
integrated efforts of many public, private, and nonprofit organizations
to connect veterans with employers and, perhaps most importantly, the
result of our veterans once in a workplace, proving to be valuable
employees.
The mission of the Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS)
is to prepare America's veterans, Service members, and their spouses
for rewarding careers, provide them with employment resources and
expertise, protect their employment rights, and promote their
employment opportunities. Before I go further, I would like to take
this opportunity to mention that other agencies share DOL's commitment
to improve employment opportunities for our veterans. One example is
the Department of Agriculture, whose Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 Budget
includes several programs to assist veterans.
We are working hard to improve our performance in support of our
veterans, customers, stakeholders, and partners alike. Our efforts have
contributed to improved employment outcomes for veterans and strong
interagency collaborations. While we recognize there are challenges and
much work ahead of us, we seek continued improvement with an approach
to build and sustain partnerships and programs that focus on the
following key areas:
Engaging our Service members before they transition into
civilian life;
Providing a lifetime of employment support to our
veterans, from the Gulf War II era veterans who have recently
transitioned to previous-era veterans who have been out of uniform for
many years;
Engaging and mobilizing communities to establish
collaborative partnerships to better support veterans nationwide;
Ending homelessness for veterans;
Addressing the skill gap between veterans and employers
who are seeking employees with industry recognized credentials and
helping veterans receive occupational, classroom and on-the-job
training; and
Conducting employer outreach to make it easier for
companies to find and hire veterans by leveraging federal, state, and
local resources.
Pre-Transition: Proactive Engagement with Transitioning Service Members
Erik, a United States Marine (Active Reservist), used tips and
skill builders from the DOL Employment Workshop Participant Guide and
contacted Disabled Veterans' Outreach Program (DVOP) specialist Earl
Thompson at an American Job Center (AJC) in Utah. Earl provided one-on-
one coaching and helped Erik translate his military skills, develop a
resume, and prepare for an interview. Erik quickly landed a job as a
Security Monitor at Vivint, a military-friendly smart home technology
provider, and his military experience helped him secure a wage that
increases upon completion of his initial work period.
During the peak of the veteran unemployment crisis in 2011, the
President established the Veterans' Employment Initiative (VEI) Task
Force to ensure the career readiness of transitioning Service members.
The Task Force consists of joint representation from DOL, Department of
Veterans Affairs (VA), Department of Defense (DoD), Department of
Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of Education (ED), the Small
Business Administration (SBA), and the Office of Personnel Management
(OPM). The President approved the Task Force's plan to strengthen and
build upon the existing Transition Assistance Program (TAP) aimed at
providing separating Service members and their spouses with the
training and support they need to transition successfully to the
civilian workforce.
We have provided previous testimony on the evolution of TAP,
particularly on the improvements to the DOL Employment Workshop. In
conjunction with the TAP Senior Steering Group Curriculum Working
Group, VETS completed a full review of the DOL Employment Workshop
curriculum in FY 2016. The new curriculum was implemented on April 1,
2016. DOL engaged industry representatives and veteran services
organizations to participate in the curriculum review to ensure we
leveraged expertise external to the Agency. Additionally, Service
members from six military installations who were participating in the
DOL Employment Workshop were interviewed and all Service member
participant survey data was reviewed. In FY 2017, a new biennial review
cycle will begin. Year one of the cycle calls for a technical review,
in which the Agency ensures all names and sources of references
(websites, resources, etc.) remain up-to-date. As FY 2017 closes, VETS
will prepare for year two, which is a full-scale curriculum review and
update.
Another important component of the revised TAP is the
implementation of the Military Life Cycle (MLC) model. MLC will
initiate a Service member's transition preparation at the onset of
their military career (both Active Duty and Guard/Reserve). The model
outlines key points in time, or ``touch points,'' throughout a Service
member's career to align their military career with their civilian
career goals. It promotes awareness of the Career Readiness Standards
Service members must meet long before separating from Active Duty and
enables transition to become a well-planned, organized progression of
skill building and career readiness preparation.
In order to better support the MLC and ensure that the first time
military leaders learn about transition resources is not when they
themselves are separating from active duty, VETS implemented the Senior
Sergeant Major Fellow Professional Military Education (PME) Initiative.
This Initiative involves a U.S. Army Sergeant Major acting at VETS as a
Senior Military Fellow on a full-time, one-year rotational basis.
Additionally, VETS established a formal relationship and routine
presence at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy. This effort includes
a mutual academic relationship, in which students of the academy's
Sergeants Major Course conduct staff studies on the MLC and
transitioning Service member programs, presenting their results in a
formal briefing to DOL VETS leadership each semester. This is a great
opportunity for both organizations as it enables future senior enlisted
leaders to interact with another federal agency and provides DOL
insight and best practices from senior leaders in the Army. VETS is
seeking to extend this collaboration to the other military services.
VETS' engagement in support of transitioning Service members and
their families is not limited to the Employment Workshop. The following
Service members are some of the populations eligible to receive
intensive services from DVOP specialists: Service members who are
referred via a Capstone ``warm handover'' or those who have not met
Career Readiness Standards (CRS); all transitioning Service members 18-
24 years old, regardless of whether they meet CRS; and active duty
Service members being involuntary separated through a service
reduction-in-force. Additionally, those Service members who are wounded
ill, or injured and receiving treatment in military treatment
facilities or warrior transition units as well as their spouses or
other family caregivers may also receive intensive services from a DVOP
specialist.
Additionally, military spouses who are unable to continue
employment due to permanent change of station orders or as the result
of military deployment, and certain transitioning Service members
within six months of separation are eligible to receive employment and
training assistance under the Department's National Dislocated Worker
Program.
DOL supports the opportunities under the DoD SkillBridge initiative
that promotes DoD's authority to offer civilian job training to
transitioning Service members. Service members meeting certain
qualifications can participate in civilian job and employment training,
including Registered Apprenticeships, on-the-job training, and
internships in their last 180 days of active duty. Tremendous potential
exists for Service members, companies, trade unions, and others to
leverage this new DoD authority and smooth the path from active duty to
civilian employment.
In addition to the above outreach efforts, DOL is working with the
Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) program to assist
reserve Service members with identifying and connecting with AJCs while
providing local staff the opportunity to benefit from relationships
with military-friendly employers that ESGR has cultivated over the
years. ESGR will continue to grow its partnerships with the DOL's AJCs,
Service-based hiring programs, and state-based hiring initiatives to
fulfill the employment information and referral mission. To date, five
states (Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa) have moved
forward with the project, while all states have assessed their existing
partnerships to serve our valued reserve component Service members and
families.
DOD's Office of Warrior Care Policy (OWCP) ensures recovering
wounded, ill, injured, and transitioning members of the Armed Forces
receive equitable, consistent, and high-quality support and services.
OWCP helps our wounded warriors and their families through effective
collaboration efforts, pro-active communication, responsive policy, and
program oversight. VETS is honored to support this organization and
those they serve. We provide information briefings to their Regional
Care Coordinators to ensure that the wounded warriors and their
families are aware of the personalized employment services provided at
AJCs nationwide.
In 2013, DOL signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to launch a nation-wide Financial
Literacy Coaching Program for transitioning Service members and
spouses. The program is a joint effort between DOL and the CFPB to
place specially trained coaches in select AJCs to provide financial
advice to recently separated veterans. Under the Program, CFPB has
placed financial coaches at a total of 60 AJCs.
As part of the agency's Veterans Data Exchange Initiative (VDEI),
VETS has worked with DoD's Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) to
develop a ``first-of-its-kind'' Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
agreement to transfer several years of exiting military Service member
data to DOL for analysis. VETS has engaged the DOL's Office of the
Chief Information Officer (OCIO) in the development of a system to
securely store and analyze the Service member data which includes
demographic and service-related characteristics of separated Service
members. With the MOU completed, VETS is working with DMDC to transfer
the first data and begin initial analysis in the coming months. This
aggregated data and analysis will assist VETS in our policy development
to better support veterans' employment and training needs and improve
outcomes.
Outside the Federal government, VETS' staff participate at hiring
events nationwide including sitting on panels and conducting ``American
Job Center: Path to Veteran Employment'' workshops at the transition
summits cohosted by DoD and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation
Hiring Our Heroes program. DOL works closely with Hiring Our Heroes
staff, Service representatives and Service organizations such as
Soldier For Life (SFL) and Marine For Life (M4L) to communicate with
Service members and connect them to DOL resources before they separate
from active duty.
VETS will continue to focus on our proactive engagement of our
Service members before they transition into civilian life with
effective engagement and services that lead to meaningful employment.
Post Transition and the American Job Center Network
Bradley, after serving ten years in the United States Army as a
Military Police Officer, found the civilian job market to be much
different from when he first enlisted. After an initial visit to an AJC
in Las Vegas, NV, he received help updating his resume and translating
his military skills into a format that would be attractive to
employers. Bradley is now a Regional Representative in the Las Vegas
office of U.S. Senator Dean Heller.
The public workforce system includes a nationwide network of nearly
2,500 AJCs, a network operated in partnership by Local Workforce
Development Boards (WDBs), State Workforce Agencies (SWAs), and DOL
(primarily the Employment and Training Administration - ETA) and is the
next natural step for our transitioning Service members when they
complete the DOL Employment Workshop component of TAP. Veterans receive
priority of service at AJCs.
VETS' Jobs for Veterans State Grant (JVSG) Program provides funding
to 54 states and territories for DVOP specialists and Local Veterans'
Employment Representative (LVER) staff, located in AJCs. DVOP
specialists provide intensive services to veterans and eligible
populations, including homeless and formerly incarcerated veterans,
through individualized case management. This includes comprehensive and
specialized assessments of skill levels and needs, development of
individual employment plans, group and individual career counseling and
planning, and short-term skills development (such as interview and
communication skills). LVER staff promotes the hiring of veterans in
communities through outreach activities that build relationships with
local employers, and provide training to workforce center staff to
facilitate the provision of services to veterans.
We have improved the Intensive Service rate as well as employment
placement rate for all veterans served by JVSG. The percent of JVSG
participants receiving intensive services has increased from 22 percent
in FY 2010 to 85.7 percent in FY 2016 as of March 31, 2016 - half-way
through the fiscal year. For the same time period, the entered
employment rate for JVSG participants increased from 48 percent to 59.5
percent. Further, the employment retention rate of JVSG participants,
or those who retained employment six months after program exit, has
increased from 74 percent in FY 2010 to 82.3 percent, and the average
six-month earnings of these participants rose from $14,751 to $16,697.
I have made it a point in my first six months in office to visit
JVSG programs in over a dozen states and in all of DOL's regions around
the country. Last month, I also had the opportunity to visit the
National Veterans' Training Institute in Denver, CO to observe the
training program for JVSG-funded staff (including DVOP specialists and
LVERs).
State Partnerships
VETS has continual interaction with the National Association of
State Workforce Agencies (NASWA). They provided state information for
our VETERANS.GOV website and have assisted in evaluating our training
programs for LVERs and DVOP specialists. DOL also sponsored a recently
published study conducted by the National Governors Association (NGA),
entitled ``Veterans' Licensing and Certification Demonstration and Cost
Study: A Summary of State Experiences, Preliminary Findings, and Cost
Estimates,'' (hereinafter referred to as the DOL L&C Demonstration and
Cost Study) on which we testified before this Subcommittee in September
2015. I will provide additional information about the report later in
this testimony. We are also engaged with the National Conference of
State Legislatures (NCSL) which will be engaging state legislatures to
consider the recommendations of the DOL L&C Demonstration and Cost
Study.
Representatives from the NASWA, NGA, and NCSL are all members of
VETS' Advisory Committee on Veterans' Employment, Training and Employer
Outreach (ACVETEO). ACVETEO is a Congressionally-mandated advisory
committee authorized under Section 4110 of Title 38, U.S. Code, and is
subject to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). The ACVETEO:
Assesses the employment and training needs of veterans and their
integration into the workforce; determines the extent to which the
programs and activities of DOL are meeting such needs; assists me in
carrying out outreach activities to employers with respect to the
training and skills of veterans and the advantages afforded employers
by hiring veterans; and makes recommendations to the Secretary, through
me, with respect to outreach activities and employment and training
needs of veterans. The recommendations of ACVETEO will help DOL promote
opportunities for veterans and their spouses, and VETS continues to
track progress on the recommendations submitted in the FY 2015 ACVETEO
Annual Report to Congress.
Outreach Through the Web and Digital Media
Because our veteran clients and stakeholders requested it, VETS now
provides a 24/7 online resource easily accessible to all veterans as
well as to employers who want to hire veterans. On May 1, 2016, VETS
officially launched VETERANS.GOV. The site is designed to be the
virtual ``first stop'' for veterans, transitioning Service members, and
their spouses in the employment search process - and for employers in
the hiring process. The site brings together job banks, state
employment offices, AJCs, opportunities in top trending industry
sectors, and employer assistance all in one online spot. There also are
links to several platforms that veterans can use to help translate
their military skills into skills for the civilian workforce. We are
leveraging the Department's Facebook and Twitter accounts as part of
our efforts to reach veterans and their families. For veterans, Service
members and their spouses looking for their first civilian job after
the military, wanting a career change, or hoping to start their own
business, VETERANS.GOV is a critical resource that will help connect
veterans and their spouses to civilian employment. We believe this new
website will be very useful to veterans and their families, and it is
another sign of the Department of Labor's commitment to assist veterans
and transitioning Service members in every way possible with training
and other opportunities to find meaningful employment and build bright
futures for their families.
Our federal partners also are represented on VETERANS.GOV to assist
the respective agencies veteran employment efforts and to advocate
careers in their respective employment sector. On the VETERANS.GOV
landing page, there are links to the SBA, and Departments of
Agriculture, Transportation, Homeland Security, and Energy's veteran
pages as well as a link to OPM's Feds for Vets page that provides
information on how to apply for a federal job. As an example of federal
and state coordination, users can click on a map of the United States
on VETERANS.GOV to quickly receive state-specific veteran employment
information. In addition to VETERANS.GOV, the Department also maintains
a mobile app, CareerOneStop Mobile, available on both Apple and Android
devices. CareerOneStop Mobile provides veterans and non-veterans alike
on-the-go access to many of the tools found on VETERANS.GOV such as job
banks, military-to-civilian skills translation, local training
opportunities, salary data, and an AJC finder.
VA & DOL Partnership
DOL and VA are working closely to ensure our respective services
complement each other so that veterans are better served. Our agencies
agree that the successful readjustment of veterans with disabilities
into the civilian workforce is a mutual responsibility and concern.
VA's Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (VR&E) Service and VETS
have focused since 1995 on improving services for our shared veteran
clients. A unified team approach between VA VR&E, VETS, and State
Workforce Agency (SWA) staff, documented through Memoranda of
Understanding, is fundamental to a seamless, positive experience for
Chapter 31 veterans as they move through evaluation, training, job
search, and employment. A true partnership capitalizes on the strengths
of the involved agencies and fosters the ideals of exemplary customer
service.
VETS and VA routinely update their MOU regarding service protocols
for veterans served under the VR&E program. The most recent MOU and
Technical Assistance Guide (TAG) were published in February and April
of 2015. The DOL VETS and VA VR&E Joint Working Group (JWG) recently
mandated that VETS, VA VR&E, and SWA staffs develop local MOUs to
facilitate communication and share information between agencies. A key
component of this project is VA's referral of veterans found to be
entitled to Chapter 31 benefits to their SWA and AJCs for Labor Market
Information. This information is essential in tailoring their
individual rehabilitation plans prior to entering training. A second
referral to AJCs occurs near the end of the veteran's training program
when the AJC provides employment services to achieve better employment
post-training outcomes. The JWG is updating earlier guidance to now
direct the majority of referrals, with some exceptions, of Chapter 31
veterans to AJCs.
The AJCs also assist in providing Reemployment Services and
Eligibility Assessments (RESEAs) to transitioning veterans who receive
Unemployment Compensation for Ex-Servicemembers (UCX), as well as
claimants who have been identified as most likely to exhaust their
unemployment insurance benefits and are in need of reemployment
services. The Budget also includes almost $190 million to provide in-
person reemployment services to Unemployment Insurance (UI)
beneficiaries most at risk of exhausting their benefits, as well as all
returning veterans who are receiving UI. Evidence suggests these
services are a cost-effective strategy that gets workers back into jobs
faster with higher wages.
Women Veterans
Our VETS Women Veteran Program (WVP) monitors the overlapping
considerations of working women and working veterans, makes policy
recommendations as appropriate, and conducts public engagement to
ensure DOL's employment services are meeting the needs of women
veterans. Based on WVP analysis and recommendations, the definition of
homeless as a Significant Barrier to Employment for JVSG services was
expanded, in 2015, to include persons fleeing domestic violence. To
address the lack of awareness of VETS free employment services among
women veterans and confusion related to eligibility for services, the
WVP continues to promote the Free Employment Assistance for Women
Veterans Webinar, available at http://www.dol.gov/vets/womenveterans.
WVP also serves in an advisory role on the status of women veterans
and employment for VA's Advisory Committee on Women Veterans and
interagency workgroups including the White House Council on Women and
Girls - Women Veteran Working Group. The WVP also maintains
collaborative relationships with VA's Center for Women Veterans, Center
for Minority Veterans, Office of Rural Health, and non-profit
organizations that also provide services to women veterans and others
to ensure that service providers and other influencers of women
veterans are educated on the full suite of employment services that
their women veteran clientele may need.
Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act
In addition to these extensive and personalized employment
resources available to veterans through the AJCs, the Department
protects veterans' employment and reemployment rights by administering
and helping enforce the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment
Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA), 38 U.S.C. 4301-4335. We have testified
many times before this sub-committee on the USERRA program and provide
a report annually to Congress enumerating our cases and outcomes. VETS
is particularly proud of the strong customer service it provides to its
stakeholders through these investigations-which was supported by the
GAO's findings in its November 2014 report. VETS seeks to continually
improve the services it provides to Service members, veterans, and
employers. To that end, VETS implemented this year a customer
satisfaction survey similar to that used in the U.S. Office of Special
Counsel-VETS demonstration project in order to better identify best
practices and areas for improvement.
Unemployment Among Homeless Veterans
Doug is a 53 year old male who served on Active Duty as a rifleman
in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1981 to 1984. After discharge, Doug found
himself homeless and unemployed after years of substance abuse. An HVRP
Jobs Coordinator first met him when he was living in an emergency
shelter for homeless veterans in Hempstead, NY. Doug was referred to
HVRP grantee Beacon House for employment training. During this time he
completed his outpatient treatment and a 6-week course given by VA for
training to become a house manager for group homes. Doug was offered
and accepted a position as a house manager in the Grant and Per Diem
Program at Beacon House. He more recently was promoted to the position
as Director of Housing for Beacon House. During his employment with
Beacon House, Doug received his Associates Degree in Science, got
married and now lives in his own home in New York.
The Department is committed to the Administration's goal of ending
homelessness among veterans. Our Homeless Veterans' Reintegration
Program (HVRP) addresses unemployment among one of the most vulnerable
veteran populations, those who are homeless. VETS administers the HVRP
to provide employment and training services to homeless veterans so
that they can be reintegrated into the labor force, and to stimulate
the development of effective service delivery systems which address the
complex problems homeless veterans face. The HVRP is the only
nationwide federal program focusing exclusively on helping homeless
veterans to reintegrate into the workforce.
In the last full program year, VETS' HVRP grantees placed 69% of
the veterans they served into employment. The FY 2017 President's
Budget includes a nearly $12 million increase for HVRP and related
programs from $38.1M to $50M. If Congress increases the HVRP
appropriation to $50 million, VETS estimates the number of veterans
served could increase from approximately 17,000 homeless veterans to
approximately 22,000 homeless veterans.
Beginning in Program Year 2016 (July 1, 2016), VETS is requiring
all grantees serving homeless veterans to co-enroll participants in the
public workforce system through the local AJC while they are receiving
services through VETS' homeless veterans program grantees. The
expectation is to create a sustainable partnership in which
participants' employment needs are met. The heart of the public
workforce system is the AJC, the access point for employers to
qualified workers and the access point for veterans to the employment
and related services they need to find meaningful employment.
Community Engagement
After Service members transition from military service, they
relocate to communities across the nation. I believe the long term key
to veteran employment support is to engage and mobilize communities to
establish collaborative partnerships with coordinated, community-based
support to veterans, Service members and their families. VETS supports
the MyVA Community Model that includes Community Veterans Engagement
Boards (CVEBs) that bring together local resources and capabilities to
improve outcomes for veterans, transitioning Service members, and those
who support them. As we continue to enhance our national workforce
system engagement and veteran employment efforts across the nation, we
acknowledge the importance of VA's existing national and local
partnerships. VA expects to see 100 MyVA Communities throughout the
country by the end of this year as a result of ongoing engagements with
community leaders and existing groups with similar missions. The goal
is to seek integration with existing community collaborative groups,
and encourage local community leaders to adopt the MyVA Communities
model where gaps may exist.
Because Local Workforce Development Boards (LWBDs) oversee their
local AJCs, we believe it is imperative that LWBD representatives are
members of the CVEBs. This relationship ensures that the workforce
development system is integrated into the community model. Our VETS
State Directors (DVETS) are connecting with the local VA Regional
Office Director or local VA representatives to be part of the MyVA
Community movement and are working to connect our state workforce
system partners and local WDBs with the existing local CVEBs.
DOL and VA share a common mission to improve economic outcomes and
opportunities for our nation's veterans. Leveraging our existing state
workforce system and the nearly 2,500 AJCs in communities across the
Nation will strengthen the community-based support to our veterans and
their families.
DOL's Center for Faith-Based & Neighborhood Partnerships (CFBNP),
another community engagement program, reaches out to faith-based
groups, community organizations, and neighborhood leaders to provide
information and seek input on the important work that DOL performs on
behalf of workers and job seekers. CFBNP seeks to build lasting
community partnerships between these groups and DOL's workforce
development and worker protection agencies. The CFBNP focuses its
efforts on worker protection, job club initiatives, and grant
partnerships, many of which focus on meeting the needs of veterans.
These initiatives allow this community of practice to better serve
disadvantaged and underserved workers and job seekers.
Addressing the Skill Gap
I had the honor of meeting a class of Marines at Marine Corps Base
Camp Pendleton, CA that were taking part in the Veterans in Piping
program. This class was made up of a few Marines that had a military
specialty related to welding, but many of them also had Military
Occupational Specialty backgrounds in logistics, infantry and motor
transport. This nationwide initiative graduates students into a solid
private-sector job with good pay and benefits, and continuing education
through world-class apprenticeship training programs.
I have spoken to many employers and industry associations who want
to hire transitioning Service members and veterans, but often the job
seeker does not have an industry recognized credential required by the
employer. Leveraging DOL's federal and state resources to effectively
address this ``skill gap'' through training and education will lead to
better employment outcomes for transitioning Service members, veterans
and their spouses. VETS' focus is to leverage Registered Apprenticeship
and On-the-Job Training (OJT) Programs, and to accelerate the
attainment of licenses or certification requirements for veterans with
appropriate skills and experience attained during military training and
service.
VETS works very closely with ETA to engage businesses and
stakeholders on advancing apprenticeships and OJT opportunities for
veterans. Work-based training, including Registered Apprenticeship and
OJT, is a critical component of the Administration's job-driven
training strategy - a strategy to ensure workforce training programs
combine strong employer engagement with high quality training to create
pathways for workers into high-growth occupations. The goal is to
provide millions of Americans with secure jobs that lead to long-term
employment with good wages and that meet employers' needs for skilled
workers.
Registered apprenticeships are among the surest pathways to provide
American workers from all backgrounds with the skills and knowledge
they need to acquire good-paying jobs and grow the economy. The ``earn
and learn'' Registered Apprenticeship training model provides the
opportunity for workers seeking high-skilled, high- paying jobs to be
placed with employers seeking to build a qualified workforce.
We believe Registered Apprenticeships are a proven strategy for
veterans to advance into productive careers. Approximately 37,000
veterans are actively participating in Registered Apprenticeships, in
2014, and 2,200 veteran apprentices completed their apprenticeship in
the 25 states managed by DOL. The employment outcomes for Registered
Apprenticeship programs are impressive. In fact, according to DOL data,
91 percent of apprentices are employed after completing their programs,
with an average starting wage above $50,000. Apprenticeships have also
been shown to increase a worker's lifetime compensation by over
$300,000 compared to their peers. Apprenticeships are good for
employers as well. The return on investment (ROI) for employers is also
impressive - international studies suggest that for every dollar spent
on apprenticeship, employers may get an average of $1.47 back in
increased productivity, reduced waste and greater front-line
innovation. And, for the United States, the ROI on apprenticeships is
even better--for every public dollar spent on apprenticeship, we see
$27 in benefits. \1\
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\1\ Source: Reed, D. et. al. (July 25, 2012). An effectiveness
assessment and cost-benefit analysis of Registered Apprenticeship in 10
States. Retrieved from http://wdr.doleta.gov/research/FullText--
Documents/ETAOP--2012--10.pdf
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Expanding apprenticeship programs expands opportunities for our
veterans. President Obama has set a goal of doubling the number of
Registered Apprenticeships in the coming years. And we're already
making substantial progress toward that goal - adding more than 80,000
apprenticeships in a little over two years, the largest increase in a
decade. The Administration also made a historic investment of $175
Million to 46 public-private partnerships to build on the solid
foundation of apprenticeship in America, and expand the model into new
industries -like health care, IT and advanced manufacturing. We
anticipate this investment will create approximately 34,000 new
apprenticeships - creating additional opportunities for our
transitioning Service members, veterans, and spouses.
I was very pleased that Congress appropriated $90 million to expand
apprenticeship opportunities in FY2016. This infusion of resources will
be the catalyst for building opportunities for employers to start to
expand registered apprenticeship programs and for workers to gain the
skills they need to succeed.
VETS has focused on greater outreach to companies that wish to hire
veterans in apprenticeships, and collaborated across the government -
including with VA and ETA - to ensure that veterans can succeed in
apprenticeship opportunities and receive the benefits they've earned
under the GI Bill.
Eligible Post 9-11 veterans can learn a trade through
apprenticeships and use their GI Bill benefits to receive a tax-free
monthly stipend paid by VA. This stipend gradually decreases as
veterans' wages regularly increase throughout the Registered
Apprenticeship period and ends once the veteran attains journeyman
status and pay. Post-9/11 GI Bill recipients can also receive a books
and supplies stipend during their Registered Apprenticeship. This is a
vital way to help veterans meet their expenses while in a training
program.
The Department thought that we could do better to help both
companies and veterans learn about the benefits that the GI Bill can
provide in a Registered Apprenticeship and two years ago began a joint
campaign with VA to encourage Registered Apprenticeships to be
``Approved for the GI Bill.'' We continue this close collaboration with
VA and its State Approving Agencies - to ensure that newly- Registered
Apprenticeship programs can receive the VA certification for GI Bill
benefits at the same time of registration.
The Department's expanded outreach to employers has motivated
companies from several industry sectors to have their apprenticeship
programs approved and registered with DOL. They join the family of
approximately 20,000 apprenticeship programs across the country that
are training over 450,000 apprentices nationwide for jobs in demand -
while securing a thriving and skilled workforce for the future.
Licensing and credentialing also are a key part of the
Administration's overall job training agenda. This month, the
Department released its ``Veterans' Licensing and Certification
Demonstration: A Summary of State Experiences, Preliminary Findings,
and Cost Estimates,'' (hereinafter referred to as the DOL L&C
Demonstration and Cost Study). The purpose of the DOL-sponsored 18-
month demonstration project conducted by the National Governor's
Association (NGA) was to identify civilian occupational skills for
licenses or certification requirements that could be satisfied (in
whole, or in part) by military training and experience; and accelerate
the attainment of civilian credentials by veterans with appropriate
skills and experience. Section 237 of the VOW to Hire Heroes Act of
2011, which amended 38 USC 4114, required VETS to conduct a cost study
on occupational credentialing and licensing. The study required VETS to
examine the costs incurred by DoD for military occupational skills
training and compare them with the costs expended by DOL and VA for the
job training and educational assistance provided to Service members.
The NGA engaged six states (Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nevada,
Virginia, and Wisconsin) to participate in the 18-month study. The NGA
worked with the six demonstration states to: 1) design and implement a
model or framework for matching state-specific license and
credentialing requirements with some or all of the military training to
satisfy state requirements; 2) address gaps for subsequent civilian
training through state strategies; and 3) identify and compare the
training and employment-related costs after military service.
The DOL L&C Demonstration and Cost Study identifies a number of
barriers that affect the ability of Service members and veterans to
attain civilian credentials on a timely basis. Key state demonstration
findings on challenges and strategies for licensing and credentialing
address:
Equivalency challenges - states can assess the
equivalency of military training courses and use official documentation
to permit veterans with fully or partially equivalent training and
experience to sit for civilian licensure examinations or license
veterans by endorsement (officially recognize military training and
experience to meet civilian requirements).
Training gaps - states can work with education
institutions to set up accelerated programs for veterans that bridge
gaps, provide veterans advanced standing in existing programs, or offer
bridge courses that prepare veterans to enter existing programs.
Administrative or process challenges - states can assess
any non-skill related requirements that might disadvantage veterans,
such as fees or length of experience, or take steps to make civilian
employment pathways friendlier to veterans through concerted outreach
to both
Given the vast array of possible occupational skills sets to study,
and multitude of state licensing boards and higher education programs,
VETS and ETA in consultation with demonstration states and the DOD and
VA determined that the estimation of costs to transitioning Service
members and veterans for attainment of civilian licenses and
credentials could be examined at the benefits level for veterans. The
NGA consulted with the demonstration states to conduct an analysis of
federal costs associated with the demonstration states efforts. These
potential cost savings include:
Less time spent in training can lead to potential
deferred federal government costs in the form of fewer dollars expended
by VA under the Post-9/11 GI Bill for tuition and monthly housing
allowance benefits;
Less time spent securing employment can lead to potential
cost savings for the federal government in the form of fewer dollars
expended by the DOD for Unemployment Compensation for Ex-Service
members (UCX) benefits and by the DOL for the delivery of employment
services.
Moving forward, the Department plans to continue working with its
federal/state partners and stakeholders to continue to improve the
challenges veterans face with licensing and certification. The
Department thanks the six states in the report for their work and will
reach out to the remaining states to encourage them to incorporate the
best practices to help veterans bridge the gap between skills they have
learned in the military and those needed for state certifications.
In addition, this year the Department plans to award $7.5 million
to support one or a few national or regional organizations to form and
work with consortia of states to examine licensing portability across
state lines. States in the consortia will objectively analyze the
relevant licensing criteria, potential portability issues, whether
licensing requirements are overly broad or burdensome, and the impact
occupational licensing requirements may have on Service members,
veterans, and their families.
Employer Outreach
VETS has initiated a robust employer outreach effort to make it
easier for companies to find and hire veterans by leveraging federal,
state, and local resources.
VETS' Office of Strategic Outreach (OSO) was chartered to develop a
National-to-Local engagement and integration strategy that informs and
coordinates action among government, private sector and local
communities to enhance veterans' employment opportunities and leverage
the national workforce system. OSO conducts engagements with federal,
state, and local governments; private sector employers and trade
associations; institutions of higher learning; non-profit
organizations; and veteran service organizations to establish and
develop a network that enables Service members, veterans, and families
to successfully integrate into their communities. VETS also works
closely with Joining Forces; organizations such as ``Warriors for
Wireless,'' ``Troops to Truckers'' and ``Helmets to Hardhats''; and
various trade associations and labor unions in developing industry-wide
veteran hiring initiatives, to include apprenticeship programs. This
office provides a valuable bridge between national and regional
employers who are eager to commit to hiring veterans and workforce
development staff at AJC who are tasked with building local employer
relationships and assisting veterans in entering gainful employment.
VETS has actualized the regional-to-local portion of the engagement
and integration strategy by placing six Regional Veteran Employment
Coordinators (RVECs) at our Regional Offices nationwide. The RVECs
coordinate National-to-Local employment resources and expertise,
through outreach to businesses, employer groups, veterans'
organizations, state workforce partners and government agencies to
promote veterans' employment and training opportunities, The
partnerships and working relationships initiated and developed to
facilitate veteran employment have been significant, with nearly 600
employers now actively engaged in veteran hiring initiatives. In
addition, OSO staff work with other federal departments to build
veteran recruiting initiatives around entire business sectors through
the Departments of Energy, Transportation, and Agriculture. As this
capability matures OSO will increase its promotion of programs that
help bridge the skills gap for veterans looking for civilian
employment.
VETS is working closely with federal and state partners to provide
coordinated information and services to job seekers and employers as we
seek to continually facilitate and develop meaningful employment and
training opportunities for transitioning Service members, veterans and
military families. VETERANS.GOV enables employers to directly contact a
RVEC to request assistance in hiring veterans.
Conclusion
VETS is committed to reducing veterans' unemployment nationally by
helping each veteran through individual services - or as Secretary
Perez likes to say, ``Helping each veteran where we find them.''
Creating opportunities for our veterans, transitioning Service members,
and their families to thrive in the civilian economy through meaningful
employment is a priority for VETS, for DOL, and for the entire
Administration. VETS will continue to work with these partners to
strengthen TAP and promote civilian recognition for skills gained in
the military; to build strong partnerships with the state workforce
agencies and the nearly 2,500 AJCs through JVSG and the Workforce
Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA); and to work with employers of
all sizes - from large national employers to small and medium sized
businesses that are the backbone of America's economy, to help them
hire veterans. By bringing together our partners for this important
mission, VETS is helping to lead the way for our veterans to find
meaningful civilian employment today and tomorrow.
Prepared Statement of Eric Eversole
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation (USCCF) is a 501(c)(3)
nonprofit affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce dedicated to
strengthening America's long-term competitiveness by addressing
developments that affect our nation, our economy, and the global
business environment. USCCF presents a broad range of programs that
promote a greater understanding of economic and public affairs issues.
The Foundation conducts research and produces events on issues
facing business now and in the future. Through its initiatives, the
Foundation builds skills, drives innovation, and encourages growth.
Good afternoon, Chairman Wenstrup, Ranking Member Takano, and
distinguished members of the Committee. My name is Eric Eversole and I
am the president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation's Hiring
Our Heroes program.
Founded in 2011, Hiring Our Heroes is a nationwide initiative of
the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation which assists military
veterans, transitioning service members, and military spouses in
finding meaningful employment opportunities in a 21st century
workforce. The program accomplishes this goal in a number of different
ways, which include hiring fairs, multi-day on-base transition summits,
campaigns in partnership with sponsor companies and nonprofit
associations, and a robust suite of online digital resources.
In March of this year, we celebrated our five-year anniversary, and
we are proud to announce that since our program's launch, we have held
more than 1,000 hiring events in the United States and around the
world. From those hiring events alone, we've confirmed nearly 30,000
military veteran and spouse hires in the civilian workforce. This does
not include the hundreds of thousands of other meaningful connections
that our program has made for job seekers through our various other
resources, such as workshops, training programs, our online properties
and more.
The past several years have been a time of tremendous growth in the
military hiring community, as private sector companies have admirably
stepped up their hiring efforts for veterans and military spouses. When
Hiring Our Heroes was first started more than five years ago, the
employment outlook for veterans and military families was incredibly
bleak. In many ways, the nation was in a crisis situation with regards
to the employment struggles faced by so many individuals who had
sacrificed so much for our country. However, with the business
community meeting the challenge of finding jobs for this population,
the unemployment rate for them has continued to drop precipitously.
This has resulted in what is currently the lowest unemployment rate
yet for military veterans at approximately four percent. There are,
however, segments of the military community which continue to struggle.
For example, post-9/11 veterans under the age of 25 face an
unemployment rate that is higher than the national average. Military
spouses also face a high unemployment rate of anywhere between 20 and
30 percent, depending on the demographic. Couple that with the fact
that more than 200,000 service members make the transition off of
active duty annually, and it becomes very clear that there is still a
great deal of work to be done.
We know that hiring veterans is not just the right thing to do for
the country, but it makes good business sense. Veterans bring
incredible value in both the tangible and intangible skills to
companies who hire them, from extensive training backgrounds in their
military occupational specialties to the less concrete characteristics
such as loyalty, discipline, and a work ethic that is not rivaled
elsewhere in the economy - all being crucial to a productive work
environment.
We also recognize that this is not solely an economic issue for our
country, but a national security concern. If young Americans believe
that their service adds a stigma to them when entering the workforce
and not an accolade, it will be more difficult to recruit high-quality
people into the next generation of the all-volunteer force.
Background on Hiring Our Heroes
When Hiring Our Heroes was first created, we had a very simple
mission - carry out traditional hiring events, and connect with state
and local chambers to find opportunities for military job seekers
across the country.
Although we know that some veterans and their families are still
struggling, the landscape itself has changed, and we have had to adapt
our operations in accordance with that change to continue our
effectiveness in what we do. We've become more strategic in our
approach and programs, and more focused on not only finding jobs for
these individuals, but ensuring that they are finding the right jobs.
Knowing that part of this strategic approach encompasses a broad-
based effort to engage the private sector, in 2012, together with
Capital One, we launched the ``Hiring 500,000 Heroes'' campaign to
secure half a million commitments by various employers to hire veterans
and military spouses. Once businesses who joined this program
committed, we worked with them to translate those commitments into
hires. We're proud to say that in June of 2015, we surpassed the
500,000-hire mark for veterans and military spouses who were hired as a
result of this initiative. Ultimately, companies have committed to
hiring a total of more than 700,000 veterans and spouses as part of
this.
Hiring Our Heroes also developed and continued to improve our
robust array of digital tools and online resources for both job seekers
and employers. With support from our generous sponsors, including
Toyota and USAA, we provide tools such as the Personal Branding Resume
Engine, My Career Spark for military spouses, the Employer Roadmap,
Fast Track, and others free of charge for all users, whether job seeker
or employer. All of these state-of-the-art online tools are designed to
ensure that our target audiences have easy access to the most up-to-
date information and best practices when they enter into this unique
and often challenging environment.
Lastly, we know that the military spouse population faces its own
unique set of challenges when searching for employment. While a service
member will typically only transition off of active duty once in his or
her career, military spouses make multiple transitions while serving
alongside their service member, making it all the more challenging to
find stable and meaningful employment.
Our Military Spouse Program, which has been in place since 2012, is
incredibly active in this community, engaging spouse-specific hiring
fairs, networking receptions, roundtable discussions, workshops, and
more.
Of course, we must recognize that all of our work is made possible
by the generous donations of the companies on our Military Spouse
Employment Advisory Council, to complement its counterpart, the Veteran
Employment Advisory Council.
What Employers Can Do
Companies of all sizes approach our organization on a regular basis
facing the issue of being incredibly enthusiastic about their desire to
hire veterans, but not knowing exactly where to start.
For employers who are eager to get started but find themselves
experiencing trouble navigating the complicated landscape of the
military hiring community, we have a number of different programs and
resources that they can engage and utilize. Our online tool Employer
Roadmap is multi-faceted resource which gives companies a customized
experience based on their experience level to help them learn best
practices and programs for recruiting, hiring, and retaining veterans
and military spouses. Information and guidance on how to develop
complete military hiring strategies and military-friendly job
descriptions, as well as understanding what the military community
brings to companies in the way of experience is easily available
through this wide-ranging web site.
Our Business and State Engagement department is our direct link
into the business community, and works to engage our partner companies,
as well as our expansive network of state and local chambers across the
country to ensure that they are constantly dialed in to our program and
have the access that they desire to military job seekers.
With the economic landscape looking better in the last year to
veterans, there are some companies who may assume that the entire
problem of veteran unemployment has been solved and ask: ``What else is
there to do?''
To answer that question, it is worth revisiting that while great
strides have been made over the last several years, there still exists
a significant struggle for certain segments of the veteran population
to find employment. We encourage companies to start military affinity
groups within their organizations, as we have seen that mentors,
resource groups, and personal relationships are key to breaking down
barriers to success and critical to retaining veterans for longer
periods of time. For some companies, this is a new concept, while
others, such as Coca-Cola, have had longstanding veteran affinity
groups and programs which date back decades.
Also, as mentioned earlier, our belief is that it is imperative for
companies to not forget about military spouses when developing these
internal initiatives. Simply put, if you have a military hiring
strategy that focuses solely on veterans, you only have half of a
strategy.
Additionally, we cannot stress enough the importance for companies
to market, promote, and most importantly ``sell'' their industry to the
military community. Many military job seekers have misperceptions or
outdated concepts of what a certain industry may actually look and feel
like in the 21st century. While we encourage them to reach outside
their comfort zone and explore job opportunities with which they may
not be familiar, it is crucial for companies to be active in this space
to ensure the job seeker population is educated on what being a part of
a certain job field actually means. Our digital resource Fast Track is
a place for job seekers to inform themselves on new and fast-growing
industries, as well as a platform for companies to post their jobs in a
live feed fed through the National Labor Exchange.
Our combined effort to focus on both the job seeker education as
well as the employer side will continue as our program evolves in the
months and years ahead. And we will continue to position ourselves as
leaders in this community to the further benefit of all of our target
audiences.
Partnerships
Creating and maintaining valuable partnerships for our program has
been crucial to our success. Hiring Our Heroes is in a unique position
in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation to have influential
connections to thousands of state and local chambers, which provides us
with tremendously effective grassroots teams across the country to
engage with military job seekers in their communities. The enormous
impact that we have seen at every level has been extremely beneficial
to our mission.
Our program has also been able to develop key partnerships with the
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the U.S. Department of Labor, the
U.S. Department of Defense and many of its services, as well as the
Small Business Administration, in order to expand our messaging base
and reach the service member and military spouse population, connecting
employers to them wherever they are in the world.
The relationships that we maintain with other nonprofit
organizations within this military hiring community have been integral
to our success as well. Our work with groups such as the Institute of
Veterans and Military Families, Student Veterans of America, Blue Star
Families, Got Your 6, and many others has furthered our reach and
strengthened our ability to provide networking and training
opportunities for job seekers, and make valuable connections for them
with employers who are hiring.
One of our greatest achievements of last year was when we partnered
with the George W. Bush Institute's Military Service Initiative as well
as a broad array of public, private, and nonprofit partners to create
the Veteran Employment Transition Roadmap, a comprehensive guide for
transitioning service members and military veterans to help them become
better equipped to navigate the complex landscape that they will
encounter when leaving the military to pursue new careers. This
document, which is available in hard-copy as well as online, is unique
in that there is nothing else like it that exists in this military
employment space. It outlines best practices and checklists for job
seekers to consider, as well as an overall list of resources that are
available to them from across the public, private, and nonprofit
sectors that are available to them when making this transition.
Moving ``Left of Transition''
One of the key lessons we have learned over the last four years is
that many of the challenges that military veterans face when
transitioning off active duty is primarily due to a lack of
preparation. Far too many service members have traditionally viewed
transition not as a continuing process but as a single point in time
when they simply pick up their DD-214 papers and leave the military.
Not surprisingly, in recent years, more than 50 percent of service
members were unemployed within 15 months of leaving the military, with
no clear pathway to economic success.
In 2014, a key effort of Hiring Our Heroes was our aggressive work
to address this problem, by helping service members focus on moving
left of transition, and starting the job search process earlier. When
interfacing with service members, we compare this process to any
evolution that they would encounter in the military. It is a process
that requires a clearly-defined mission, preparation, execution, and
ability to adapt and overcome as circumstances evolve.
Working with our public, private, and nonprofit partners, we
launched a series of multi-day, on-base transition summits aimed at
reaching and empowering service members long before their last day on
active duty. These summits are essentially one-stop-shops for service
members as they learn what economic opportunity looks like for them in
today's workforce, with panel discussions from industry leaders,
breakout workshop classes, networking receptions, and ultimately a
hiring fair to conclude the event.
We are continuing this innovative approach to serving the military
community throughout 2016, hosting 17 summits in the United States and
internationally, providing job seekers with best-in-class resources for
their transition process, and connecting them with employers (sometimes
numbering in the hundreds) at each event that are searching for top
military talent.
Another pioneering effort which complements our summits is our
model of attaching hiring events to professional sporting events,
creating an expo. This series of events was launched in 2014 in
conjunction with major professional sporting events, such as NBA
basketball or Major League Baseball games. All military job seekers
receive free admission to the hiring events and tickets to attend the
game and/or special event. We have seen great success with these as a
means to attract attention to our program, capitalizing on the high-
profile nature of the athletic teams or host organization to further
our messaging reach with job seekers and employers.
Lastly, we have critically important training programs which truly
set us apart in this hiring community. Our Corporate Fellowship Program
is a 12-week evolution that prepares service members for separation
from the military through corporate education, extensive on-the-job
training, and networking opportunities. At the completion of the
program, service members have increased their marketability
tremendously, giving them an added edge in an increasingly competitive
job market.
Just as these events are geared towards making sure job seekers
understand the opportunities that are available to them, these are also
services to our business population as well. We have learned over the
years that companies want access to veterans and military families
sooner in the transition process, and coming up with new and creative
ways to make that possible is how we meet that demand signal.
Most importantly, while there are many groups and avenues that can
be helpful in this effort, we recognize that it is incumbent upon job
seekers to own their transition. There is a sea of goodwill that exists
for transitioning service members and military spouses, but ultimately,
it is their responsibility to start far enough in advance and dedicate
the time and effort necessary to have a successful transition.
Prepared Statement of Terry D. Howell
Thank you, Chairman Wenstrup, Ranking Member Takano, and Members of
the Subcommittee for inviting us here today to address important issues
associated with veteran employment. Today, I will discuss what
Military.com and Monster Worldwide are doing to assist service members
in their transition to the civilian sector as they seek employment
opportunities.
My name is Terry Howell; I am the Sr. Director for Strategic
Alliances and Editorial Operations for Military.com. I joined the
Military.com team in 2003 after 20 years of service in the U.S. Coast
Guard. My last assignment prior to retiring from the Coast Guard was as
a Career Development advisor, where I worked active duty, reservists
and their families on issues related to their career, including
education, advancement, and transition.
I am currently responsible for Military.com's editorial operations,
reaching more than 7 million unique visitors a month and our efforts to
build alliances to support veterans and veteran programs. In addition,
I have worked on transition related products for both the Department of
Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Military.com was founded in 1999 with a significant mission:
connect service members, veterans, and their families with all the
benefits of service and with each other.
Today, we're the largest military and veteran membership
organization - 10 million members strong. Military.com's free
membership connects servicemembers, military spouses, veterans and
their families to all the benefits of service and related resources-
government benefits, scholarships, discounts, lifelong relationships,
mentors, legislation, news, and much more.
We are proud that our Military.com team is made up of more than 60
percent veterans, including active members of the National Guard,
reserve, and military spouses.
In 2004, Military.com joined forces with Monster Worldwide to
change the playing field for career and educational opportunities for
servicemembers, veterans, and military spouses. Monster's vision of
bringing people together to advance their lives, has proven to be a
great fit with Military.com's ``members first'' ethos and our goal of
connecting the military community to all the benefits of service. The
acquisition did not change our original mission; it has served to
increase the scope of what we have been able to accomplish, while
maintaining our core values of providing a vital service to those who
serve or have served.
In 2006, Military.com worked with Simon and Schuster to publish the
Military Advantage, which continues to serve as the most comprehensive
guide to military and veteran benefits, and military career
information. Today, the book is published through the US Naval
Institute Press in Annapolis.
In the mid-2000's, Military.com was contracted by the Department of
Defense to develop an online transition assistance program known as
TurboTap. The program enabled service members (active and reserve
component) to use a simple guided process to create their own
Individual Transition Plan (IDP) which they could print or revisit
online at any point in the future.
In 2008, Military.com and Monster Worldwide were selected to
contribute to the creation of a set of tools for the VAforVets and
later the FedsforVets websites. The centerpiece of this project was our
Military Skills Translator, which remains the only skills translator/
job matching tool that incorporates the full breadth of a service
member's career experience and training. Users can include their
collateral duties, multiple occupation codes, special assigned duties,
and previous civilian employment when using this tool. In its
application for the VAforVets website, the Military.com skills
translator also serves as the first step in a resume building process,
which helps veterans explain their military skills in civilian friendly
terms.
Through the years, Military.com and Monster Worldwide have remained
focused on supporting service members, veterans, and families through
the transition process, the subsequent job search, and finally their
gainful employment. During this time, we have created an online
transition center which helps veterans track their progress toward a
successful transition; published an annual ``Veteran Talent Index
(VTI),'' which serves as a report on the state of veteran employment;
and provided direct and indirect support of job fairs, hiring events
and other transition assistance workshops.
Through our VTI and continued communication with our members and
employers, we have identified some key issues which impact veteran
employment. The roots of the issues are communication and commitment.
Most vets site an inability to adequately explain their experience in a
way that employers can fully understand. Conversely, many employers
site a lack of understanding of a veteran's military work experience
and where they fit may in their organization.
In response to this need, we developed products such as our skills
translator/job matching tool, which is currently being used by more
than 60 companies and trade association. This is providing the tools to
help veterans find jobs within individual companies and associations.
To ensure we are part of the solution, we have gone so far as to
provide these tools at no cost to non-profit organizations like the
American Legion, the Enlisted Association of the National Guard, and
the Veterans of Foreign Wars and at cost to trade associations like the
Northern Virginia Technology Council. We are working to expand this
list to include all the major veteran service organizations and non-
profit colleges and universities over the next few months.
We have found that the level of commitment by employers to develop
a veteran specific hiring processes, online veteran portals, and
awareness campaigns has a direct impact on veteran employment. We have
found that the companies that are most successful in hiring and
retaining veterans are those that have instituted best practices for
veteran hiring. For example, the companies which are recognized as the
best employers for veterans, have developed specific veteran hiring
processes and tools, trained their human resources staff and recruiters
on how to review veteran resumes and the best techniques for
interviewing veterans, and have created veteran friendly work
environments.
Early last year, we decided to do a top-to-bottom review of our
website and veteran employment products, and came to the conclusion
that what we may have seen as ``good enough'' was no longer enough to
meet the future needs of transitioning service members.
Based on our findings, we have overhauled our website in an effort
to improve veteran awareness of our vet hiring programs and products.
We also have taken steps to improve the job search and application
process, with the goal of increasing the propensity of veteran job
seekers to fully complete online job applications, before clicking
away. We have added new areas of content to provide employer tools,
motivation, and resources to encourage them commit to hiring veterans.
We will soon launch our new mobile Military Transition app, which we
have developed with help of Citibank. The app will provide personalized
checklists and alert notifications to remind service members of where
they are on the transition timeline and exactly which tasks need to be
completed at any given point in their transition. In addition, we will
soon launch a campaign to recognize and celebrate employers who choose
to make a pledge to hire veterans. This will include a public listing
of employers and a badge which will acknowledge their pledge to hire
vets.
Our current suite of veteran hiring products includes the
following:
The Military Skills Translator and Job Matching Tool
The Transition Center and Mobile Transition Center App
The Job Fair and Transition Workshop Finder, which
provides a list of upcoming events based on distance and date range
The Military.com/Monster Job Finder, which is a quick
means for veterans to search jobs offered by military friendly
employers.
Veteran Talent Portals, which are featured webpages
highlighting specific jobs with specific employers
The Veteran Talent Index, an annual report on veteran
employment that includes survey results reflecting employer and veteran
points of view
VSO Veteran Career Portals, which includes customized job
finders and our Skills Translator)
Employer Specific Veteran Employment Products, with
companies such as Home Depot, Lowes, Brinks, Citibank, Coca-Cola, etc.
New Initiatives and Future Efforts:
Military.com and Monster are currently working to make further
improvements and enhancements to our skills translator. We are
developing an education factor to help graduating student veterans find
gainful employment - with the very large number of veterans choosing to
go school many will face a second transition, this time from full-time
student to a professional in the civilian work force. With the addition
of academic, training, and certification elements to the skills
translator, student veterans will see an expanded list of career
opportunities.
In addition, we plan to implement enhancements to the skills
translator that will eventually enable veterans, service members, and
career counselors to use our platform as a career-path tool, providing
service members and veterans the tools and necessary information to
help them select the right geographic location, academic degree, job
training, and/or certification required to achieve their civilian
career goals.
As you may know, Monster Worldwide recently announced the
acquisition of Jobr, the leading mobile job discovery app. This
acquisition is an important step in delivering on our ongoing mission
to create and deliver the best recruiting media, technologies and
platforms for connecting jobs and people. As we move forward we will be
examining how the app can be used to best impact the military and
veteran communities.
We are keenly aware that we cannot solve the veteran employment
issue solely through the use of online tools and products--nor can it
be solved in a vacuum. That is why we are taking steps to change the
employment and recruitment industry paradigm from fiercely competitive
to a collaborative ``veteran-focused'' approach.
For example, we are working with several companies, agencies, and
organizations to use our online presence to promote their products and
events. We are also working on ways to use our products and tools to
make other organizations offline events more effective. We are
committed to building partnerships and alliances with employers,
service organizations, and others to help use our reach, expertise and
products to make a positive and lasting impact on the lives and careers
of veterans of all ages and all eras.
It is our belief that the employment issues facing veterans is not
caused by a single factor, nor is there a single solution. The issues
range from unfounded concerns about post-traumatic stress and a lack of
understanding of what a veteran brings to workforce, to the disconnect
between military training and civilian certification processes.
In conclusion, it is our genuine hope and firm belief that the
private sector, federal, and state agencies can work together to
increase awareness, provide tools and incentives, and align military
training with civilian certification so the veteran unemployment rate
can fall below that of their non-veteran peers. We firmly believe the
key to solving veteran employment issues is through continued
innovation and collaboration.
I would like to thank the Subcommittee for this opportunity to
present this testimony and share what Military.com and Monster
Worldwide are doing to make a positive impact on veteran employment.
More importantly, I would like to thank the members of this committee
and their staffs for their hard work and dedication to ensuring our
veterans have every opportunity to make a successful transition to the
civilian workforce. With overall employment numbers improving, it would
be easy to move on, but thankfully you have remained steadfast in your
resolve to make sure ALL veterans are given the best opportunity for
success.
Mr.Chairman and Members of this Subcommittee, this concludes my
statement.
Prepared Statement of LeRoy Acosta
Chairman Wenstrup, Ranking Member Takano, and Members of the
Subcommittee:
On behalf of DAV (Disabled American Veterans) and our 1.3 million
members, all of whom were wounded, injured or made ill in wartime
military service, I am pleased to testify at this hearing concerning
``Examining 21st Century Programs and Strategies for Veteran Job
Seekers.'' DAV is dedicated to a single purpose: empowering veterans to
lead high-quality lives with respect and dignity.
DAV's Employment Program
DAV recognizes that veterans, especially ill and injured veterans,
continue to face challenges in obtaining employment. In 2014, DAV
empowered America's veterans by establishing a National Employment
Program and committed more than $800,000 to its startup so the program
could begin work immediately.
The need for DAV's Employment Program is overwhelming. According to
the Department of Labor (DoL), the unemployment rate for male veterans
is 4.5 percent compared to female veterans at 5.4 percent. \1\ Tens of
thousands are now making the transition from military to civilian life.
About 250,000 service members transitioned in 2015, and by 2017, we
expect that number to be close to one million.
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\1\ http://www.bls.gov/news.release/vet.nr0.htm Obtained June 7,
2016.
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That is why we partnered with RecruitMilitaryr and Veteran
Recruitingr. Through these partnerships, DAV has sponsored a total of
128 all veteran career fairs in cities nationwide as well as 3 virtual
events, to connect veterans with employers who are committed to hiring
them. Since the inception of DAV's Employment Program, 54,347 attendees
have connected with 7,373 exhibitors that resulted in 15,734 job
offers. I invite you to see the All Veterans Career Fair schedule at
jobs.dav.org.
Addressing veterans' unemployment head-on, DAV's employment program
connects transitioning active duty, guard and reserve members, and
veterans and their spouses with employers. DAV recognizes the value,
talent, education and work ethic that veterans add to the workforce. We
connect veterans with employers nationwide who are actively seeking the
unique talents veterans bring to the workplace.
In order to give veterans every advantage in the transition
process, we incorporated our VA benefits and claims experts into these
career fairs. DAV's service officers are a professional team of
advocates, all veterans themselves, who help veterans and their
families access the full range of benefits available to them. DAV helps
veterans and their families successfully file claims for VA disability
compensation, rehabilitation and education programs, pensions, death
benefits, employment and training programs.
The DAV Employment Program provides many resources outside of our
sponsored All Veteran Career Fairs. At jobs.dav.org, visitors will find
a job-search board with more than 800,000 employment opportunities. We
average about 5,000 visits to our webpage every month.
Jobs.dav.org will soon expand and improve, to feature additional
employment and educational resources, webinars, and will promote
certain employers who have demonstrated that hiring veterans is part of
their business strategy.
DAV encourages job seekers to visit jobs.dav.org to access the
Employment Assistance Request Form, participants will receive updates
on employment-related news, and their information is accessible to
employers who are seeking their talents.
National Veterans Transition Services, Inc. REBOOT
Another program focused to reduce the unemployment rates for
veterans is the National Veterans Transition Services, Inc. (NVTSI)
REBOOT. NVTSI specializes in military to civilian reintegration through
their signature REBOOT program. Since 2010, the mission of REBOOT has
been ``to assist veterans in making a successful transition from
military service to civilian life through applied behavioral
education.'' A non-profit, San Diego-based, veterans service
organization, NVTSI asserts that in order to achieve a higher return on
investment for veterans, there is a need to re-socialize them via a
reverse boot camp (REBOOT) to address the gap in services.
REBOOT is an innovative, evidence-based, intensive three-week
workshop that addresses the root causes of reintegration failure from a
holistic perspective using cognitive structuring to help participants
redefine their personal identity, purpose in life, and desired
occupation - from the inside out. The REBOOT WorkshopsT are conducted
across the nation and the curriculum includes one week covering
personal transition, one week on lifestyle transition, one week of
career transition, and supportive follow-up services. NVTSI has become
a national leader in veteran transition, achieving 95 to 97 percent
employment/education success and a 93 percent retention rate one year
after graduation. NVTSI has also proven it can decrease recidivism
among incarcerated veterans by 28 percent. \2\
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\2\ Presentation by Maurice Wilson, MCPO, USN (Ret) Co-Founder/
President/Executive Director National Veterans Transition Service, Inc.
aka REBOOT. https://www.dropbox.com/s/c81hswb2kb0xecj/REBOOT--
Evaluation--Report.pdf?dl=0
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Over the past six years REBOOT has conducted 82 workshops and
graduated over 1,450 service members and veterans and gained national
recognition by the White House as a Champion of Change. \3\ Their model
and system of delivery has been validated independently by the
University of San Diego. REBOOT has also successfully piloted six all-
female veteran workshops to focus their program on comprehensive
reintegration services for women veterans.
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\3\ White paper: Developing a System to Overcome Failure of Social
Reintegration for Military Veterans - NVTSI 2016. Adapted from Helping
Veterans Successfully Transition from the Battlefront to the Homefront!
By Brianna Bendotti, Grey Hoff, Samantha Kahoe, and Victoria Schaefer-
Ramirez Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and
Psychology Fall 2015.
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Transition Assistance Program
For men and women alike, a key requirement for a successful
transition away from military service is the ability to establish
satisfying, stable employment as a civilian. Most military members make
this transition successfully, but some struggle. With the United States
facing a significant drawdown of about a million service members by
2020 \4\ , it is critically important that employment programs and
services are effective at helping men and women in the military make
this transition smoothly.
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\4\ U.S. Government Accountability Office (2014). Transitioning
Veterans: Improved Oversight Needed to Enhance Implementation of
Transition Assistance Program. Washington, DC. GAO-14-144
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The challenge of making the transition from military service to
civilian employment has been widely discussed. \5\ For many in the
military, seeking civilian employment may be the first time they have
developed a resume or interviewed for a job. For most, it can be a
challenge to translate the skills, knowledge, and experience gained in
military assignments into language accessible to a civilian hiring
audience. In particular, specialized training and certificates gained
during service do not generally translate into certification or
licensure requirements for an equivalent position in the civilian
sector. Finally, military members who move frequently or have been
absent on deployments may not have a local network of civilian contacts
who can help identify employment opportunities where they live.
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\5\ U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Business Board (2013).
Employing our Veterans Part II: Service Member Transition. Washington,
DC.
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In recognition of the need to help service members to transition
effectively to civilian life, Congress established the original
Transition Assistance Program (TAP) in 1991. \6\ In 2013, TAP was
redesigned to standardize the opportunities, services, and training
that service members receive to prepare them to pursue their post-
military career goals. The redesigned TAP includes an outcome-based
curriculum known as Transition GPS (Goals, Plans, Success). Transition
GPS covers all departing service members. It is intended to help
service members identify their post-separation education, financial and
employment goals. After participating in the structured program,
service members are expected to have clear goals for employment or
education and will know where and how to access the services that can
help them achieve those goals.
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\6\ Transition Assistance Program 1991 (P. L. 101-510) S 502 (a)(1)
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DAV's unprecedented report, Women Veterans: The Long Journey Home,
found there are no comprehensive studies that evaluate the
effectiveness of the TAP program. The hallmark of adult learning is
that adults seek out and absorb information when they perceive that
they need it, not necessarily when it is presented. Some transitioning
service members may not be primed to absorb TAP training pre-separation
but would be more receptive once they are actively seeking help and
assistance 6-12 months later. \7\
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\7\ https://www.dav.org/wp-content/uploads/women-veterans-
study.pdf. Obtained June 11, 2016.
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The DoL has conducted research on how to best serve the employment
needs of women veterans and provide them with many customized programs,
communications and supports; however, despite these targeted efforts,
the unemployment and under-employment rates for women veterans are
slightly higher than their male counterparts. \8\ While DoL found no
employment challenges that are exclusive to women veterans, it
indicated that the demographics of this group make it more likely they
are in subpopulations that have higher unemployment rates. \9\
Innovative outreach efforts to ensure women are aware of these services
are necessary. Additionally, employment assistance will become even
more pressing as the Department of Defense (DoD) executes its current
downsizing plan. Some service members who may have expected to complete
full military careers will be thrust, with little preparation, into
civilian communities and job markets.
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\8\ U.S. Dept. of Labor, Economic News Release, "Employment
Situation of Veterans - 2014." Mar. 18, 2015
\9\ U.S. Dept. of Labor, Fact Sheet, "Women Veterans: Equally
Valued. Equally Qualified. Equally Served." Retrieved Apr. 2015.
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According to a recent review of the program by the Government
Accountability Office (GAO), \10\ comprehensive data on participation
rates and information on the effectiveness of the training is not
readily available and post-transition outcome data is limited. The data
that is gathered has not been publicly released with an analysis of
outcomes and satisfaction by gender. It is estimated that 200,000 women
are expected to leave the military over the next four to five years,
therefore, it is imperative that we improve our efforts and support for
women veterans' employment.
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\10\ U.S. Government Accountability Office (2014). Transitioning
Veterans: Improved Oversight Needed to Enhance Implementation of
Transition Assistance Program. Washington, DC. GAO-14-144
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While there is no direct evidence that this transition is any
different for women than it is for men, women veterans' unemployment
rate remains stubbornly high and women have voiced frustration with the
transition process. For instance, women veterans were less likely than
men (32 percent compared to 47 percent) to believe the military was
doing enough to ease transitions to civilian life, and more women (18
percent) than men (7 percent) doubt their military skills will be
useful in the civilian job market. \11\ Other studies found that women
felt they had been led to believe that military training would be more
valuable than it is in their search for employment \12\. \13\
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\11\ DiJulio, B., Deane, C., Firth, J., Craighill, P., Clement, S.,
Brodie, M. (2014) After the Wars: Survey of Iraq & Afghanistan active
duty soldiers and veterans. Kaiser Family Foundation. Personal
communications DiJulio, B.
\12\ Business and Professional Womens Foundation.(2007).Women
Veterans inTransition. Washington, DC.
\13\ Thom, K. B., E (2011). Chicagoland female veterans; a
qualitative study of attachment to the labor force. American Institute
for Research National Center on Family Homelessness.
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Delegates to our more recent National Convention adopted Resolution
No. 136 urging Congress to monitor the review of the Transition GPS
program, its workshops, training methodology and delivery of services,
and the collection and analysis of course critiques; and to ensure the
inclusion of DAV and other veterans service organizations in workshops,
in order to confirm the program is meeting its objective, and follow up
with participants to determine if they have found gainful employment.
Moreover, DAV Resolution No. 138 calls on Congress to support
licensure and certification of active-duty service personnel, which
would eliminate employment barriers that impede the transfer of
military job skills to the civilian labor market. The DAV calls on
Congress to engage in a national dialogue, working closely with the
Administration generally, and DoD, the Department of Veterans Affairs
(VA), and DoL specifically, as well as state governments, employers,
trade unions, and licensure and credentialing entities to establish a
clear process so military training meets civilian certification and
licensure requirements for the states in which veterans choose to live
once they leave the military.
This resolution was reaffirmed in Women Veterans: The Long Journey
Home report, which recommends that the DoL should work closely with
state certification organizations to translate military training and
certification to private sector equivalents. Furthermore, DAV
recommended that VA and DoD establish a grant program to accelerate
these efforts.
Women Veterans Population and Women Veterans Unemployment
DAV's Women Veterans: The Long Journey Home provides a roadmap to
support women veterans on their transition from military service to
veteran status. Women veterans have remained invisible for far too long
to the federal, state and local programs that have a mission to support
them. The need will become even more pressing as the DoD executes its
downsizing plan and those who expected full military careers are
suddenly thrust, with little warning, into the ill-prepared civilian
community. The time has come to push for change in reintegration and
readjustment support for women as they transition to post-military
life. This report and the ongoing advocacy of DAV aims to trigger
urgent actions from VA, DoD and other stakeholders, for an integrated
approach to address the transition needs of women veterans, and an
overhaul of the culture, values, and services of the federal system.
\14\
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\14\ Women Veterans: The Long Journey Home, page 3.
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Until 1973, women remained a very small minority of the Armed
Forces population due to legislation that imposed a two percent cap on
women's participation in the military. When those gender caps were
lifted, women entered military service at unprecedented rates. Today
women constitute approximately 20 percent of new recruits, 14.5 percent
of the 1.4 million active duty component and 18 percent of the 850,000
reserve component. Almost 280,000 women served Post-9/11 during the
Global War on Terrorism in Operations Enduring Freedom, Iraqi Freedom
and New Dawn in Afghanistan and Iraq. \15\
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\15\ Women Veterans: The Long Journey Home, page 8.
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Current transition programs and treatments for relationship
building, family reintegration, prevention of intimate partner violence
and support for family functioning are based on civilian programs and
lack evidence of effectiveness in military and veteran populations.
Transition support programs that are designed for prevention, treatment
and support for women and their families are needed. \16\
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\16\ Women Veterans: The Long Journey Home, page 6.
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The report findings and recommendations cover the broad range of
transition needs of women veterans in culture change, health care,
military sexual trauma, disability compensation, justice, family and
community, education, transition assistance, employment, and housing.
The DAV report provides the 27 key recommendations in these areas to
drive immediate action and change.
The reasons underlying this persistently higher rate of
unemployment among women veterans are not definitively known. However,
characteristics such as a younger age, being unmarried or divorced,
lower educational attainment and having children at home are associated
with a higher rate of unemployment and are also prevalent among women
veterans.
Even when these factors are controlled, Post-9/11 women veterans
and National Guard women veterans have higher rates of unemployment
than other groups. Given this constellation of factors working against
employment success for some women veterans and their demonstrated
higher rates of unemployment, it is important for all of the partners
working on veteran transition challenges to identify the specific and
unique needs of women and institute specialized programs and outreach
for them.
Operation Reinvent
Operation Reinvent founder Julie Lewit-Nirenberg commented that the
DAV report, Women Veterans: The Long Journey Home, was a valuable
resource in determining what she could do to help women veterans'
transition from service. \17\
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\17\ Julie Lewit-Nirenberg, founder of Operation Reinvent, phone
interview June 10, 2016.
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A program focused to reduce women veteran unemployment is the New
York City based, Operation Reinvent; a non-profit organization, founded
in 2013, dedicated to providing expert guidance and resources to help
transitioning military women identify career paths that suit their
skills, education, goals and interests; Thus, unleashing the power of
women veterans.
The Operation Reinvent Career Transition and Empowerment Program
incorporates hands-on professional image development, stress
management, year-long mentoring and real-time job search opportunities.
\18\ The program occurs in-service prior to discharge and focuses on
transitioning women service members, because women are known to not
identify as veterans upon discharge from service. \19\ Workshops
connect women directly with experts in human resources, workforce
initiatives and job interviewing. \20\
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\18\ http://operationreinvent.org/mission/our-plan/ obtained June
11, 2016.
\19\ Julie Lewit-Nirenberg, founder of Operation Reinvent, phone
interview June 10, 2016.
\20\ Amanda Dolasinski Staff writer. http://www.fayobserver.com/
military/workshop-helps-female-veterans-transition-into-civilian-
careers/article--4e74aa7c-bc26-53be-a7ee-30fd265677c7.html obtained
June 11, 2016.
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An Operation Reinvent workshop occurred June 8-9, 2016 at the
Soldier Support Centers in Fort Bragg, North Carolina and Fort
Campbell, Kentucky with 50 women soldier attendees at each location.
The first day of the Workshop was webcast to both locations in real-
time from CBS Studios in New York City. Nationwide webcasts in each
time zone are being planned.
Mr. Chairman, DAV appreciate the opportunity to provide testimony
for this hearing to outline just a few innovative and effective
employment transition programs. We look forward to working with this
Subcommittee to ensure that the men and women who stood up for America
have the tools, resources and opportunities they need to competitively
enter the job market and secure meaningful employment. I would be
pleased to address any questions you, or members of the Subcommittee
may have on the topics covered in my testimony.
Prepared Statement of Greg Call
Introduction
Chairman Wenstrup, Ranking Member Takano, and members of the
Subcommittee, thank you for inviting me to testify today. My name is
Greg Call and I am the Head of LinkedIn's Veterans Program. The
Veterans Program connects 2.1 million veteran and military members of
LinkedIn with the networks, insights, and skills they need to succeed
in the workplace.
LinkedIn is a professional network with over 433 million
individuals around the world, and over 128 million in the United
States. Our network connects the world's professionals to help make
them more productive and to transform the ways companies recruit,
develop, and retain talent.
Our vision is to create economic opportunity for every member of
the global workforce. To achieve that vision, we're building the
world's first Economic Graph--a digital map of the global economy that
includes every member of the global workforce and their skills, all
open jobs, all employers, and all educational institutions (more
information about the Economic Graph is available at www.linkedin.com/
economic-graph). We share labor market insights from the Economic Graph
with policymakers and other stakeholders across the globe to help
create greater economic opportunity. And, as I'll discuss later in my
testimony, LinkedIn is using information from the Economic Graph to
help veterans find economic opportunity.
Connecting veterans to economic opportunity isn't just my job; it's
also a personal commitment. I became a Marine Corps officer in 2008 at
the age of 28. I transitioned out of the Marine Corps in 2012 after two
deployments and over four years of honorable service. Like many
transitioning servicemembers, I really had no civilian professional
identity or professional network after leaving the military. LinkedIn
enabled me to re-invent myself as a veteran entrepreneur and empowered
me to connect with people and organizations to support my new mission
in life. Through this platform, I built a strong professional identity
and a powerful new support system including two mentors who were
instrumental in my successful transition.
When the opportunity arose to lead LinkedIn's Veterans Program, I
once again heard a call to duty. I wanted those Marines and every
veteran to share the same successful transition story as me. This was
my chance to become part of that solution.
The goal of my testimony this afternoon is to provide you with an
overview of LinkedIn's work with veterans and to discuss three points
in particular:
Connecting Veterans to Opportunity. As I'll describe more
fully below, LinkedIn is working to equip veterans with information and
tools to find economic opportunity. We are doing this by, among other
things, providing free one-year subscriptions to our job seekers and
free one-year access to online courses through Lynda.com, a leading
online learning platform that helps anyone learn business, technology,
and creative skills.
Release of LinkedIn Veterans Insights Report. LinkedIn
recently released its first annual report on veterans in the workplace.
This report, based primarily on aggregated LinkedIn member data,
highlights the top industries in which veterans are working, the skills
which they are bringing to industries, and the top employers of
veterans. We hope these insights can be a resource for the federal
government, veteran non-profits, and veteran program managers as they
further develop programs designed to continue the reduction in veteran
unemployment.
Recommendations to the Subcommittee. LinkedIn has been
working with the Transition Assistance Program (``TAP'') to assist
servicemembers with access to post-military opportunities. Among other
things, we recommend adoption of professional opportunity tools like
LinkedIn earlier into servicemembers' life cycle to ensure they have
strong networks by the time they depart from the military.
Connecting Veterans to Opportunity
LinkedIn's Veterans Program is working to set veterans up for
success in transition and helping to close the gap between military
service and civilian employment by empowering veterans to build
professional identities, professional networks, civilian careers, and
workplace skills. Our website for the Veterans program is available at
veterans.linkedin.com.
To do this, we are focusing on four key areas:
Professional Identities. LinkedIn allows its veteran members to
build professional identities through a digital profile. A digital
profile is a living expression of a veteran's experience, education,
skills, awards, volunteer causes, and recommendations (which includes
digital media videos, articles and posts). We understand that veterans
sometime face challenges in developing their digital profile and
therefore we created a ``LinkedIn for Veterans'' tutorial video that
includes recommendations for translating their professional military
identity to a professional civilian identity. We also distribute these
training materials through partnerships with veteran service
organizations and also through TAP classes.
Professional Networks. As a part of our training, LinkedIn also
focuses on helping veterans to use these networking tools. In our
recent survey of veteran members, leveraging professional networks was
the number one method that veterans utilize to find employment.
Additionally, our groups program on LinkedIn has been extremely
popular, especially the Veteran Mentor Network, which brings 100,000
transitioning veterans and civilian professionals together for online
mentoring.
Civilian Careers. LinkedIn offers one year of free job-seeker
subscription for veterans. Veterans can appear at the top of a
recruiter's list, search within companies for recruiters and hiring
managers, and communicate directly with recruiters and managers through
InMail. They can increase the visibility of their LinkedIn profile, and
conduct advanced searches to identify fellow veterans in their desired
field of choice.
Workplace Skills. LinkedIn's latest addition to training includes
our online learning platform Lynda.com. We now offer a one-year free
Lynda.com account to all our veteran members. With over 6,000 available
courses including our ``LinkedIn for Veterans'' course, Lynda.com has
helped students, leaders, IT and design professionals, project
managers, and others build software, creative, and business skills.
Lynda.com can be deeply impactful because it allows veterans to build
valuable skills and fill common skills gaps that they face in
transition or during career progression.
Release of LinkedIn Veterans Insights Report
In May, the LinkedIn Veterans Program team leveraged our Economic
Graph to generate and share insights into the professional identities
of LinkedIn's veteran community. This report is primarily based upon
the veterans who are on LinkedIn and offers additional insights into
the unique skill sets of veterans entering the workforce.
We have also provided copies of the report to members of the
Committee and your staff. We hope that this report and others like it
can be used to better inform veterans about the paths that are
available to them, and inform employers about the high level of talent
that characterize the veteran applicant and leadership pool on
LinkedIn.
To create this report, our team analyzed the professional
experience, skills, education, and behaviors of over 2.1 million
military personnel and veterans that are members of LinkedIn, as well
as veteran employer data. Below are some of the major highlights of the
report.
Leadership and Entrepreneurship. Today's veterans are high-demand
talent, thriving and leading organizations. In fact, more than 186,000
veteran professionals identify themselves as executives, vice
presidents, partners, founders, or owners on LinkedIn. There are over
42,000 veteran Vice Presidents alone on LinkedIn, and over 64,000
owners of companies.
Leading Industries and Metro Regions. Information technology is the
number one industry where veterans who are LinkedIn members are
employed, followed by defense and space and government administration.
The top metro area for veterans are: Washington, D.C.; New York, New
York; Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas; Los Angeles, California; Atlanta,
Georgia; Seattle, Washington; San Diego, California; Houston, Texas;
Norfolk, Virginia; and Chicago, Illinois.
Education and Training. Our data shows that veterans on LinkedIn
are highly educated individuals across the workforce. Over 81 percent
of veterans who have listed their education on LinkedIn have at least a
bachelor's degree, while 31 percent have a master's degree and 5
percent have earned a doctorate degree. Overall, as noted above,
servicemembers gravitate towards business and information technology
degrees. In terms of training, on-the-job training is veterans' number
one method for learning new skills; 61 percent received on-the-job
training, 50 percent got an additional degree, and 31 percent were
self-taught.
Professional Networking. Networking is the single most important
way that veterans find career opportunities. Interestingly, on average,
veterans and servicemembers have 26 percent more connections than non-
veteran LinkedIn members. This networking is critical, especially
because opportunities for veterans in the private sector are often
different from what they did in the service. In fact, two-thirds of
professional veterans state that they work in positions that are not
similar to what they did in the military, and that it is imperative
that they reach out to their networks to understand how to gain access
to those jobs.
Recommendations to the Subcommittee
We appreciate the opportunity to share our recommendations to the
Subcommittee on how to better connect veterans to opportunity, and we
look forward to working with you on these matters.
Overall, we have two general recommendations. First, we believe
that LinkedIn and other 21st Century career tools should be offered to
servicemembers well before they transition to civilian life. Second, we
believe that veterans should be encouraged to connect to programs at
the time that they separate and also well beyond the time that they
leave the service. Training and learning are lifelong endeavors and we
recommend that the military support and promote skills-based learning
and help transitioning servicemembers identify the training programs
that teach those skills and lead to strong career outcomes at all
stages of a veteran's professional life.
Career Tools Before Transition to Civilian Life
With respect to career tools before a servicemember transitions,
LinkedIn recommends implementing a proactive strategy to veteran
transition rather than waiting until servicemembers are being
discharged or following their discharge. We can preempt transition
challenges by integrating LinkedIn and other career tools during their
time in the service. As servicemembers progress through their military
career, they graduate from military education courses and serve in a
variety of billets. Each one of those courses and billets has some kind
of direct application to their professional identity. And as
servicemembers progress through their military careers, they will meet
and build relationships with civilian professionals. LinkedIn is an
outstanding tool for servicemembers to create a robust and valuable
professional story to tell civilian employers and to maintain those
critical relationships that they will need to leverage during their
transition.
Currently, transitioning servicemembers are provided basic
information about LinkedIn during the employment segment of the TAP.
While driving awareness of LinkedIn is essential, a more effective
approach during the TAP would be providing practical application
sessions to teach the best use of the platform. For instance, we
provide tools such as the ``LinkedIn for Veterans'' Lynda.com course to
facilitate practical application. This 60 minute tutorial provides
skills for building an outstanding professional identity, improves job
search techniques and enhances workplace skills, and could be easily
integrated into the TAP curriculum. We also recommend that
servicemembers utilize our job-seeker subscription for veterans, access
to Lynda.com courses, both of which are free for one-year and available
at any time after separation from the service.
Skills Training Beyond the Transition From the Military
In a similar vein, we believe that policymakers and other
stakeholders should support skills training programs not just as
transitional support but also as part of lifelong learning. This
training should start before the transition out of the military.
Specifically, the military can help servicemembers by: (1) clearly
mapping the skills gained in each role and helping servicemembers track
that through their LinkedIn profiles; (2) promoting skills-based job
descriptions by civilian employers; (3) helping transitioning
servicemembers identify the gap between their existing skills and those
needed for their desired civilian role; and (4) helping transitioning
servicemembers identify the training programs that teach those skills
and lead to strong career outcomes.
It is equally important to encourage veterans to continue
upskilling and to connect to programs that help them do that. There are
several programs throughout the U.S. that focus on teaching members of
the workforce new skills. One recent example is Skillful
(www.skillful.com), a Markle Foundation initiative to help workers in
Colorado and Arizona with high school diplomas or limited college
education acquire new skills to advance their careers. This is
important because over 40 percent of workers in Colorado and nearly 50
percent of workers in Arizona have a high school diploma and some or no
college education. Yet 44 percent of the more than 468 recruiters and
hiring managers we surveyed in Colorado and Arizona in February said
it's hard to find people with the right technical skills. As a result,
companies have a hard time hiring and are less productive, thereby
stunting economic growth. In both states, we're working with local
bases and veterans programs to connect servicemembers and veterans to
Skillful, its career coaches, and its digital resources.
As part of this effort, LinkedIn has developed Training Finder
(www.linkedin.com/training), a new product that helps job seekers
acquire new skills and advance their careers. This tool shows them
relevant training programs in their area; which programs are affiliated
with employers; whether or not they're accredited; the program's
employment rate, cost, and duration; the skills that the program will
teach them; the jobs they'll be qualified for when they complete the
program; and the estimated salary. Our goal is for these insights to
help individuals select the training program that will teach them the
skills they need to get the job they want. Combining LinkedIn jobs
tools and the Training Finder can help veterans identify the gap
between their current skill set, the skills needed for their ideal
role, and then identify the best-fit program to acquire those skills.
We believe that this new product could be a great tool for education
and employment counselors within transition offices, and we look
forward to training counselors on how to use Training Finder.
Conclusion
As Florent Groberg, the Congressional Medal of Honor recipient,
recently noted:
In 2012, my lifelong passion for serving in our armed forces was
cut short. Four years later, through the power of networking, a
steadfast mindset and the act of seeking mentors...I am living proof of
the power of LinkedIn. It is through this platform that I have made
hundreds of connections with men and women that otherwise, I would have
never had the opportunity to meet. This should be the story of every
U.S. Military veteran.
We at LinkedIn are deeply inspired by Florent and we stand ready to
work with you and each of the Members of the Congress on leveraging our
tools and capabilities to expand opportunity for every veteran. Doing
so is our duty and our mandate, and it is fundamentally tied to our
mission and our vision at LinkedIn. Thank you.
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