Job Search Help From VA
There is good news on the horizon for veterans facing a job search.
The Department of Veterans Affairs has announced its plans to increase the number of disabled veterans who obtain employment within the VA. Currently, 30 percent of VA employees are veterans, while 8 percent of employees are service-connected disabled veterans. This is the second-highest number of veterans employed in cabinet departments aside from the Department of Defense.
The VA’s Veterans employment Coordination Service plans to contact all severely injured veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to determine interest and qualifications for employment with the VA. There are currently 2,300 injured veterans from those two wars, and 600 have shown interest in working for the VA.
“I am proud of this effort,” Dr. James B. Peake, secretary of veterans affairs, said in a press release.. “VA knows the true quality of our men and women, and we should be a leader in employing them.”
The coordination service, which was established last year to recruit veterans, has nine regional coordinators who work with local facility human resources offices throughout the country to find potential job candidates and let local managers know about special authorities available to hire veterans.
“Our team is spreading the message that VA is hiring, and we want to hire disabled veterans,” Dennis O. May, director of VA’s Veterans Employment Coordination Service, said in the release.
VA coordinators participate in military career fairs and transition briefings and partner with veterans organizations, the Department of Labor’s Veterans Employment and Training Service, as well as VA’s Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Service, the Marine Corps’ Wounded Warrior Regiment and the Army’s Warrior Transition Units.