Forward Observer — “Go Southeast, Young Man.” (PhillyVet 2015 Job Challenge)
Although we in the Lehigh Valley do not consider ourselves part of Greater Philadelphia, many of us seek employment wherever we can find it — finding good jobs is always an issue. Recently Veterans Recruiting (an organization that had worked with USAA in the past using its virtual job fair technology) has teamed up the with Greater Philadelphia Veterans Network and MedVeteran in an effort to help at least 2,015 veterans find meaningful jobs in 2015. The effort is called the Philly Veterans 2015 Challenge.
Two unique aspects of the effort will be following the veteran through their first full year of employment and company partners will share best practices as it relates to hiring and retaining veterans. Equally important, these companies can post their available jobs on the website for free (Most Recruiting services attach a fee.). Hired veterans will be asked to pay it forward by mentoring new members to the Challenge.
Many veterans find job fairs are a waste of time. The truth varies somewhat — if a company comes prepared to honestly offer jobs, send the right representatives and do initial interviews on the spot — but they are often inefficient uses of time for both the job hunter and the employer. Since a key component of this effort includes virtual job fairs, the initiative can assist in that aspect alone: click here. However, the effort also includes a more traditional and equally potent way for finding jobs through well-organized postings: click here. What makes that different from other job-finding sites (See our Answers Desk for a listing of them)? Maybe not much in reality or maybe a lot. Unlike so many other efforts, it is is a tailored to be local and has local collaborators actively trying to assist, plus local employers (not just their corporate headquarters alone) are saying they want and, therefore, are actively seeking to hire veterans, that they are veteran friendly employers. Their good names are now on the line.
Maybe we should be doing something similar in the Lehigh Valley.
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RJH
As of 28 January 2015