Prior to me joining my current employer, they had made the decision to hire another person in the unit I would manage. The boss decided this would be a good job to give the new manager, which in this case turns out to be me.
I was handed a pile of applications and told to devise a rating system based on company needs and policies…so I reviewed what they had advertised for, and then reviewed a bunch of hiring policy statements.
Then I 
I then reviewed each application, looking to see how they described things they had done, writing style, and the items in my point scale.
I think the top candidate had 26 pt and got an extra point for being a veteran.
The boss asked why we should care about if they were a veteran, that it’s unrelated to the job.
I replied that a veteran has demonstrated ability to absorb training, self-reliance, judgement, discipline and every veteran I know had hired in my career turned out to be a worthwhile hire. He shrugged and said , “well, OK”.
That people in this country think veterans are unworthy of any benefit at all in hiring is sad. It also is illegal.
The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA, 38 U.S.C. §§ 4301 – 4335) is a federal law. Part of the law states that its intent to “to prohibit discrimination against persons because of their service in the uniformed services”. Although many believe this applies only to reservists and National Guard called to active duty, another section of the law says no, and says “A person who … has performed… an obligation to …service in a uniformed service shall not be denied initial employment”
Sorry for the employment law lesson, but the above experience apparently is not unique to my company, because on the news they were discussing “rampant unemployment among the nations veterans” and one of the commentators said “Frankly that these people are unemployed in these numbers demonstrates a lack of respect for what they have done for this country”
I think enough said.
I was never let down with employing people from the military, as a matter of fact they were the best and that is not an exaggeration.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes have to shake my head with the mindset toward hiring those who served.
Good job Canice.
Interesting perspective. I spent almost 23 full years in uniform, retiring as an LTC after a battalion command. I had been a BN S3 and XO, a BDE XO, a teacher in the Command and Staff College at FT Leavenworth, and flew five different helicopters. I had been in charge of budgets in the millions, people in the thousands, and untold amounts of equipment....and of course the care, feeding and welfare of the men and women and their families. Soon after I retired (and was divorced) I was landing on my feet in the metro ST Louis area and was interviewing for a job as an operations manager for a fairly large company that was part of a fairly large corporation. In a field of 25 I quickly made it through three interviews to the top 3. For what was to be my final interview, the corporation sent a family member who had to be all of 25 yrs old to sit in on the interview, and though the COMPANY President assured me that I had the job, it turned out I did NOT have the job because the kid from corporate simply didn't like me; he could not equate my experience to something the company would need.
ReplyDeleteOnce, when I was in Tulsa OK, I applied to be dean of student affairs at Tulsa Community College....I am an educator by nature and education and this was something I really wanted to do. The woman charged with the initial interview said "Your resume is perfect, you have all of the qualifications we are looking for, but all you have ever really done has been in the Army." I told her that she could look at it like that, but if she thought like that, how could my resume be perfect? I didn't get that job either.
I ended up doing what I always swore I wouldn't do....working as a defense contractor in a job that is "okay" but far below my capabilities...but it is a job.
Good for you Canice......keep doing the right thing.
This is what I am seeing. People who have not served or don't know anybody that has served dont have any idea of what is required of people who have been in the military, particularly those that have had long periods of active duty. As I have stated before elsewhere in these blogs, my honey did 2 yr in the Marines and 5 years active in the Army. Had it not been for a veterans employment counsellor at the Unemployment office he might not have landed a job back in 1979. People kept saying to him, "but have you had any real work experience". He said more than once he wanted to grab them by the collar and say" AND you dont think motivating 135 men to face combat is a real job!" He never did that, but says it was the vet counsellor that got him his first post service job... All i am asking is for people to see service as real work experience.
ReplyDeleteThis is a country where we have voted in a commander in chief who has precisely zero executive experience.
ReplyDeleteOne of the guys who worked at the last job I had was laid off a couple of years ago. I didn't see him until last september, and he was working for the post office. He had been job hunting for a while when he applied there. They said there were something like 70 applications for the position, so he thought he would never hear from them. Then they said he was hired, and the thing that tipped it to him was that he was a veteran, and the post office gives preference (I imagine by a points system as you described) to veterans. I was quite pleased to hear this. It is as it should be. Yes, they have proven something by serving and earning an honourable discharge. An officer has definitely got experience in managing people. People who disregard this when hiring are oly hurting themselves.
The federal government gives veterans preference of five points................but of 10 points to the spouse, then more points for handicaps.....I am the 50 year old, healthy white male, despite a quarter of century of abusing my body in the military. I have been hired for a few government jobs but couldn't afford the pay cut so I stayed in contracting.
ReplyDelete