Project 2 Final Draft

Almost all college students, including myself, are constantly looking for activities that can serve as strong resume builders as we work toward finding long-term employment in the field of our choice. It is always a bonus when one of these so-called resume building activities turns out to be extremely rewarding. I think I have found one that is just that as well as being a place that allows me to work with some of the most interesting and amazing people that I will ever meet. According to the United States Census Bureau, there were 18,496,937 civilian veterans living in the United States as of 2016. As of 2016 there 323,100,000 total citizens of the United States of America, meaning that veterans comprise 5.7% of the United States’ total population, which is a number that cannot be taken lightly. One of the biggest problems facing this group of more than eighteen million people is the inability to obtain employment following their departure from the service. Veterans account for seven percent of the unemployed population of the United States (Beauchesne and O'Hair 438). The fact that the percentage of unemployed US citizens that are unemployed veterans is greater than the percentage of US citizens that are veterans shows that unemployment is a definite problem among those who have served in the Armed Forces. Before delving into how to solve a problem, you must examine what is causing the problem. One of the main root causes of veteran unemployment centers on general employability skills. The military, without a doubt, leaves each and every one of its veterans with unique skills that should help them in searching for a job. “Military personnel often benefit from gaining skills that later be used in the civilian workforce” (Buzzetta, Hayden, and Ledwith 65). However, a major problem with this is that, “difficulty often arises in being able to accurately describe those military skills and experiences to civilian life.” (Buzzetta, Hayden, and Ledwith 75). As Mrs. Carey, a former veteran herself said in my interview with her, “Most jobs in the military don’t equally transfer into civilian titles”. In the hyper competitive job market that is present today in the United States it is very important to be able to make yourself look as good as possible on paper when seeking employment as veterans. Mrs. Carey brought up a good point saying, “If you join at eighteen and now you’re in your thirties, what else do you know?” This leads to a lack of general knowledge about the civilian process of finding employment and further compounds the aforementioned issues. Without a doubt, confusion within the hiring process plays a large part in causing the problem that is veteran unemployment. Another of these roots is mental health. “A war zone is a terrible place filled with blood and tears” (Beauchesne and O'Hair 436), and as such veterans who have lived and operated in these situations often suffer from impairing mental illness upon departing. In a research experiment conducted by a group of scientists, it was found that 63% percent of veterans suffering that were unemployed suffered from either depression or anxiety compared to just 34% in veterans that were employed, which shows that mental disease is one of the root causes of the high veteran unemployment rate. (Zivin et al. 194-202). In addition to depression and anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as well as military sexual trauma (MST) are two of the most serious psychological disorders that plague veterans. According to Mrs. Penny Carey who is a PsyD that works for the Wounded Warrior Foundation, “Both (PTSD and MST) are very damaging.” And because of them, “we see a lot of drinking, a lot of substance abuse.” These disorders can be extremely destabilizing for veterans and cause episodes such as flash backs, aggression, and social isolation. These traits can be extremely damaging when attempting to find a job and make it hard for veterans suffering from these disorders. Ultimately, psychological disorders are an unfortunate side effect of serving in the military and they have impacts on veterans’ lives that far outlive their service in the military. The government ultimately shoulders the largest portion of the responsibility of caring for and assisting veterans for life after the service. “Ensuring Veteran employment needs are met is a top priority for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the United States Government.” (Zivin et al. 194-202) There have been many laws passed that establish the precedent that it is the government’s responsibility to assist veterans in making a successful transition from military to civilian life, such as the Vow to Hire Heroes Act of 2011, which gives businesses a tax credit for hiring unemployed veterans. In addition to these measures, the Department of Veterans Affairs often takes one-on-one action to help veterans deal with matters that hinder employment, such as mental disorders, as well as with actually gaining employment. “You can seek treatment (for mental disorders) while you’re in the military, but it’s very difficult.” (Carey) is a large reason why the Department of Veterans Affairs plays such a large part in the lives of many veterans. According to Mrs. Carey who both served in the military herself and treats veterans as a psychologist, there is a negative stigma attached to seeking treatment for mental disorders in the military and as such, many veterans do not seek treatment for disorders until they have departed the service. This puts even more importance on the treatment provided by the VA, as it is often the only thing that can help veterans successfully overcome these mental disorders and transition into civilian life. “Although military service members often receive significant support in the form of transition readiness programs, these services seem to be less individualized.” (Zivin et al. 194-202) Though the Department of Veterans Affairs and other organizations such as the Wounded Warrior Foundation, there is a lack of specialization in these programs that seems to limit their effectiveness. Many of the problems veterans face when seeking employment require more one on one counseling to solve. Each individual has a different resume with different skills they obtained during their time in the service. Each of these resumes requires individual attention help make sure that certain veteran has translated their skills in a manner that makes them as attractive as possible to prospective employers. According to Mrs. Carey based on her experiences as a veteran, while the VA does a satisfactory job in some areas, however; they do not do enough to help with the transition back to civilian life and employment. Due to this fact, there seems to be a gap in veteran care that is there to be filled. Grassroots organizations are springing up across the country to help fill this void. “We need those organizations, there is nothing set up within the military or in the VA” (Carey) These grass roots organizations are better able to work with veterans one on one and truly provide the individualized help that can transform a veteran’s life. I recently joined one of the aforementioned grassroots, non-profit organizations that is focused on solving the problem of veteran unemployment. The organization that I joined is called STEM Veterans USA and is based here in Tallahassee. As listed on their 1 Million Cups (FSU’s Version of the popular show Shark Tank) page, STEM Veterans USA’s mission is “Focused on recruiting, retaining and assisting the overall success of Veterans into STEM programs while simultaneously and proactively establishing a networking hub for students and employers.” The method that STEM Veterans USA uses to attack the problem of veteran unemployment is multifaceted and attempts to help make the process of finding a job easier at every turn for veterans. The first goal is to foster a positive working relationship between the organization and veterans that are seeking employment. This is done by conducting face to face meetings with veterans in order to learn about their qualification and past experiences. This information allows us to create resumes for these veterans that present them as candidates in the best possible light. Another facet is creating strong, consistent relationships with STEM businesses that are willing to take an initiative in hiring veterans. We do this through building trust with businesses through sending them excellent candidates for their job openings as well as always staying on the lookout for businesses that might be willing to join STEM Veterans USA in taking an initiative to try and lower the rate of veteran unemployment nation-wide. Businesses such as Lockheed-Martin and Turner Construction have already partnered with STEM Veterans USA and committed to hiring qualified veterans to fill positions within their companies. Finally, STEM Veterans USA has to maintain a strong relationship with students on Florida State University’s campus due to the fact that most of the work that gets done within the organization is done by college students like myself who serve as interns. In order to maintain these relationships at the University, our founder, Ben Hallstrom, visits campus often, attending meetings to spread the word about the opportunities available within STEM Veterans USA. It is important to maintain these relationships because as students graduate and move on, the organization needs a steady stream of student interns to continue operations. All of these relationships combine to form a system that is highly effective at placing veterans into sought after jobs at some of America’s most respected corporations. I was one of the students that Mr. Hallstrom connected with on one of his campus visits and shortly thereafter I accepted a position with STEM Veterans USA as a Director of Member Development. Since then I have found myself in a position that has been as rewarding, if not more rewarding than some of my prior service positions which included working at a food bank as well as tutoring ELL students. My position occasionally requires me to meet with veterans and discuss their experiences in order to create their resumes but my main responsibility is inputting veterans’ information in the applicant tracking software that we use to keep track of each individual veteran’s resume. While doing this doesn’t necessarily allow me to meet veterans face to face, I feel like I get to know many of them because I have to input many things about their lives including a head shot, past education, experiences within the military, skills acquired while in the military, and many other things. From one veteran who served four tours in Afghanistan and Iraq as part of an armored cavalry division to another who was a sonar engineer on a nuclear submarine I have been privileged to serve and get to know some of the heroes that have served the people of the United States, all by inputting their information into a computer. The imputation process is akin to websites like Facebook where you fill out lots of personal information to update your profile except the data is focused on basic personal details such as age as well as measurable skills. The idea is to get the veterans basic information out to companies in as simple a manner as possible. Once their information is input into IBM Kenexa BrassRing, our applicant tracking software, their information is immediately available to companies around the country. The profiles show up to companies as simple forms with a picture on top and a list of the individual details. The idea is to get these details out to as many companies as possible to get a foot in the door for these veterans. That is why electronic resumes are superior to traditional printed resumes, they allow you to cast a wider net when searching for jobs. From there the companies will sift through the preliminary resumes and pick a group of top candidates to interview for positions face-to-face, that’s when the veteran is really able to sell themselves as a human, which is something that no resume can do. If all goes well then the best part of all comes next, when one of our veterans is hired we get to tell them. It is fantastic to see their faces when they hear the news knowing that we helped them obtain a job that is going to allow them to provide for their families. As I proved through extensive research, veteran unemployment is a severe problem in the United States. It’s a problem that the Department of Veteran Affairs doesn’t sufficiently address and therefore requires outside intervention to be solved. That intervention has largely come from grassroots organizations such as STEM Veterans USA. If organizations such as STEM Veterans USA lead the charge to entice the largest companies in the country to commit to hiring veterans, who are often extremely qualified candidates with unique skill sets, there’s no reason to believe that grassroots organizations can’t be the architects of a solution to the problem of veteran employment. Grassroots organizations aren’t perfect, but with a willingness to build strong relationships and a focus on helping those who have defended our country, this problem can be combatted successfully.