Find a job fair in your state - Military Careers, Second Careers - Navy Times

Find a job fair in your state

ABOARD THE NEW JERSEY (AP) — For 10 months, Iraq war veteran Andrew Schumann has been looking for a job. So far, no luck.

“Transitioning from the military has been a little bit difficult as far as trying to seek employment,” said Schumann, 25, of Glassboro, N.J. “You get out of the military and you’re kind of lost.”

The Labor Department is trying to help veterans like Schumann, through a Web campaign called HireVetsFirst that aims to raise employer awareness about the value of hiring veterans.

As part of the project, the department has announced a major expansion of its job fairs for veterans, with more than 100 fairs in all 50 states starting this week and running through the week of Veterans Day.

Visit www.hirevetsfirst.gov and look under “Upcoming Events” to find a job fair in your state.

The HireVetsFirst campaign also has helped with the marketing for dozens of career fairs run by private recruiting firms, such as the job fair Andrew Schumann attended last week in Camden, N.J., aboard the New Jersey, a decommissioned battleship. He and hundreds of other veterans distributed résumés to more than 50 employers from companies big and small — from BAE Systems and Lowe’s to local police departments and schools.

A recruiter for Florida-based CSX Corp. said veterans make excellent job candidates.

“They’ve had leadership training. They’ve worked in teams,” said recruiting manager Mark Miner. “They’re disciplined, hardworking individuals who have a lot more experience for their age than their civilian counterparts.”

Still, it’s been a struggle for Schumann, the father of a 1-year old who is living with relatives and whose wife has taken on a full-time job to help pay the bills. He’s looking for a job as a videographer. While he didn’t walk away with an offer, he remains encouraged.

“Coming here today, you see a lot of employers eager to hire veterans,” he said.

Labor department officials say they don’t track the number of vets who secure employment through career fairs. They estimate that about 10 percent to 15 percent of veterans receive job offers.

The Pentagon says more than 300,000 military members returned to civilian status last year. Finding jobs in the civilian world isn’t a considerable challenge for many vets — the unemployment rate for all veterans last year was a low 3.8 percent.

But younger veterans face obstacles. The unemployment rate was 10.4 percent last year for veterans ages 20-24. Since the 1990s, the unemployment rate has been somewhat higher for younger vets than for their civilian counterparts.

“When they come off of a period of active-duty service, it takes them time to find a job,” said David Loughran, a senior economist at Rand Corp. “For some veterans, the skills that they learned in the military are not necessarily immediately transferable to a civilian job.”

Marine Sgt. Garth Troescher, 25, who spent six months in Iraq, drove more than two hours with his fiancee to the career fair on the New Jersey — and it may have paid off.

“This is great,” said Troescher of Dagsboro, Del. “Here I am, and people are offering me jobs. It’s kind of nice.”

He said he received two job offers and may relocate to Dallas for work.