National ‘Hire a Veteran Day’ encourages employers to consider hiring skilled veterans

TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - Monday is National Hire a Veteran Day. Every year about 200,000 veterans leave the armed forces and transition into civilian life. According to the Pew Research Center, only one in four veterans said they had a civilian job lined up after they left the military.

Travis Gladhill is the Executive Director at Camp V in Tyler and said veterans bring a strong skill set to the workforce.

“Veterans are mission focused. They serve their time in the military always going after a specific mission. So any type of employer that wants an employee that is dedicated to that mission and will do everything within their powers to ensure that mission accomplishment will be a plus for that agency,” he said.

“Hire a Veteran Day” is meant for encouraging employers to recruit and hire veterans while also acknowledging their skills.

“Veterans show up on time, they work hard, their focus is to get that job done, and to think outside the box at the same time,” Gladhill said. “During their military experience of having to improvise and adapt and be able to think outside the box, and do that rather quickly.”

Camp V has a partnership with Workforce Solutions East Texas to help veterans with the job search, résumé writing, and interview skills. Gladhill believes the biggest struggle veterans face in the job search is switching from military language into civilian language.

“From leadership to managing of resources, everything along those lines, a veteran has those skills. It’s just that transferability of those skills and how to put that down on paper and how to relay that during an interview,” he said.

In November, Workforce Solutions will be holding a statewide veteran career fair called “Hiring Red, White, and You.”

For more information on hiring veterans visit Camp V’s website.

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