COLUMBUS, Ohio — Unemployment rates for veterans has been an issue for years, but with Intel and other major companies moving in, there’s a new push to hire more with military experience.
What You Need To Know
- With Intel and other major companies moving in, there’s a new push to hire more with military experience
- Ohio Department of Veterans Services is partnering with JobsOhio in a new initiative, aimed at attracting veterans to Ohio’s workforce
- The initiative was also designed to tackle veteran unemployment
That led the Ohio Department of Veterans Services to partnering with JobsOhio in a new initiative aimed at attracting veterans to Ohio’s workforce.
“We have an initiative called Veteran Talent Attraction, where we're going around the country to military installations and we are trying to get folks to come back to Ohio because of the talent gaps that need to be filled here,” said Gary Allen, the department’s workforce development manager.
Allen said the initiative was also designed to tackle veteran unemployment.
“There is an issue with underemployment among the veteran community,” he said. “The reason that this happens is because there's a difficulty with translating their skills, their skill set, maybe their ranks, their jobs, MOS’s if you will, and how does that translate to the civilian sector?"
By attracting veterans to the area, Allen said it’s helping them find purpose beyond the military, and Melodie Cook is certainly living proof of that.
Cook opened her own mobile food business years after returning from the active army reserve.
“There's something more than what you were trained to do,” she said. “When we were keeping America safe and making sure that our freedoms were still available to all. And you just have to know what your purpose is and your passion.”
