RSSVetJobs Veteran Eagle
Issue 10:5, Friday, May 1, 2009
www.vetjobs.com
The Veteran Eagle is a newsletter for veterans, transitioning military, their family members and friends and supporters of VetJobs. Feel free to forward the newsletter to veterans and friends.
This month’s Veteran Eagle is sponsored by FranChoice, WEDDLE’s and TECHEXPO Top Secret
Search the thousands of jobs nationwide in the VetJobs database!
Contents:
1. Message from the Top
2. VFW-Sponsored Auto Insurance
3. Border Agency to Hire More Army Reservists
4. VA Education Service Taking Applications
5. VA’s Online Personal Health Record Receives Honors
6. Political Involvement by Military Personnel
7. Tax Benefits for Hiring Unemployed Veterans
8. Air Force Reservist Awarded $800K in Military Discrimination Lawsuit
9. VA Welcoming Vets Home with New Web Site, Blog
10. National Guard and Reserve Mobilized as of April 28, 2009
11. Significant Events this Month in Military History
Thank you for reading this VetJobs Veteran Eagle newsletter. If you like the newsletter and what VetJobs, the VFW and endorsing veteran service organizations do to assist veterans and their family members find employment, please go to www.weddles.com/poll.htm and vote VetJobs for the WEDDLE’s User’s Choice Award!
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1. Message from the Top
Even though the country is in a recession, I am proud to announce that VetJobs is averaging over 28,000 jobs a day posted by hundreds of employers who want to hire veterans and their family members. This is an important statistic as most sites, especially the large comprehensive job boards, have seen their postings drop from 30% to 50% in terms of job postings over the same time last year. VetJobs is holding even with its job postings from the same time last year. Other than VetJobs, the few internet job boards that are doing well during the recession are niche job boards, mostly in the healthcare sector.
It is very important to understand that VetJobs does not spider or scrape jobs from other sites or play the job aggregating game that several sites like to play. I have heard from many job seekers that they get frustrated using job aggregating sites as frequently the jobs that are posted do not exist since they were copied from other sites and consequently can not be kept up to date. The jobs on VetJobs are current and real jobs with veteran friendly employers. So tell your friends who are in the job market to search the VetJobs jobs database. It is the most reliable source of real jobs for veterans!
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When posting a resume to a site, NEVER put your social security number on your resume. This opens you to potential identity theft. Additionally, you should not list references on a resume. When an employer is ready to make an offer, they will then ask you for references.
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May is National Military Appreciation Month! What is your company doing to show appreciation for our military?
The special days of recognition this month include:
Loyalty Day – May 1
National Day of Prayer – May 1
Victory in Europe Day – May 8
Military Spouse Day – May 8
Mother’s Day – May 10
Armed Forces Day – May 16
National Maritime Day – May 22
Memorial Day – May 25
In 1933, Congress decreed May 22 as National Maritime Day and each year since then it has been a day for the United States to observe its proud maritime heritage, honor the men and women who serve and have served as merchant mariners, and recognize the many benefits that result from our American maritime industry.
Victory in Europe Day marks the date when the World War II Allies formally celebrated the defeat of Nazi Germany and the end of Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich. Of interest, the Allies had agreed to mark May 9, 1945 as Victory in Europe Day, but Western journalists broke the news of Germany’s surrender prematurely, precipitating the earlier celebration. If you know a World War II veteran, tell them thank you for freeing our world from the Nazi socialist tyranny and for preserving the freedoms and our free market economy we enjoy today!
Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service. There are many stories as to its actual beginnings, with over two dozen cities and towns laying claim to being the birthplace of Memorial Day. There is also evidence that organized women’s groups in the South were decorating graves before the end of the Civil War. While Waterloo, NY, was officially declared the birthplace of Memorial Day by President Lyndon Johnson in May 1966, it’s difficult to prove conclusively the origins of the day. It is more likely that it had many separate beginnings; each of those towns and every planned or spontaneous gathering of people to honor the war dead in the 1860s tapped into the general human need to honor our dead.
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Following on my discussion last month concerning the March 20 USA Today headline story titled Jobless rate at 11.2% for veterans of Iraq, Afghanistan, things have definitely changed. At the time of the USA Today story, the unemployment rate for the 18 to 24 year old OEF/OIF veterans was 11.2% when the unemployment rate for their civilian counterparts was 8.8%. While the telephone survey technique of 60,000 households may be indicative of the general population, there is a large margin of error when trying to apply the survey results specifically to the veteran demographic.
The most recent DOL survey had a considerably different result. The unemployment rate for the 18 to 24 year old non-veteran age group has risen to 15.3% and the unemployment rate for the veterans of the same age group is only 14.3%. The unemployment rate for all veterans is 8.6%, the same as the national unemployment rate. Wouldn’t’ it be nice if USA Today would update the story so as not to give the general public the idea that our younger veterans are having a harder time then non-veterans? Of course, that will probably not happen.
And guess how many people got a job last month? The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 4.4 million people were hired. That is another story we will not read in the main stream press!
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I have heard from many veterans who are interested in entrepreneurship so as not to be subject to lay offs at the whims of a large company or during a recession. One of the proven ways to own your own company is through purchasing a franchise. A major reason people like franchises is a franchise owner enjoys the benefits of being in business for them self but has the support of an entire team dedicated to making sure the business is successful.
To this end, VetJobs has entered into an alliance with FranChoice, the premier franchise consultancy in the United States. Watch for articles by FranChoice that will be posted to the VetJobs Employment Assistance and Veteran Resources pages over the next few weeks. FranChoice is a sponsor of this month’s newsletter.
When choosing a franchise, be sure they are legitimate and a member of the United States Franchise Association or the International Franchise Association. As with any investment, you should research the franchise thoroughly before committing your money. FranChoice is an excellent tool to use in your research.
Entrepreneurship could be the way you want to go. But remember, if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is too good to be true.
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Speaking of alliances, VetJobs has entered into alliances with Trinity and the Military Travel Zone. You will be seeing information about these organizations being posted to the VetJobs site in the next few weeks.
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On the job front, there are critical shortages of workers in the healthcare profession. Currently, there are 135,000 nurse openings nationwide. There have been press reports of 50,000 people not able to attend nursing school due to shortages of nursing instructors.
On a positive note, a recent poll conducted by Stand Out Jobs, found a good percentage of companies expect hiring to increase in the second and third quarters. In total, 41% of organizations expect hiring to increase between quarter two and quarter four of 2009. The survey was based on questions to 450 corporate recruiters.
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If you know of any companies that should be hiring veterans, transitioning military and their family members, please send in the referral to info@vetjobs.com so we may contact the company.
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As always, if there is anything we at VetJobs can do for you, please do not hesitate to call or email.
Remember, Freedom Is Never Free – Support Our Armed Forces and Veterans
Best regards,
Ted Daywalt
President
/—May Veteran Eagle sponsor is FranChoice—-\
Have you every thought about business ownership? Do you wonder if you have the skills to be your own boss? FranChoice can help! A free consultation with FranChoice, the premier franchise consultancy in the USA, can provide you with answers. Our industry expert consultants will help you determine your skills, your dreams and your goals for business ownership.
The franchising industry welcomes veterans because of their superior training and skills. If business ownership interests you, take a look at the benefits of franchise ownership. No one can do the research for you, but your energy combined with our industry expertise can create an exciting match in a business opportunity that truly fits you.
To sign up for your FREE consultation, visit http://www.franchoice.com/franchise-consulting-request.aspx?SourceID=162537. One of our franchise experts will contact you within one business day. And, for additional information on franchising for veterans, check out the articles we’ve provided just for you that will be posted in the VetJobs Employment Assistance section. We look forward to working with you!
\—–Please visit your May Veteran Eagle sponsor FranChoice—–/
2. VFW-Sponsored Auto Insurance
Take advantage of member-only rates with the VFW-sponsored auto insurance program. This program includes preferred rates and coverage for VFW members and their families.
Additional benefits at no cost include:
-24-Hour Roadside Assistance.
-Identity Theft Restoration Service.
-Emergency Travel & Medical Assistance.
If you would like a no-obligation quote, please call 1-800-354-0181 or go to http://vfw.21st.com/_18_78381.html
/—May Veteran Eagle sponsor is WEDDLE’s—-\
This issue of the Veteran Eagle newsletter is brought to you through the generous support of Work Strong: Your Personal Career Fitness System, Peter Weddle’s new book on conditioning your career for sustainable success. Designed specifically for the challenging workplace of the 21st Century, Work Strong not only tells you what to do for career success, but when, where and how to do it.
-Career Fitness includes both a revolutionary philosophy of work and a regimen of daily, weekly and monthly activities that empower you to apply that philosophy to your career.
-Using physical fitness as a metaphor, it introduces an approach to career self-management that is appropriate for everyone from senior executives and seasoned professionals to recent graduates and those who are reentering the workforce after an extended absence. Work Strong helps you tap both sides of your brain in learning how to build a healthy career.
-It encourages you to use your reasoning ability on the left side of your brain by presenting all of the information you need to Work Strong in your career. That’s the Career Fitness System
-It also encourages you to use your creative ability on the right side of your brain by presenting a fictional account of what it would be like to Work Strong. That’s The Diary of a Career Activist.
In today’s world of work, you have only two choices: you can be the master of your career or you can be its victim. Get the tools you need to take charge of the one-third or more of your life you spend at work. Get Work Strong today! You’ll increase the paycheck and the satisfaction you bring home from work! To order a copy, visit http://www.weddles.com/jobcatalog.htm.
\—–Please visit your May Veteran Eagle sponsor WEDDLE’s—–/
3. Border Agency to Hire More Army Reservists
The Army Reserve and U.S. Customs and Border Protection signed an agreement to create a partnership aimed at filling some of the growing federal agency’s 11,000 job openings with Army reservists. The border agency is the first federal entity to join the Army Reserve’s Employer Partnership Initiative, a collaborative project established last year aimed at placing reservists with a host of employers in the public and private sectors. The Army Reserve has begun preliminary discussions about establishing a similar partnership with the Federal Aviation Administration, which is in need of air traffic controllers, Stultz said. The Army is also considering approaching the FBI.
4. VA Education Service Taking Applications
Beginning May 1 the VA Education Service will begin taking applications to determine servicemembers’ eligibility for the Post-9/11 GI Bill program, which commences on 1 August 2009.
The VA’s website has additional information and a link to the application at: http://www.gibill.va.gov/
DOD announced the “rules of engagement” for an eligible active duty or Guard -Reserve servicemember to transfer entitlement of Post-9/11 benefits to a spouse or dependent children. Since there is an entirely distinct process for ‘transferability’ you have to comply with DoD rules. Please see the Defense Department Post-9/11 GI Bill web site:
http://www.defenselink.mil/home/features/2009/0409_gibill/
5. VA’s Online Personal Health Record Receives Honors
VA’s online Personal Health Record for veterans — My HealtheVet – received 1st Honors for outstanding health information technology, Personal Health Record and electronic medical record (EMR) innovations and solutions at the 25th Annual TEPR (Towards the Electronic Health Record) Conference in Palm Springs, Calif., February 2. My HealtheVet was awarded the top honor for Personal Health Record Systems, based on criteria such as data, data integrity, security, and consumer control by the Medical Records Institute at the conference. My HealtheVet offers Veterans anywhere, anytime access to VA health care, services and benefits. Veterans who enroll and are patients at VA health care centers can order VA prescriptions online, store and access military and health history, research trusted health information and create a Personal Health Record that is linked to their Electronic Health Record. My HealtheVet registration recently topped 700,000. Medical Records Institute Vice President and organizer of the TEPR Awards, “Our goal in holding this yearly awards program is to recognize investments in producing valuable health IT products and to help potential consumers make their selections. We congratulate the honorees on their outstanding products.”
/—-May Veteran Eagle sponsor is TECHEXPO Top Secret—-\
TECHEXPO Top Secret’s next job fairs are:
5/19, TECHEXPO Top Secret Career Fair, BWI Marriott, 1743 West Nursery Road, Baltimore, MD, 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Pre-register at http://www.techexpoUSA.com/index_VJS.cfm
5/20, TECHEXPO Top Secret Career Fair, Ritz Carlton Tysons Corner, 1700 Tysons Boulevard, McLean, VA, 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Pre-register at http://www.techexpoUSA.com/index_VJS.cfm
5/21 TECHEXPO Top Secret Job Fair, Huntsville Marriott, 5 Tranquility Base, Huntsville, AL 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Pre-register at http://www.techexpoUSA.com/index_VJS.cfm
Interview with leading government contractors. Full schedule of event details, & pre-registration at http://www.techexpoUSA.com/index_VJS.cfm. For professionals with active security clearance only. Free admission
\—–Please visit your May Veteran Eagle sponsor TECHEXPO Top Secret —-/
6. Political Involvement by Military Personnel
The Department of Defense encourages all military and civilian personnel and their eligible family members to register and vote. Certain provisions on campaign participation, however, apply to Federal employees and members of the Armed Forces
As a matter of long standing policy, military servicemembers and Federal employees acting in their official capacity may not engage in activities that associate the DoD with any partisan political campaign or elections, candidate, cause or issue. The limitations of participation can be found in DoD directive 1344.10, “Political Activities by Members of the Armed Forces”, and the Hatch Act.
7. Tax Benefits for Hiring Unemployed Veterans
On February 17 President Obama signed into law The American Recovery and Reinvestment Tax Act of 2009. Among its many provisions, Section 1221 of the Act amends and supplements Section 51 of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) to create additional incentives to hire an unemployed veteran in 2009 and 2010. Effective for 2009 and 2010, the Act includes an unemployed veteran as a member of one of the targeted group for purposes of eligibility for the “Work Opportunity Tax Credit” (WOTC). For definition purposes, an “unemployed veteran” is an individual who (i) has been discharged or released from active duty in the Armed Forces at any time during the 5-year period ending on the hiring date (the day the veteran is hired by the employer), and (ii) is in receipt of unemployment compensation (under State or Federal law) for not less than 4 weeks during the 1-year period ending on the hiring date.
8. Air Force Reservist Awarded $800K in Military Discrimination Lawsuit
A federal court in New Haven, Connecticut, awarded approximately $800,000 in damages plus interest to an Air Force reservist whose civilian employer did not reinstate him to his previous position and salary upon return from active duty. The award is the largest ever for one plaintiff under USERRA. Air Force Reserve Sergeant Michael Serricchio filed the lawsuit against former employer Wachovia Securities for violating his statutory right to reemployment following military service. Serricchio worked as a financial advisor for Prudential Securities before being called to active duty following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
9. VA Welcoming Vets Home with New Web Site, Blog
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has launched its new “Returning Veterans” Web site — www.oefoif.va.gov, to welcome home Veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts with a social, Veteran-centric Web site focusing on their needs and questions. The Web site will feature videos, Veteran stories, and a blog where Veterans are encouraged to post feedback. The site also will restructure the traditional index-of-benefits format found on other VA pages into question-based, categorized, and easily navigated links by topic. This will allow Veterans to find benefits of interest easily and discover related benefits as they explore.
10. National Guard and Reserve Mobilized as of April 28, 2009
The total number currently on active duty from the Army National Guard and Army Reserve is 103,709; Navy Reserve, 6,750; Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, 14,892; Marine Corps Reserve, 7,575; and the Coast Guard Reserve, 697. This brings the total National Guard and Reserve personnel who have been activated to 133,623, including both units and individual augmentees. A cumulative roster of all National Guard and Reserve personnel who are currently activated can be found at http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Apr2009/d20090428ngr.pdf
11. Significant Events this Month in Military History
1756 – French & Indian War began, lasting for seven years.
1846 – The U.S. declared war against Mexico. Mexican troops under General Mariano Arista were defeated at Palo Alto, Texas, by U.S. Army under General Zachary Taylor. (Mexican American War)
1863 – Confederate General Robert E. Lee defeated Union troops under Union General Joseph Hooker at the Battle of Chancellorsville, VA, with the considerable aid of Confederate General Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson, who decisively routed the Union right wing. (Civil War)
1940 – German troops invaded Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. (WW II)
1942 – Congress created the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC).
1942 – Fall of Corregidor (WW II)
1942 – Battle of the Coral Sea, the first major naval action fought without either side having visual contact with enemy forces. (WW II)
1945 – German forces surrendered Berlin to the Russians. (WW II)
1945 – The German military in Europe surrendered unconditionally to GEN Eisenhower and other allied commanders in a French school building at Rheims, France, ending World War II in Europe. V-E Day (Victory in Europe Day) was formally proclaimed on 8 May. (WW II)
1968 – Mini-Tet (Vietnam War)
1972 – Operation Linebacker (Vietnam War)
1975 – Capture and Release of SS Mayaguez by Khmer Rouge forces, the first battle action of the United States Navy boarding a ship at sea since 1826.
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VetJobs is exclusively sponsored and partially owned by the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (www.vfw.org) and endorsed by The Vietnam Veterans of America (www.vva.org), The Naval Reserve Association (www.navy-reserve.org), and The Veterans of Modern Warfare (www.modernveterans.com), and the Student Veterans of America (www.studentveterans.org).
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Veterans make the best employees!
Freedom Is Never Free – Support Our Armed Forces and Veterans!
VetJobs is an appropriate employment service delivery system for EEOC, VEVRAA/JVA and OFCCP compliance support!
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VetJobs is a Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business