Come visit the VetJobs VeteransConnect Virtual Career Fair! It
started on March 1 and runs through March 15.

VetJobs is pleased to announce a free opportunity for our veterans
and their family members to participate in the ongoing VetJobs
virtual job fair. All jobs at VeteransCONNECT have been posted
online and are specifically for you!

Employers include:
Chesapeake Energy
Hallmark Cards
FMC
AMC Theatres
Verizon Wireless
Teksystems
Upsher-Smith
Liberty Mutual
Western Pest
Spectrum Healthcare and many more!

To participate, visit http://workplacediversity.com/VeteransConnect/ to register and post your resume.

Many have already received job offers so search and apply to hundreds of jobs. Even if you’re employed you should participate.

Register now at http://workplacediversity.com/VeteransConnect/ before the event ends on March 15!

We look forward to seeing you at the career fair!

By MICHELLE HIRSCH and ERIC PIANIN
February 9, 2012

Two years ago, Marc McComas was dodging bullets in Iraq, focused on the daily pressures of intense combat and keeping his 30-member platoon section on task. Today, the former sergeant faces a new kind of pressure: finding a job.

The 40-year-old McComas has spent 15 of the past 20 years on active military duty abroad or as a member of the National Guard. Since his guard contract ended last February, he has spent most days online looking for work as an office manager or human resources director near his Vienna, W. Va., home. “With 15 years in the army, tons of management experience, and a four-year degree, I figured it would be kind of a cinch to get a job,” McComas told The Fiscal Times this week.

But so far, McComas, like hundreds of thousands of other vets, has had no luck. He sent out nearly 400 resumes and networked through the Veterans of Foreign Wars, but he has landed only three interviews – none of which led to even the hint of a job offer. When he was between jobs in the past, he received $60,000 a year in salary from his National Guard service. But reenlisting isn’t an option for McComas, who lost some of his hearing and incurred shoulder, knee, ankle, and tendon damage during his 15-month Iraq tour.

“I can’t really understand why nobody wants to talk to me when I’m able and ready to talk to them,” McComas said.

McComas is among the approximately 815,000 unemployed veterans competing for jobs as the U.S. economy crawls back from the deepest recession in modern history. The overall veteran unemployment rate is 7.5 percent – almost a full percentage point lower than the current national rate of 8.3 percent. But that is highly misleading. Unemployment rates are slightly higher – 9.1 percent – for Afghanistan and Iraq War veterans and significantly higher for young veterans aged 18 to 24, who registered a 20.2 percent unemployment rate in January, more than double the national average. Many of these younger vets lack college or even high school degrees and find it more difficult to qualify for available jobs.

Although the U.S. job market is slowly improving, the situation is tough for veterans and will get even tougher, especially as about one million more service members and women exit the military during the next five years and flood the job market, according to Labor Department estimates.

“I don’t expect there to be enough jobs to absorb the huge increase in incoming veterans, which should concern everyone who benefits from the great sacrifices these people make for their country,” said Patrick Bellon, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, a veteran advocacy group. “They’ve paid dues that others haven’t.”

The glut of men and women returning from highly dangerous and often debilitating deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan with little or no prospects for finding work is one of the most visible and troubling downsides to the Obama administration’s efforts to wind down two costly wars. Experts say that many of these returning men and women find it difficult to adjust to the civilian world after years of multiple deployments. Many of these vets struggle with emotional problems, post-traumatic stress disorders, and the challenges of persuading prospective employers that their military skills are applicable to civilian tasks.

“They’re coming back to civilian life and it’s a different form of life,” said Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, D-Maryland, a member of the Budget and Small Business Committees who has delved into the employment problem. “It’s not as structured as the military or government. It’s extremely challenging. These are young people, by and large. So it’s an adjustment factor.”

That pool of returning veterans will begin to swell because of White House plans to shrink the defense budget and manpower for the first time since 1998. About 170,000 troops were deployed to Iraq at peak times during the nine-year war, but as of last December only about 150 troops remained.

About a tenth of the 101,000-troops stationed in Afghanistan returned to the U.S. in 2011, and another 23,000 are scheduled to leave by next September. Nearly all of the Afghanistan personnel will exit by a 2014 deadline, although many active-duty members will transition from combat to training roles before that point, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said last week.

The troubling plight of unemployed veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars has drawn the close attention of the White House and lawmakers, especially as the 2012 election approaches. In a rare display of political unanimity, President Obama and congressional Republicans and Democrats pushed through legislation last November to create tax credits for companies that hire jobless veterans and to increase spending for job-training and counseling. Companies that hire disabled veterans who have looked for work for more than six months can qualify for as much as $9,600 in credits for each hire under the new law.

In the fiscal 2013 budget he will release next week, President Obama will also call for $5 billion in grant money to local police and fire departments to encourage them to hire Iraq and Afghanistan-war veterans. The Department of Veterans Affairs has also launched a series of new employment programs, including “VA for Vets,” which encourages the department itself to hire veterans, as well as sponsoring regional job fairs. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs committee, said it is essential that the government takes steps to insure that returning vets get a fair shake and that “what they learned to do in the military with our taxpayer dollars [is transferred] into good work experience” back home.

The complex barriers facing young veterans in the job market can’t entirely be solved with tax credits and grants, according to veterans’ advocates. One of the biggest tasks ahead for young veterans is learning to market their military skills as viable assets to hiring managers, said Craig Roberts, a spokesman for the American Legion. “There’s a real language barrier,” Roberts said. “If someone says they do something in the military, that isn’t necessarily understood by a civilian hiring manager.”

Resume polishing and interview coaching can help, Roberts said, but he worries that the job market won’t be willing or able to absorb a huge influx of veterans. “With a couple hundred thousand guys coming back, many of them young, the next couple of years are going to be challenging no matter what we do,” he said.

And veterans returning from active duty are finding it a mixed blessing to continue service in the National Guard or reserves. Many employers are increasingly reluctant to hire them because they can be called away with little notice, says Ted Daywalt, CEO and president of VetJobs.com. At one time there was more certainty about when members of the guard or reserves would be called up and for how long. But the Department of Defense in 2007 altered its call-up policy for National Guard and Reserve brigades by eliminating a provision that members’ cumulative time on active duty could not exceed 24 months.

“Employers didn’t mind it so much when their employees in the Guard were gone for just 30 days,” Daywalt said. “But when they’re gone for a year, and can be called up more than once, that’s a different ball game.”

Some lawmakers also say that veterans have been hurt by reductions or freezes in the size of the federal workforce. The federal government has a preference policy for hiring veterans, and about a quarter of all federal workers have served in the military. “When you can get preferential hiring in the federal agencies, as we do, that helps a lot,“ said Sen. Jay D. Rockefeller IV, D-W.Va., a member of the Veterans Affairs Committee. Even more devastating, layoffs at the U.S. Postal Service will certainly take a toll. The USPS is the single largest employer of veterans, who make up 22 percent of the workforce.

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2012/02/09/Veterans-Face-Their-Toughest-Fight-Yet-for-Jobs.aspx#page2

New York Times, December 18, 2011
SHAILA DEWAN

COLUMBUS, Ohio — In Afghanistan, Cpl. Clayton Rhoden earned about $2,500 a month jumping into helicopters to chase down improvised explosive devices or check out suspected bomb factories.

ow he lives with his parents, sells his blood plasma for $80 a week and works what extra duty he can get for his Marine Corps Reserve unit.

Corporal Rhoden, who is 25, gawky and polite with a passion for soldiering, is one of the legions of veterans who served in combat yet have a harder time finding work than other people their age, a situation that officials say will grow worse as the United States completes its pullout of Iraq and as, by a White House estimate, a million new veterans join the work force over the next five years.

Veterans’ joblessness is concentrated among the young and those still serving in the National Guard or Reserve. The unemployment rate for veterans aged 20 to 24 has averaged 30 percent this year, more than double that of others the same age, though the rate for older veterans closely matches that of civilians. Reservists like Corporal Rhoden have a bleak outlook as well.

In July 2010, their unemployment rate was 21 percent, compared with 12 percent for other vets.

“There’s been an upsurge in young people going into the military and not staying for a full 20-year career,” said Jane Oates, the assistant secretary for employment and training at the Labor Department, which has worked to improve the three-day transition assistance program for outgoing soldiers and enlisted companies like Facebook to reach them. “I think transitions have been difficult, with too few jobs out there and lack of clarity about what the employer wants.”

The employment gap cannot be explained by a simple factor like lack of a college degree — despite their discipline and training, young veterans fare worse in the job market than their peers without degrees.

Employers and veterans seem to view each other as alien species. Managers, few of whom have military experience themselves, may fear the aftereffects of combat or losing reservists to another deployment. They may have difficulty understanding how military accomplishments translate to the civilian world.

Young veterans, whose work history may consist entirely of military service, often need to learn basics like what to wear to a job interview. More important, many say, they are overwhelmed by the transition from combat to civilian life.

“It’s shell shock for a lot of them, going from such a structured lifestyle to a lifestyle that’s got so many variables,” said Daniel Hutchison, 29, who uses his own combat disability check to finance a shoestring transition assistance group, Ohio Combat Veterans. “They’re dealing with all the emotional things they went through, and they feel like they’re alone.”

The Obama administration has championed veterans’ maturity, management skills and even their promptness. Employers have jumped on the bandwagon, and large companies like JPMorgan Chase and Verizon have signed a pledge to hire a total of 100,000 veterans by 2020. More than 220,000 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are out of work.

Over a decade of war, the requirement that companies restore reservists to their old jobs has placed a heavy burden on businesses, said Ted Daywalt, who runs VetJobs.com in Georgia. “Nearly 65 to 70 percent of employers will not now hire National Guard and Reserve,” he said. “They can’t run their business with someone being taken away for 12 months.”

Though employers typically ask about military service and status on job applications, it is illegal to discriminate based on that information.

Corporal Rhoden said his reserve duties had interfered with one job to the point that he quit. “I’ve tried restaurants, shipping facilities, construction, snow removal businesses, landscaping — pretty much anything that you don’t need a college degree to do,” he said.

Veterans have been coached to write résumés that emphasize leadership skills instead of “the killing or capture of 350 Al-Qaeda associates,” raising some skepticism.

“I’m not necessarily convinced that they have great marketable skills,” said Rachel Feldstein, the associate director of New Directions, which offers drug rehabilitation, job training and other services to veterans in San Diego. “If you train someone to be a sniper, those are not necessarily skills that are transferable.”

Young veterans face stiff competition for the jobs that fit them best, like policing. In Columbus, Dustin Szarell, 30, said he was passed over for work in the Akron Fire Department and as a juvenile corrections officer in favor of candidates who had experience in those fields.

The Obama administration has stepped up hiring of veterans, adding more than 85,000 to the government payroll since the 2008 fiscal year. On Saturday, President Obama praised returning veterans and said “it is time to enlist our veterans and all our people in the work of rebuilding America.” The administration is trying to shape a “career-ready military” whose medics and electricians can more easily attain the licenses they need to work as civilians. As of October, the G.I. Bill that pays for college can also be used for vocational training or apprenticeships.

But many young vets are still working through the aftermath of combat.

In interviews, some veterans said employers overestimated these problems. “They have this misconception that we’re all struggling from P.T.S.D. in its most severe form, we’re all going to rage out,” said Sgt. Kobby Nyen, 25, a Marine reservist and student. “Even a Marine with P.T.S.D. has discipline.”

But others acknowledged that coping was an issue. “I don’t know who in their right mind would want to hire me when I got back from Afghanistan, because I was a disaster,” said Jeff Mancino, 24, who is now studying to become a psychologist. “I was 22 and I had to go to rehab — what kind of 22-year-old does that?”

Often, the veterans Mr. Hutchison of Ohio Combat Veterans sees need much more than a job. Recently, he traveled 50 miles to Logan, Ohio, to meet Ethan Tomblin-Brooks, 24, who lives in a shell of a camper in his parents’ driveway and gets construction work about once a week.

Mr. Tomblin-Brooks, who was injured in Iraq, said he had registered with the Veterans Affairs department but had not heard back. Army psychologists first diagnosed P.T.S.D., then bipolar disorder, but Mr. Tomblin-Brooks said he had no money for treatment, and no transportation.

Mr. Hutchison said he would help him get medical benefits, then tried to gently explain how little work is available in construction. Mr. Tomblin-Brooks, who has a G.E.D., was at a loss to suggest another prospect.

If he could, he said, he would rejoin the Army. “I kind of like being told what to do,” he said. “It makes it a little easier than figuring it out on your own.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/18/business/for-youngest-veterans-the-bleakest-of-job-prospects.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=us

Testimony
of
Theodore (Ted) L. Daywalt
CEO and President
VetJobs
www.vetjobs.com

Improving Educational Outcomes for our Military and Veterans

to

Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security

Wednesday, September 22, 2011
Dirksen Senate Office Building
Room 342
Washington, DC 20510

Good afternoon, Chairman, members and staff of the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, Federal Services, and International Security. Let me first thank you for the opportunity to come before the Committee today to share with you information that is relevant to the Committee’s discussions on improving veteran education outcomes. It is an honor to be here.

VetJobs (www.vetjobs.com) has a unique vantage point on these discussions as by the nature of our business, VetJobs deals with veterans and their family members on a daily basis who are pursuing employment and the education necessary to obtain employment.

The mission of VetJobs is to assist veterans, their spouses and dependents find quality jobs with employers worldwide. Since our launch on Veterans Day in 1999, VetJobs has assisted millions of veterans and their family members meet the recruiting needs of thousands of companies. As we speak today, there are over 41,000 jobs on the VetJobs site from hundreds of patriotic companies who want to hire veterans and their family members. Over 160,000 veterans a month or nearly two million veterans a year visit VetJobs seeking assistance. Over the last 12 years VetJobs has been recognized regularly as the leading military job board on the internet.

VetJobs is exclusively sponsored and partially owned by the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (www.vfw.org). Additionally, VetJobs is endorsed by the Vietnam Veterans of America (www.vva.org), Association of the US Navy (www.ausn.org), Veterans of Modern Warfare (www.vmwusa.org), Student Veterans of America (www.studentveterans.org), Military Order of the Purple Heart (www.purpleheart.org), Hope4Heroes (www.hope4heroes.org) and the United States Army Warrant Officers Association (www.usawoa.org).

What follows is a discussion of my observations as a businessman, who interacts with corporations, nonprofit organizations, and businesses seeking to hire veterans and their family members, but also a person who has dealt with many veterans and their spouses who have had problems with certain for-profit schools. As their schooling directly impacts the type of employment they can obtain, VetJobs has assisted veterans and their spouses select the appropriate educational venue.

Following the discussion, I list specific recommendations that will help to clean up the problems and make schools more accountable when using federal funds.

Introduction

Veteran post-service education prospects have improved greatly with the new Post 9/11 GI Bill. While not as substantial as the WWII GI Bill, the current Post-9/11GI Bill is a move in the right direction.

When one looks at the evidence, the current Post-9/11 GI Bill has been usurped by predatory for-profit schools. The actions and behaviors of the predatory for-profit schools need to be curtailed. Note I use the term predatory for-profit schools as not all for-profit schools have engaged in less than ethical behavior.

I want to be very clear that not all for-profit schools are bad. But those that are bad are very bad. Many technical, trade and universities that are for-profit have done a good job.

However, many of the predatory for-profit schools in the military education space have definitely stepped over the line, and in some cases, committed fraud.

For example, an August 2010 GAO report described investigators posing as prospective students applied for admissions at fifteen (15) for-profit colleges in six (6) states and Washington, D.C. The colleges were selected based on several factors, including those that the Department of Education reported received 89% or more of their revenue from federal student aid. GAO also entered information on four fictitious prospective students into education search Web sites to determine what type of follow-up contact resulted from an inquiry. GAO compared tuition for the 15 for-profit colleges tested with tuition for the same programs at other colleges located in the same geographic areas.

The GAO undercover applications at the 15 for-profit colleges found that 4 of the colleges encouraged fraudulent practices and that all 15 made deceptive or otherwise questionable statements to GAO’s undercover applicants. Four undercover applicants were encouraged by college personnel to falsify their financial aid forms to qualify for federal aid.

In spite of the findings of the GAO undercover investigation, VA and DOD continue to allow the predatory for-profit schools to enroll active duty, veterans and spouses. These 15 predatory for-profit schools continue to target veterans and their spouses. There obviously is no effective oversight of the educational programs at DOD and VA!

A recent PBS Frontline report that aired on June 28, 2011, titled Educating SGT Pantzke, highlighted the problem veterans’ face when attending predatory for-profit educational institutions. The program can be viewed at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/educating-sergeant-pantzke/?autoplay.

While it is understood that not every institution within the for-profit sector is engaged in these practices, the factual and testimonial evidence from past and recent press reports have found that many predatory for-profit institutions have engaged in improper and unethical recruiting practices while also reporting record profits generated from billions in taxpayer dollars.

Post 9/11 GI Bill Benefits were expanded in 2008, and this means that the more than 1.2 million veterans deployed since 2001 to Iraq and Afghanistan will be able to use this generous benefit wherever they choose to go to school, even to those career education programs that have been aggressively and deceptively recruiting them into programs shown to provide a very poor education. We owe it to these veterans to give them the tools they need to make sure their one-time GI Bill benefits are used at a school where they get a good education.

Problems for Veterans & Spouses

VetJobs has observed many disturbing activities by the predatory for-profit schools directed at veterans and their family members.

The problems have included:

-Aggressive deceptive marketing to veterans and active duty component members
Many predatory for-profits see military students as dollar signs in a uniform. As a result, predatory for profit schools use exceptionally high pressure techniques to sign up active military and veterans.

-Aggressive deceptive marketing to spouses, especially on military installations
Many predatory for-profits see military spouses as dollar signs on a military base.

-Telling veterans the programs are accredited when in fact the programs are “self-accredited”.
Many of the predatory for-profit schools could not qualify for accreditation through traditional accrediting agencies such as SAC or the AACSB. So to claim “accreditation”, they created their own accrediting agencies, which are not recognized by other traditional brick and mortar schools or state departments of education. Not knowing any better, veterans are being conned by the predatory for-profit schools deceptive claims that they were accredited. To learn more, visit http://www.geteducated.com/diploma-mills-police/college-degree-mills/204-fake-agencies-for-college-accreditation. To learn more about legitimate school and college accrediting agencies, please visit http://www2.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/index.html.

-Credits not transferring especially for graduate programs

-Employers not accepting degrees as accredited
“Mike Shields, a retired Marine Corps colonel and human resources director for U.S. field operations for Schindler Elevator, the North American arm of Switzerland’s Schindler Group, says he rejects about 50 military candidates each year for the company’s management development program because their graduate degrees come from online for-profits. “We don’t even consider them,” Shields says. “For the caliber of individuals and credentials we’re looking for, we need what we feel is a more broadened and in-depth educational experience.” Bloomberg BusinessWeek, 12/15/2009

-Schools not providing marketable skills that give gainful employment
Some technical for-profit schools do not provide adequate training so a student can then obtain a license for their work or get certification.

-Once enrolled, students are offered excessive amounts of financial aid, often in the form of risky private student loans (not federal loans), to cover the high costs of attending these institutions while earning less than worthy degrees or certifications.
Students in two-year programs at for-profit colleges are also eight times likelier to be in debt than those at community colleges, according to a report last month from the Education Trust, a nonprofit advocacy organization based in Washington. http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-01-06/for-profit-colleges-charge-more-while-doing-less.html

-Exceptionally high tuition when compared to traditional brick and mortar schools.
BusinessWeek reported that Kimberly Connacher, a bank teller, tried to get to Modesto Junior College early enough each evening to beat about 44 other students to a seat and avoid having to stand through her English class. It was the long, nighttime walk through the community college’s jammed parking lots in Modesto, California, that prompted Connacher to transfer about a year ago from the campus, where she paid about $80 a class, to Apollo Group Inc.’s University of Phoenix, where the cost was more than $1,000. She took out $12,000 in loans to cover the expense. http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-01-06/for-profit-colleges-charge-more-while-doing-less.html

Lack of Information

Complicating the problem is veterans and their spouses lack key information to make wise college decisions. Many of the military base career counselors seem to lack the necessary knowledge to properly counsel potential students.

As has been reported in the press and blogs, many of the predatory for-profit schools and their extensive lobbying group argue that veterans and their educational benefits should be left to “the invisible hand of the free markets.” Others may argue that veterans have the “free choice” to elect an institution that they feel best suits their educational needs. And still others might argue that veterans and servicemembers “know what is best for them as they are grownups” and that these programs “serve those who cannot attend traditional two- and four-year institutions.”

These arguments are specious at best and suggest that veterans have the knowledge to make informed decisions, that they have a complete understanding of the stratified system of higher education or have access to the knowledge through base and command education counselors. These are false assumptions.

Many veterans and servicemembers do not have the complete or correct information to understand different types of degree offerings, differences in institutions, importance of appropriate programs to pursue, or institutional accreditation as it relates to other programs of market-place value.

As an example, VetJobs recently worked with a veteran in Michigan who used his Post-9/11 GI Bill to obtain a bachelor degree from a predatory for-profit school while on active duty. Since exiting the military, the individual has been applying to many graduate schools, only to learn that the degree he had is not recognized by traditional schools as being accredited. The veteran had been told by the predatory for-profit school that their degree was accredited. What the school did not tell the veteran was the accrediting agency was a sham agency created by the predatory for-profit schools so they could claim accreditation.

Another example of the accreditation issue is the buying of small accredited schools by investors who then turn the school into a predatory for-profit using the purchased school’s accreditation. Ashford University is an example.

As a final example, I have heard from veterans who took a course only to learn afterwards the course did not prepare them to site for a license exam.

This lack of knowledge by the veterans has been noted in the press:

“When these guys get out of the military, they’re told to check with the VA. They don’t know who else to trust. The VA helps them fill out paperwork and gives them money, but it doesn’t tell them what schools to avoid or go to. It doesn’t track how well these schools are doing.” – John Schupp, national director of the nonprofit group Supportive Education for the Returning Veterans – Bloomberg, 9/23/2010

“No records are publicly available showing how many veterans drop out of courses at Colorado Technical’s online program, where most of them take their classes. But in general, the online program has an unusually low rate of retaining first-time students pursuing bachelor’s degrees full time. Only 39 percent of those enrolled in the fall of 2008 returned the next fall, compared with a 77 percent average for four-year colleges nationwide.” – New York Times, 12/9/2010

“I felt like I made a horrible, horrible decision,” said Jason Longmore, 31, a Navy veteran who spent six months at Westwood College, based in Denver, only to conclude that the degree was not attractive enough to employers, forcing him to repeat classes elsewhere before he could transfer credits to a Colorado state university.” – New York Times, 12/9/2010

GI Bill Benefits Lucrative Source

What is driving much of the problem is the Post-9/11 GI Benefits are a lucrative source of revenue for the predatory for profit schools. Because the Post 9/11 GI Bill benefits are such a lucrative source of revenue that has no viable oversight by VA, veterans are being heavily recruited by schools that do not provide a solid education.

According to the Department of Education, in 2008-2009 for-profits schools enrolled about 2 million students but received almost $25 billion of federal student aid. In other words, well over 25% of taxpayer dollars in student aid went to an industry that enrolls just over 5% of the higher education student population.

Press comments on this include:

“The recruiting techniques of some of these schools have been less than ethical,” [Derek] Blumke, [cofounder of Student Veterans of America] said. “When you’re paying the high costs for some of these schools and drop out, as many attending the online for-profit colleges do, you’re worse off than when you started.” – Bloomberg, 2/23/2011

“They contact me to gain access to our service members and most of them are fairly aggressive,” said Chief Warrant Officer Ken Teter, education officer for the Ohio National Guard, based at Beightler Armory in Columbus. – NBC4i, 2/17/2011

“There is such pressure to simply enroll more vets — we knew that most of them would drop out after the first session,” said Jason Deatherage, who worked as military admissions adviser at Colorado Technical University until this spring, when he was fired, he said, for not meeting his quota. “Instead of helping people, too often I felt like we were almost tricking them.” – New York Times, 12/09/2010

Since the Post-9/11 GI Bill is viewed by the predatory for profits as a lucrative source of funds, many spend as much as 50% of their revenue for sales, marketing and commissions. This is five times more than a normal brick and mortar school.

90/10 Rule

At the core of the predatory for-profit school problem is the 90/10 rule. Under this principle, institutions are required to receive no more than 90% of their revenues from federal sources to be eligible to receive federal student aid.

The 90/10 requirement was put in place to prevent schools from existing merely as a means to collect taxpayer subsidized education benefits, but that is what several of the predatory for-profit schools have become. The requirement also sought to improve school quality by incentivizing proprietary institutions to enroll at least some students willing to invest with their own money in the education offered by the school.

However, a loophole in the 90/10 rule allows predatory for-profit schools to continue to receive federal funds even if the institution has reached its 90% limit on federal student aid. As the 90/10 rule is currently constructed, only federal aid administered from the US Department of Education is counted toward the 90% limit. Revenues received from the Department of Veteran Affairs administered benefits like the Post-9/11 GI Bill are treated as non-federal sources under the current 90/10 rule. In other words, a school that has reached its 90% limit of Department of Education funding can solicit revenue from Post-9/11 GI Bill beneficiaries instead of recruiting students willing to pay out-of-pocket. This loophole has the effect of undermining the original intent of the 90/10 rule by giving proprietary schools the opportunity to receive 100% of their revenue from taxpayer-funded sources.

Currently, military and veteran educational benefits DO NOT count towards the 90% restriction. Thus, most predatory for-profit colleges and universities market towards servicemembers, veterans and their dependents understanding that the 90% limit can be exceeded.

Gainful Employment

Another core issue with predatory for-profit schools is program integrity, otherwise referred to as gainful employment. Many predatory for-profit institutions are the most expensive institutions in higher education. As a result, over 95% of students at the predatory for-profit institutions receive loans due to their unmet financial need. Even a few months of attendance at predatory for-profit institutions can leave students saddled with debt in excess of $9,000.

In contrast, only 13% of community colleges, 48% of four-year public institution, and 57% of traditional four-year private institution (not-for-profit) students take out loans. Clearly, the predatory for profit schools are an industry that engages in profit maximization through a government voucher system.

The sad part here is when a veteran defaults on their school loan it becomes difficult to obtain employment now that over 60% of employers conduct credit checks of new employees. Many of the predatory for-profit schools like Kaplan have student loan default rates in the 30% range, which was reported by UBS Financial in the School Cohort Default Rates report. From that report, several predatory for-profit schools had three year default rates in the 25% to 30% range. Veterans and their spouses who have these defaults have a difficult time finding a job.

This problem is exacerbated for student veterans. Gainful Employment Regulations ensure that institutions are offering educational degrees and certificates that have meaningful value in the labor market, students are not left with excessive debt, and students are able to repay any loans accrued in higher education per their discretionary income. This is not occurring with the predatory for-profit schools.

Currently, the education counselors on military installations are not familiar enough with the process to be able to adequately assist veterans and their dependents to choose an appropriate school for college and graduate education.

Predatory for-profit schools have learned how to game the system and obtain monies from DOD and VA. Unfortunately, once federal agencies turn on the money faucet, there is no oversight or accountability provided, especially at VA when it comes to oversight of the Post-9/11 GI Bill.

The VA should effectively use its authority to decertify institutions that violate laws that are in place to support student veterans. VA has suspended payments to schools in the past, but later permitted the schools to collect monies. Currently there is not enough oversight to ensure veteran and military educational benefits are spent wisely and that the historic educational investment in veterans pays off.

Higher education and government agencies need to work together to ensure that this substantial investment pays off in degrees with labor market value, such as those found in traditional graduate and professional schools. It would help if more traditional educational institutions would increase their efforts to attract more veterans and active servicemembers into their colleges and universities by offering more flexible education options to include online course work.

To be competitive in the labor market, many companies now require their employees to earn graduate or professional degrees. We now live in a nation that requires higher education to compete for meaningful employment.

The World War II GI Bill gave the United States the greatest generation of scientists, engineers, doctors, lawyers, professors, legislators, business people and Nobel Prize winners that propelled the United States to the economic heights enjoyed during the last half century. Toleration of the behavior of the predatory for-profit schools against our next greatest generation of veterans needs to be stopped.

Recent Actions

There is finally some movement against the predatory for-profit schools.

The Department of Justice and four states have filed a multibillion-dollar fraud suit against the Education Management Corporation, the nation’s second-largest for-profit college company, charging that it was not eligible for the $11 billion in state and federal financial aid it had received from July 2003 through June 2011.

While the civil lawsuit is one of many raising similar charges against the expanding for-profit college industry, the case is the first in which the government intervened to back whistle-blowers’ claims that a company consistently violated federal law by paying recruiters based on how many students it enrolled. The suit said that each year, Education Management falsely certified that it was complying with the law, making it eligible to receive student financial aid. The major class of students that Education Management Corporation has targeted over the years is veterans.

“The depth and breadth of the fraud laid out in the complaint are astonishing,” said Harry Litman, a lawyer in Pittsburgh and former federal prosecutor who is one of the attorneys representing the two whistle-blowers whose 2007 complaints spurred the suit. “It spans the entire company — from the ground level in over 100 separate institutions up to the most senior management — and accounts for nearly all the revenues the company has realized since 2003.”

Education Management Corporation, which is based in Pittsburgh and is 41%, owned by Goldman Sachs, enrolls about 150,000 students in 105 schools operating under four names: Art Institute, Argosy University, Brown Mackie College and South University. This suit is just the start of the move by many to curtail the predatory for-profit schools.

Recommendations

I would make the following recommendations for the Committee to consider:

-Veterans and active members of the military need to have better information to make informed decisions about what school to attend

-Education counselors on military installations and commands need to be better educated to adequately assist veterans and their dependents to choose an appropriate school for college and graduate education

-There is a need for greater oversight and accountability by DOD and VA of career education programs that have been handing out worthless degrees, loading up students with debt they are unable to repay, or using up one-time GI Bill benefits

-Taxpayer funds should not be wasted on worthless programs – they need to be invested wisely in solid education programs that offer gainful employment and have traditional accreditation.

-For-profit schools should be limited as to how much money can be used for recruiting, marketing and commissions. If a school is receiving federal funds, the sales, marketing and commissions should be limited to a maximum of 10% of the school’s revenue.

-Accreditation issues need to be examined to find a way to ensure that a school’s accreditation is legitimate and the school has courses that will be recognized by other schools.

-The 90/10 rule should include all federal funds, not just Title IV, and it should especially include DOD TA and GI Bill benefits

-The 90/10 Percent Rule must be enforced. To eliminate a great deal of the predatory school practices I would recommend it be set at a lower percentage, such as 80/20. Given the economic condition of the United States, higher education institutions should continue to strive towards financing their student populations with less reliance on taxpayer dollars.

-Traditional educational institutions should be encouraged to increase their efforts to attract more veterans and active servicemembers into their colleges and universities by offering more flexible education options including online course work.

-The VA should make better use of their enforcement mechanisms that currently exist. This includes not allowing egregious schools to receive federal funds.

-Predatory for-profit schools that persist in the behavior found by GAO should be banned from using military facilities and banned from recruiting on military bases.

In conclusion, I want to point out that had DOD and VA provided proper oversight for the funds they were dispensing to the predatory for-profit schools, we would not be having this hearing today and veterans and their family members would not have been encountering the myriad of problems discussed above.

Any solution considered by the Congress to the above problems must include a way to ensure DOD and VA are held accountable.

This concludes my testimony.

Thank you for your time.

Theodore (Ted) L. Daywalt
CEO and President
VetJobs.com, Inc.
P. O. Box 71445
Marietta, GA 30007-1445
770-993-5117 (o)
877-838-5627 (877-Vet-Jobs)
tdaywalt@vetjobs.com

See VetJobs president Ted Daywalt discuss the economy on Fox Business’ Bulls & Bears. You have to watch a commercial, then the clip comes on.

http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/1137767465001/daywalt-rein-in-regulation-boost-job-growth/

From VFW Newsletter March 1, 2011

http://heroes.vfw.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=7739

VFW-SPONSORED VETJOBS.COM CONNECTING VETERANS WITH OPPORTUNITIES
Monday, February 21, 2011

“Veterans make the best employees.”

If you meet Navy veteran Ted Daywalt, those will probably be the first words you hear from him. Daywalt is the CEO & President of VetJobs.com, the leading military-related job board on the Internet.

In 1999, a Sergeant Major called Daywalt as he had paid $5,000 in desperation to a job placement firm. Months went by, and nothing came of it, not even an interview and the Sergeant Major was trying to get his money back.

“I was semi-retired at the time, and I thought ‘this has to stop,’ ” Daywalt said. “We did some research, and the gap was even more pronounced than I first thought. Not long after, VetJobs was born.”

Daywalt’s life’s work is now helping veterans find work, a mission he doesn’t take lightly.

“Right now, the unemployment crisis is hitting our military members hard. I want everyone to know that companies are hiring, and veterans are a terrific choice,” Daywalt said.

Daywalt passionately believes that today’s military is the most highly trained, technically capable, ethnically diverse and teamwork oriented work force in the world.

“VetJobs isn’t just for military members—it’s for their spouses and children as well,” Daywalt quickly added.

He is especially concerned about the National Guard members and Reservists.

“Repeated deployments have wreaked havoc on their work lives,” he said. “That’s where VetJobs can help. Nearly 20% of people who visit find a job using our site.”

Veterans like Bill Heine can attest to that success rate …

“I am a retired Army CWO3 who decided on a job switch following 8 1/2 years in the private sector. I posted my resume with you and within a month was contacted by a major defense contractor. I accepted an offer for a substantial position with that organization,” Heine said.

Daywalt encourages veterans to not only review the jobs posted, but also take advantage of the Employment Assistance section which offers career advice and everything one needs when looking for a job

VetJobs.com is sponsored—and co-owned—by the VFW. The site reaches the 11.8 million military veterans currently in the work force, as well as the 190,000 plus active duty military personnel who transition each year, the 200,000 plus members of the National Guard and Reserve who rotate back to America each year and their family members.

ICANN Makes it Clear that .JOBS Domain Names May Not be Used to Operate Independent Job Boards, Including the “Dot Jobs Universe”

Employ Media LLC and DirectEmployers Association, Inc. Directed to Cease Operating in Violation of the .JOBS Charter

Hunt Valley, MD and Stamford, CT, February 28, 2011 – The .JOBS Charter Compliance Coalition (the “Coalition”) today applauds the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (“ICANN”) for delivering a strongly worded breach notice to Employ Media regarding its improper expansion of the .JOBS Top-Level Domain (“TLD”). The breach notice details how Employ Media, along with its alliance partner DirectEmployers Association and its sponsoring organization The Society for Human Resource Management (“SHRM”), failed to operate and manage the .JOBS TLD in a manner that was compliant with the .JOBS Charter. The breach notice is posted on ICANN’s website at http://www.icann.org/en/correspondence/jeffrey-to-johnson-fassett-27feb11-en.pdf.

One of the most significant Charter violations identified by ICANN is the operation of the so-called “Dot Jobs Universe,” a series of “integrated employment domains” that has been the subject of many “too-good-to-be-true” promises over the past several months by Employ Media and DirectEmployers Association. The Dot Jobs Universe was created when Employ Media and DirectEmployers Association teamed up to seize approximately forty thousand domain names ending in the .jobs suffix. This surreptitious transaction between the alliance partners temporarily gave DirectEmployers Association the ability to erroneously claim to “own and operate” the .JOBS TLD. ICANN stated in the notice, however, that the operation of the Dot Jobs Universe is “inconsistent with the purpose stated in the .JOBS Charter and stated to the ICANN community” and “serve[s] the interests of [DirectEmployers Association], as well as Employ Media and SHRM rather than the interests of the human resource management professionals.” ICANN called on Employ Media to take immediate actions to implement policies that would effectively terminate the operation of the Dot Jobs Universe. In sum, through its breach notice, ICANN has correctly and definitively concluded that the .JOBS Charter does not permit .JOBS domain names to be used to operate independent job boards.

In addition, ICANN admonished SHRM and Employ Media for failing to establish meaningful registration restrictions regarding which types of persons or entities could register second-level domain names within the .JOBS TLD. ICANN determined in the notice that Employ Media and SHRM were “exploiting” the Charter language “at the detriment of some participants of the human resources community” and “the loose restrictions established by Employ Media and SHRM appear to exclusively serve the financial interests of Employ Media and SHRM.” SHRM’s actions appear to contradict its contractual obligation as the sponsor of the .JOBS TLD, which is to act independently and in the best interests of the international human resource management community.

ICANN’s breach notice to Employ Media is the product of an extensive review process by ICANN’s Contractual Compliance Department. In December, the ICANN Board directed ICANN staff to closely monitor Employ Media’s compliance with the .JOBS Charter, and ICANN’s breach notice reflects the overwhelming public evidence of material violations of the .JOBS Charter by Employ Media, its alliance partner, DirectEmployers Association and its sponsoring organization, SHRM. ICANN has given Employ Media thirty (30) calendar days to cease its non-compliant use of the .JOBS TLD. If Employ Media fails to cure its breach within the allotted time period, ICANN may terminate the .JOBS Registry Agreement it entered into with Employ Media.

Peter Weddle, Executive Director of the International Association of Employment Web Sites, stated, “While Employ Media and DirectEmployers Association have created many false expectations about the Dot Jobs Universe, ICANN’s strong stance is a victory for the Internet community, as well as for employers and job seekers. First, the Dot Jobs Universe was not an innovation but rather an unprecedented attempt by a registry operator to misappropriate an entire TLD for itself and its alliance partner in blatant disregard of ICANN’s rules. Fair and honest competition is welcome in the online recruitment industry, but a TLD operator must be held to the commitments it makes to the Internet community, and upon which ICANN’s approval rests. This principle is particularly important as ICANN prepares to expand the domain name space by hundreds of new TLDs. Second, Employ Media and DirectEmployers Association can no longer infringe the trademark rights of third parties by thoughtlessly launching numerous .JOBS sites with names that are confusingly similar to those of long established enterprises, many of them small businesses. Finally, the lofty promises of completely free and fully vetted job postings were simply not economically viable and could never have been fulfilled, ultimately resulting in frustration for both employers and job seekers.”

John Bell, Chairman of the Coalition, stated, “The Coalition welcomes ICANN’s enforcement action and commends ICANN’s Legal Department and Contractual Compliance Department for conducting its review of the non-compliant actions by Employ Media, DirectEmployers Association and SHRM. The Coalition has stated for months that the facts in the matter would lead to this inevitable result. ICANN obviously reviewed all of the relevant facts and arrived at the correct conclusion. We are confident that ICANN will follow through on this demonstration of its commitment to enforce its rules and take all necessary and appropriate actions to terminate the non-compliant Dot Jobs Universe as soon as possible.”

Contacts
John Bell, Chairman, .Jobs Charter Compliance Coalition,
Chairman & CEO, Boxwood Technology, Inc., (410) 584-2986, jbell@boxwoodtech.com

Peter Weddle, Executive Director, International Association of Employment Web Sites,
(203) 964-1888, director@EmploymentWebSites.org

About the .JOBS Charter Compliance Coalition
The .JOBS Charter Compliance Coalition was formed in May 2010 to address concerns that Employ Media LLC’s planned Phased Allocation Program would violate the terms of the .JOBS Charter. The members of the Coalition include: 1) AHA Solutions (American Hospital Association); 2) the American Society of Association Executives; 3) the American Society of Civil Engineers; 4) the American Staffing Association; 5) Boxwood Technology, Inc.; 6) CareerBuilder, LLC; 7) the International Association of Employment Web Sites; 8) twenty-three individual members of the International Association of Employment Web Sites, including CollegeRecruiter.com, Dice, HigherEdJobs, Indeed, JobG8, Jobing, VetJobs, and WorkinSports.com; 9) Monster Worldwide, Inc.; 10) the Newspaper Association of America; and 11) Shaker Recruitment Advertising & Communications.

This article originaly appeared in the December 2010 Association of the U. S. Navy (AUSN) Magazine

Unintended Consequences Affecting Guard & Reserve Employment

Despite what has been reported in the press, the overall employment situation for all veterans is better than for non-veterans. This is not to say there are not problem areas. As a person who spent nearly 28 years in the Navy of which 21 were in the Navy Reserve, I feel our country has an obligation to ensure all veterans are properly employed since it is the military member who defended our constitutional republic. As a whole, the veteran employment has done quite well for a whole host of reasons.

For a listing of Bureau of Labor Statistics comparisons going back to 1986, see http://vetjobs.com/media/2010/07/10/2488/. The chart demonstrates that every year since 1986, veteran unemployment was lower than the national unemployment rate.

Recently, the press has been highlighting the unemployment rate of the 18 to 24 year old veterans. An while some in the press have tried to imply that the high unemployment rate for this age groups are veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, that concept is not completely correct. It should be noted that this is also the age group that dominates much of the National Guard and Reserve. The National Guard and Reserve are part time, thus are still in the work force and if they do not have a full time civilian job, are considered unemployed. Most of the active duty 18 to 24 year old veterans are finishing their four, six or eight year commitments.

The first quarter and April 2010 CPS unemployment data from BLS shows the following:

From the above data, the 18 to 24 year old and the 25 to 34 year old veteran groups greatly exceeds the nonveteran group. Both BLS surveys trend in the same direction. There are various reasons why the 18 to 24 year old group is high, including education, skill levels and the lack of work experience. These same issues would have affected the nonveteran’s unemployment.

Over the last several months, VetJobs has been gathering data on the unemployment rate in various National Guard brigades. For example, of the 700 members of the Tennessee National Guard brigade currently deployed to Afghanistan, 320 do not have a civilian job waiting for them when they return. The deployed Tennessee National Guard Brigade has an unemployment rate of 45.7%. The New York National Guard Brigade in Rochester recently returned from deployment with a 12% unemployment rate.

VetJobs works closely with many of the state National Guard units and unfortunately these unemployment rates are not exceptions. Many state National Guard units have unemployment rates exceeding 15%!

While there are many reasons for a high unemployment rate in the National Guard, a leading reason is the two year call up policy by the DOD, as verified by studies conductedby the Society of Human Resource Management, Business Law Review and Workforce Management Magazine. Their studies found independently of each other that upwards of 60% or more of employers in the United States will not now hire as a new employee an active member of the National Guard or Reserve. The result has been the high unemployment rate in the 18 to 24 year old veteran group and the 25 to 34 year old group.

It is not that employersdo not want to support members of the National Guard and Reserve. Please understand that nearly every company I know is very pro-military. Private industry understands the need for a strong military as the employers know that America needs a strong military to maintain and protect a viable free market economyand our federal republic.Employers truly understand that free enterprisehas to be protected in order to survive.

However, from the employer point of view, a company cannot go broke trying to support a member of the National Guard and Reserve. Companies cannot operate with employees being taken away for 12, 18 or 24 months. Key decision makers in DOD need to understand that companies have a fiduciary responsibility to their stock holders, or voters in the case of local and state governments, and must run efficient organizations in order to remain viable. Companies cannot do that when employees are taken away for 12 or more months and the companies are left with financial liabilities supporting the absent employee who is temporarily a non-productive member of the organization. Companies view the employee as an asset on loan to DOD, NOT a DOD asset on loan to the employer. This is basic common sense understood by anyone in business.

Due to the resistance by companies regarding the DOD two year call up policy VetJobs has seen a disturbing side issue. As DOD announces the call up of a state National Guard unit, companies will start laying-off employees who are members of the Reserve or National Guard. The reason is companies have learned that if they lay-off an employee under the guise of the recession before the employee has orders in hand, the company is can frequently circumvent USERRA. VetJobs has received reports of this activity nationwide from DOL veteran representatives, ESGR representatives and directly from the affected Guard and Reserve members.

The country cannot continue to call members of the National Guard and Reserve up to fight wars and then make it very difficult for those members to obtain employment in the civilian sector. DOD is making many of our National Guard and Reserve personnel third class citizens. That is not the right thing to do to our members of the National Guard and Reserve!

About the Author:

For the last 11 years, CAPT Ted Daywalt is the President of VetJobs (www.vetjobs.com), the leading military job board. He spent 28 years in the Navy (7 active/21 Reserve), holds a BS from Florida State University, an MA from the University of Southern California, and an MBA from the Goizueta Business School, Emory University. He can be reached at tdaywalt@vetjobs.com.

This article originally appeared in the December 2010 issue of Onrec Magazine and is reprinted with permission.

http://www.onrec.com/store/pages/15551/Decmag.pdf

People & Practices:
MISSION EMPLOYMENT
US PERSPECTIVE
By Paula Santonocito, US Features Editor

Even as companies become aware of the advantages of recruiting former members of the military, matching veterans to civilian job opportunities remains a challenge. Military recruiting programs require dedicated resources and outreach efforts that focus on transferable skills with attention to long-term career potential.

Strategic Approach

One company that has implemented a successful military recruiting program and reaped its benefits is Fort Worth, Texas-based BNSF Railway Company, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway that operates one of the largest North American rail networks.

With approximately 32,000 route miles in 28 states and two Canadian provinces, BNSF is among the world’s top transporters of intermodal traffic. The company serves more than 40
ports, moves more grain than any other American railroad, carries the components of many of the products used by consumers on a daily basis, and hauls enough low-sulfur coal to generate electricity to power one out of every 10 homes in the country.

BNSF, which currently has approximately 38,000 employees, offers a wide range of career opportunities—jobs in the trades, openings in field operations, positions in IT, and more. In order to attract military candidates to these jobs, the company focuses on first connecting with them. To facilitate the process, BNSF employs a recruiter dedicated exclusively to military hiring. BNSF also has specific resources dedicated to targeting veterans for its high-profile field-based operations management program known as the Experienced First Line Supervisor program (EFLS). Meanwhile, the company’s 23 field-based HR professionals augment management recruiting by focusing on hiring veterans for non-management positions in 28 states.

The company realizes that such an effort requires financial support and, accordingly, appropriates $600,000 for military recruitment. Approximately $200,000 of the total is spent on recruitment advertising aimed at military candidates, which equates to about 33 percent of the total staffing advertising budget.

In addition to outreach efforts through VetJobs, G.I. Jobs magazine, Military.com, CareerBuilder.com, Recruit Military, and Corporate Gray, BNSF spends thousands of dollars to reach service members without Internet access in deployed regions around the world. Long-running ads in Military Times and hometown newspapers, and on television and radio networks, share information about civilian career opportunities. Representatives from BNSF also share information live, attending between 50 and 80 job fairs each year.

On-Target Messaging

But establishing a reputation as a veteran friendly employer takes more than a presence at live events, in print, on TV and radio, and online. Messaging must resonate with the job-seeker audience.

With this in mind, BNSF taps into what each communication vehicle has to offer. For example, G.I. Jobs magazine features employee profiles and testimonials, along with print ads.

The company furthers its presence in the military community in other ways as well. On a weekly basis, BNSF communicates with more than 315 military contacts at Transition Assistance Program (TAP) centers, select Department of Labor (DOL) workforce centers, and National
Guard and Reserve Bureaus nationwide and abroad, providing details on available job opportunities and assistance with the application process for transitioning service members. In addition, BNSF has partnered with Guard and Reserve recruiters in each state in order to link veterans with opportunities.

The company also donates time and financial resources to support the USO Dallas/Fort Worth. Several times a year, volunteers participate in “Welcome Home” activities for service members on leave whose flights transit through Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.

Applicants and Employees

Support for veterans continues through the application process, and beyond. BNSF uses a veteran candidate designation code in the applicant tracking system (ATS). When candidates self identify with military experience, an icon (green heart) appears alongside their name, alerting HR professionals and hiring managers as to their veteran status.

BNSF currently employs approximately 7,000 military veterans and has hired more than 3,100 veterans since 2005.

Military veterans who become BNSF employees find a workplace community that recognizes their abilities. “Those who wear our nation’s uniforms are mission-focused, highly skilled, motivated, and possess unique experiences and technical knowledge,” says Matt Rose, chairman, president, and chief executive officer of BNSF Railway Company.

“Military candidates embody the core competencies of BNSF: leadership, teamwork, and the ability to perform safely in a fast-paced, dynamic environment.” BNSF is proud of its work and dedication in actively recruiting transitioning service members, and the company takes pride in employees who have part-time commitments as reservists.

The company offers enhanced and extended benefits for employees called to active duty, including make-whole pay and continued health care. In addition, BNSF goes above and beyond, offering 15 days of make-whole pay for annual training and drill duty. More than 100 BNSF employees currently serve on active duty in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Noble Eagle or Enduring Freedom. More than 1,700 BNSF employees have been activated since Sept. 11, 2001, with more than 1,240 in support of recent campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.
BNSF’s commitment to recruiting, hiring, and supporting military veterans earned the company the 2010 Onrec-RecruitingBlogs award for Best Military Recruiting Program.

About Veterans

Mention military recruitment and one individual immediately comes to mind: Ted Daywalt. Founder and president of VetJobs, a leading job board for military veterans established in 1999, Daywalt is a tireless advocate for transitioning members of the military. His efforts haven’t gone unnoticed by the military community, the federal government, the recruiting industry or the media. VetJobs has received awards and recognition from Workforce, WEDDLE’s, AIRS, CareerXroads, Reader’s Digest, and BusinessWeek.

In September, Daywalt received the 2010 Onrec-Recruiting Blogs Vet Advocate of the Year award.

Because VetJobs is an established resource for veterans, it would be easy for Daywalt to rest on the site’s reputation.

Nevertheless, because he is dedicated to providing the best possible information for those who have served their country, VetJobs continues to evolve.

After receiving many complaints from military veterans, military family members, and candidates about scam job sites, VetJobs conducted a massive study of all United States-based job boards in order to provide a resource that could be used with confidence. VetJobs’ findings, which have been divided among four lists, Niche Job Board Sites, Comprehensive Job Board Sites, State Job Board Sites, and Aggregator Job Board Sites, are available in the Employment Assistance section of the site. The lists are updated weekly.

The move is more than a little unorthodox; job boards generally do not want candidates going to other sites to look for a job. Yet, although VetJobs has been highly successful in helping transitioning military, veterans, and their family members find jobs, Daywalt recognizes that not everyone will find a job exclusively through VetJobs. Therefore, VetJobs made the decision to provide lists of job sites as a public service, with the objective of offering candidates additional assistance.

This kind of service is indicative of Daywalt’s commitment to military veterans.

Incidentally, the risky campaign has proved highly successful. Hundreds of Department of Labor representatives, career counselors, and representatives from military transition programs have called VetJobs, asking for permission to use the lists. But perhaps the most noteworthy indicator of success is traffic to the Employment Assistance section of VetJobs: It has increased by more than 4,000 percent.

Paula Santonocito
is a business journalist specializing in employment issues, including online recruitment, which she has covered since the early days of Web-based employment advertising and candidate sourcing. Paula is U.S. features editor of Online Recruitment Magazine; AIRS News editor; contributing editor to TalentManagement-Tech.com (TMT); career editor of Single-MindedWomen.com; and author of nearly 1,000 articles that are featured in many global and domestic publications and information outlets. She can be reached via her website:
www.paulasantonocito.com.

http://jobs.aol.com/articles/2010/11/22/hot-job-site-vet-jobs/

There are many specialty job boards available based on professional and industry niche. But did you know that there is a job board dedicated solely to former members of the military, and their spouses and children? AOL Jobs recently spoke to Ted Daywalt, founder of VetJobs, to learn more about this unique job board.

Q. What is VetJobs?

A. Founded in 1999, Veterans of Foreign Wars-sponsored VetJobs has grown to be the leading military-related job board on the Internet. The jobs database is available to anyone who visits the site, but to post a resume a candidate must have been in the military, married to or a child of the military, or an employee of the Department of Defense, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Public Health Service or the Merchant Marine. Since 1999 veterans worldwide have found quality jobs with the thousands of employers who use VetJobs to reach the veteran market. VetJobs is ideal for employers who seek candidates in information technology, program and project management, consulting, sales, linguists, logistics, transportation, human resources, insurance, construction, manufacturing, engineering, finance, health care, accounting, senior executives, overseas work and candidates with security clearances.

Q. How does VetJobs work?

A. VetJobs is a traditional job board. Candidates post resumes and apply directly to employers. There is no charge for veterans or their family members to use VetJobs. Employers pay a nominal fee to post jobs, search the resume database, sponsor newsletters or post banners. VetJobs provides tremendous support for candidates in the Employment Assistance section and has a leading career test that is free for veterans and their family members.

A major reason VetJobs works so well is the site is partially owned and sponsored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (VFW). VetJobs is also endorsed by many other veteran service organizations including the Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA), Veterans of Modern Warfare (VMW), Military Order of the Purple Heart (MOPH), Association of the United States Navy (AUSN), Hope4Heroes (H4H), United States Army Warrant Officers Association (USAWOA) and the Student Veterans of America (SVA).

Additionally, VetJobs is not limited to junior military officers or transitioning military. There are 21 million veterans in the United States, of which 11.6 million are currently in the work force. When you add their spouses and children, VetJobs is servicing an estimated 35 million person marketplace.

Q. What was the inspiration for VetJobs?

A. I got the idea for VetJobs when an Army sergeant major gave me a call in the spring of 1999. He had recently retired and had paid an outplacement firm $5,000 to help him find a job. The sergeant major was trying to get his money back, but could not. This incident led me to conduct extensive research on job and recruiting sites catering to the military market. The research indicated there was a gap in sites that assisted employers in identifying transitioning military and veteran candidates. In launching VetJobs, I wanted a site that assisted all ranks from E-1 to O-10, and assisted all elements associated with the military and their spouses and children. The initial site was launched on Nov. 11, 1999, Veterans Day.

Q. What’s your favorite feature on the site?

A. The Employment Assistance section is my favorite. Recognizing that not every person who uses VetJobs will find their perfect job on VetJobs, I want the candidates to be armed with the information they need to successfully find the type of job they seek. The Employment Assistance section provides a list of vetted job boards by discipline, state, comprehensive and aggregator sites. There are excellent articles written by experts on how to find jobs, conduct job searches, write resumes, pass interviews including the behavioral interview and how to manage difficult situations such as being laid off or handle a disability.

Q. Can you share a success story about someone who landed their job using VetJobs?

A. VetJobs has had thousands of success stories. A classic was a Navy spouse who got an executive job with a big box store. When her husband who had 21 years in the military learned what she was making, he retired to follow her!

A longtime member employer shared this story, “We hired our first VetJobs employee in 2003. He is still with us and loves his job. We love working with him and has become a valuable member of our team. Since then we have hired several more from VetJobs, each with their own special skills and talents. These folks present to our clients maturity, credibility and a work ethic we seldom see in the commercial world. They in turn receive respect for these qualities and their service to our country. We are pleased that we are able to provide a job where they can expand upon their military training and keep up with technology.”

Q. What’s on the horizon for VetJobs?

A. VetJobs will be adding many new features to assist both candidates and employers. VetJobs has embraced social networking with pages on LinkedIn and FaceBook. VetJobs will be adding new sections to the Employment Assistance section. And there is the possibility of starting military site allies of the United States.