Want hard-working, fast-learning and globally aware employees? Hire veterans, advises the Jefferson County Workforce Center.
Dave Alred and Del Atencio, Veteran Employment staff members at the center, presented information about hiring veterans to member businesses of the Golden Chamber of Commerce during a luncheon, Thursday, Sept. 18.
“Hiring veterans is not just good will, it’s good business,” Atencio told the crowd.
Veterans are valuable employees because of the intangible skill sets they acquire while serving, including the ability to work effectively in teams — often with people from diverse backgrounds totally unlike their own.
“In the military you rely on your colleagues, better known as your buddies, for your life,” Atencio said.
These characteristics combine into an “intangible package.”
“These intangibles are expensive and difficult to teach,” Atencio said.
Atencio is the veterans employment liaison for businesses to help them identify where veterans can fit into their organizations.
Alred works on the other half of the veteran employment puzzle — getting vets back into the job market.
Of the 3,000 veterans registered in Jefferson, Clear Creek and Gilpin counties, Alred said the majority are from the Vietnam era and are in their 40s, 50s and 60s. Many were formerly incarcerated before coming to the Workforce Center.
“Some employers are going to give you a second chance and some aren’t going to touch you with a 10-foot pole,” Alred said he tells veterans about their employment potential.
So far, Alred has not seen large numbers of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan come through the doors of the center.
“In many ways, my job is just being a referral agent,” Alred said. He often puts veterans in contact with the appropriate people if they need help with substance abuse or signing up for benefits through the Veterans Administration.
Sometimes all the assistance a veteran might need is help putting together a resumé or finding out where he or she can go for more job training opportunities. Alred then works with each veteran individually to develop an employment plan for landing a job.
Alred expressed his concern that programs for veterans are often vulnerable to budget cuts from Congress.
“We have to be vigilant and say ‘these men and women deserve the best we can give them,’” Alred said.
Alred is a disabled veteran who spent 20 years in the Air Force. He said the most fulfilling cases he’s worked on were helping homeless veterans find stability in their lives and making sure a veteran he suspected of suffering from post traumatic stress disorder got the psychological counseling he needed.
“It’s the most rewarding job I’ve ever had and the most demanding,” Alred said. “Only vets can understand what a vet goes through. And I’m there for them,” he said.
Need to Know
You can contact the veterans’ employment services through the Jefferson County Workforce Center, www.jeffcoworkforce.org or 303-271-4700. Veterans programs are run through the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment and have offices in cities around the state. Visit www.coworkforce.com to find an office location and other veterans’ employment resources.