Employers would hire veterans for Rhode Island jobs
Posted on December 1, 2012
Almost two-thirds of employers polled in a recent survey said they would hire qualified veterans over equally qualified candidates for Rhode Island jobs, among other locations.
This is all according to a new Careerbuilder survey.
Many employers are making military hiring a part of their everyday sourcing strategy.
Furthermore, 29 percent of employers say they are actively recruiting veterans to work for their organizations, up 9 percentage points from a year ago. Twenty-two percent are planning on adding members of the National Guard to their headcount, up 8 percentage points. Sixty-five percent said they would be more likely to hire a veteran over another equally qualified candidate.
CareerBuilder and Military Times are joining forces at www.MilitaryTimes.com/jobs to help veterans access the tools and information they need to connect them with the employers who most want to hire them. The Military Times Network, which includes ArmyTimes.com, AirForceTimes.com, NavyTimes.com and MarineCorpsTimes.com, in addition to MilitaryTimes.com, is visited by more than 2.5 million unique visitors each month, and offers unique content for each of the branches of the U.S. military online, and in print.
The unemployment rate for veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq, though declining, is still considerably higher than the general population, said Brent Rasmussen, president of CareerBuilder North America. While military veterans possess a great deal of the business-friendly skills that employers look for in candidates, one of the challenges vets face is knowing where to begin when job hunting after they return from active duty.
Todays military is a well-educated, professional, all-volunteer force, said Elaine Howard, president of Gannett Government Media Corp., publisher of the Military Times brands. So when troops join the civilian workforce, they bring with them skills, discipline and unmatched drive. But navigating the job search and translating military skills into civilian terms has always been a challenge. In partnering with CareerBuilder, troops and veterans now have a better way to make the critical transition from military to civilian success.
Employers are looking to leverage the technical and leadership skills of military personnel, with 3 in 10 hoping to fill information technology positions with veterans. The most common areas for hiring U.S. service men and women are:
· Information Technology 30 percent
· Customer Service 23 percent
· Engineering 22 percent
· Sales 20 percent
· Manufacturing 20 percent
· Business Development 15 percent
