It’s an understatement to say that Army veteran BR McDonald is multi-talented.
McDonald always dreamed of becoming a musician or an actor, but after the terror attacks on September 11, he decided to enlist in the military.
Growing up, McDonald’s parents were missionaries in Taiwan, so he was fluent in Mandarin Chinese. Perhaps because of this, the Army assigned McDonald (who graduated from the University of North Carolina in 2001 with degrees in vocal performance and religious studies) the task of learning Arabic. Graduating from the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif., at the top of his class, McDonald served as a linguist with the Joint Special Operations Command.
McDonald tells the Christian Science Monitor, “There are a lot of people in the intelligence community with a creative background. It’s the same side of the brain. Music is just another language. So when I heard something I could repeat it.”
In 2008, he felt a call to reengage with the art world and was determined to bring fellow vets along with him. So the following year, he founded the Veteran Artist Program (VAP). Its goal? To support veterans who wanted to start careers in the arts.
VAP sponsors events such as art shows, theater productions and writing workshops across the country. It also teaches veterans how to make a living as artists by connecting them to mentors, opportunities and grants. For example, in 2011 through Operation: Oliver, volunteers with VAP and other organizations cleared almost 60 tons of garbage from a low-income neighborhood in Baltimore and painted a bright, kid-friendly mural.
“A lot of people only see art as a means of therapy for veterans. That’s not what VAP is about, although we do work with art as healing,” McDonald says. “People have to understand that these are artists who happen to be veterans. The two are not mutually exclusive.”
MORE: Meet the Photographer Who Captures Veterans’ Emotions About Returning to the Civilian World
Tag: jobs for vets
For Companies Unsure About How to Find the Right Vets to Hire, a New Website Has the Answers
Most employers have a pretty good idea about how to find recent college graduates to hire: running an internship program or visiting university job fairs are two great ways. But when businesses want to hire veterans — to gain good employees and to do their part to lower the veteran unemployment rate — some of them don’t know where to begin. But that’s about to change.
Recently, the website Employer Roadmap launched to help answer employers’ questions about hiring vets and their spouses and to connect veterans with businesses looking for specific skills.
The website, a joint project of Hiring Our Heroes and USAA, went live during a Veterans Jobs Summit at North Carolina’s Fort Bragg. Kathryn Dill of Forbes spoke to Eric Eversole, the executive director of Hiring Our Heroes and the vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce about what Employer Roadmap aims to accomplish: “There’s really no one-size-fits-all approach to helping companies recruit, hire, and retain veteran talent,” Eversole said. “This allows businesses to self-asses, and then we can deliver more customizable solutions.”
Part of the website’s mission is to educate employers on such matters like why hiring veterans’ spouses can still be a good idea — despite the fact that they often have gaps in their resumes brought on by frequent moves. Employer Roadmap also includes resources about how to recruit and train veterans and encourages employers to get to know the veterans already working for them and ask for their assistance in recruiting more service members.
While some larger companies are able to launch their own initiatives to train and hire veterans (think: Microsoft, Tesla, and General Motors), smaller companies might not have the resources to set up such a program. And that’s where Employer Roadmap comes in.
Army veteran Geoff Grant, USAA program director, told Dill, “Small to medium sized businesses say, ‘I don’t have this huge HR budget, what do I do to hire one or two vets? Where do I find them?’ That’s where the best practices tool is really key.”
Of the estimated 1.5 million veterans that are expected to join the civilian workforce in the next five years, we’re sure that many of them will find employment, thanks to Employer Roadmap.
MORE: Instead of Letting Veterans Struggle Post Service, GM Trains Them For Dealership Employment
Who Does This Food Truck Want to Help Out? U.S. Vets
As it turns out, a little BBQ can cure more than just an empty stomach.
That’s exactly what wounded veteran Shane Farlin found out when trying to get back on his feet after leaving the Army. And now, he’s hoping to do the same for other soldiers with a food truck named Hogzilla.
Farlin had always wanted to be a soldier. Enlisting in the Army at the age of 17, he was later deployed to Iraq. In 2004, when returning from a supply mission in Fallujah, a bomb exploded in his face. A helicopter airlifted Farlin to treatment, saving his life, but the accident cost him one of his eyes. The injury also resulted in PTSD, and Farlin was discharged from the Army, leaving him with the need to find a new career.
He floundered for a while, spending four years interviewing for various jobs. To say that he was dispirited was an understatement — he was so low that once, he called the military suicide line.
Finally, Sonny Singh, the owner of a Michigan barbecue restaurant, Hogzilla, offered Farlin a job. The position made all the difference — lifting Farlin’s spirits and making him feel like a useful person again.
Now Farlin wants to provide jobs to other vets struggling to find work by opening up a food truck called Hogzilla Squeals on Wheels, with the hope of eventually expanding to an entire fleet of veteran-staffed food trucks (serving various types of cuisine). “I know vets make good employees,” Farlin told Kathy Jennings of Southwest Michigan’s Second Wave.
While food trucks are swarming cities from coast to coast, the trend hasn’t caught on yet in southwest Michigan’s Calhoun County, where Farlin’s vehicle would be the first full-service food truck in operation. Farlin is currently trying to raise the $50,000 he needs to get Hogzilla on the road through a Kickstarter page. So far he’s raised about $4,500.
Until Farlin’s food truck dreams are realized, he’ll continue to work in a vending trailer owned by the restaurant, forging agreements with private property owners to set up his trailer, as Battle Creek, Michigan does not yet allow food trucks on public property.
With any luck, Farlin will soon be serving up deep-fried macaroni and barbecue sandwiches and employing his fellow veterans.
MORE: This Program is Transforming Unemployed Veterans Into In-Demand Chefs
The World’s Most Difficult Job and 4 Other Videos That Inspired Us This Month
You can not take any breaks, you are constantly on your feet and during the holidays your workload doubles. Watch an interview for the world’s most difficult job and four other videos that inspired us this month
Meet the Business Owner Who Gives Vets The Skills They Need to Start Their Own Businesses
Starting a company takes courage, energy, and determination — all qualities that many servicemen and women display on a daily basis.
John Panaccione served as an 82nd Airborne paratrooper and then started a software company, LogicBay, in Wilmington, North Carolina. He’s convinced that other vets have what it takes to start their own businesses. Through VetToCEO, the nonprofit he co-founded, he’s showing them just how to do it.
VetToCEO enrolls former servicemen and women in an eight-to-10-week program that groups them with other vets who are at different stages along the road to launching their businesses. Together, they learn to craft a business plan, find potential investors, deliver presentations, connect with mentors, and potentially find a business partner that also happens to be a fellow vet. The organization also offers the in-person and online classes to reach more participants, and the course is free to all vets, funded by donations and corporate grants.
“Statistically, there are thousands of veterans all over that have an interest in entrepreneurship — and many of them are outside the U.S.,” Panaccione told Ben Brown of Port City Daily. Veterans and service members stationed as far away as Kuwait are participating in the program.
Brown spoke to one of VetToCEO’s successful graduates, army veteran Joel Damin, who started his own restaurant and pub in Sanford, North Carolina. Damin said that the skills he learned in the military immediately transferred to his busy career as a restaurateur. “You’re always reacting, you’re always adapting, and you can’t just throw your hands up and go, ‘I don’t know, this isn’t what I wanted to do,’ and just stomp your feet. You can’t do that, because there are lives on the line and you have to complete the mission.”
Now that there are just tasty dinners on the line instead of lives, Damin is thriving.
MORE: Giving Homeless Vets A Helping Hand–And a New Uniform
Does Military Jargon Prevent Vets From Landing Jobs?
MP. XO. AIT. This list could go on and on.
Military communications are often full of “alphabet soup” — choked with so many acronyms that it’s virtually impossible for someone who hasn’t served in one of the branches of service to understand what’s being said. In San Diego, the unemployment rate among veterans stands at a disappointing 10 percent, and representatives of Easter Seals Southern California wonder if part of the problem has to do with vets failing to translate the military jargon on their resumes into concepts that potential employers understand.
Amita Sharma of KBPS interviewed John Funk, the director of military and veterans services for Easter Seals Southern California, about their WorkFirst Military & Family program to help vets find a good job in part by learning civilian-speak. He said, “The military speaks a different and unique language, full of acronyms. Part of the challenge with the transition of veterans is to get them to speak that language so that people can understand it.” On their resumes, vets should include “not just the direct job that they may have had while they were in the military, but they can also translate the soft skills that were associated with that — how they’re very goal-oriented, their leadership, their teamwork capability, their results-oriented approach to getting the job done.”
Funk says that Easter Seals also works with employers, advising them, “Don’t hire a veteran just because he’s a veteran. Hire a veteran because he has these great strong attributes he can bring to your organization.”
Every veteran who enters the WorkFirst Military & Family Program meets individually with Easter Seals volunteer and employees, who help them to define career goals and job-related skills. Then, vets receive assistance crafting a story about their work experience and their goals for the future using language that an employer will understand — both on their resumes and in job interviews. From there, job-seeking veterans are connected with employers.
For Tim Crisp, a Marine Corps veteran working with Funk, the help has been invaluable. He told Sharma, “John [Funk] gives me that customized experience, working with me to narrow down my focus to help me be more goal-oriented toward doing something that’s going to really fit for me…as a mentor and a coach, his experience helping others…has been very helpful.”
MORE: This Non-Profit Helps Paralyzed Vets Find Meaningful Jobs
When This Marine Couldn’t Find a Job, He Started a Business to Help Other Returning Vets
When Josh Laine returned from Iraq in 2007, a wounded and decorated Marine veteran, he had trouble finding a job. So he decided to employ himself — and other soldiers returning from the Middle East. Together with a fellow former Marine, he founded Lavish Laines Winery, a business that initially operated out of an old bus. Why winemaking? Laine wanted to create an opportunity for vets to do manual labor and spend time outdoors, two things he felt could help former servicemembers recover physically and psychologically in the aftermath of war. And being in northern California, a winery seemed apropos. Laine studied the wine industry at nearby Las Positas College and learned the ropes from Bay Area vintners.
As word of his enterprise spread and more returning veterans started coming to Laine for guidance in establishing their post-military careers, he founded the nonprofit Vets & Vines Foundation, which trains veterans in viticulture and helps them find jobs in the industry. In 2009, Lavish Laines became Valor Winery, and now employs veterans in all aspects of its business, from cultivating grapevines to bottling and labeling, then marketing and distributing the finished product.