Koby Langley, who directed veteran, wounded warrior, and military family engagement for the White House before overseeing services to the armed forces for the American Red Cross, stands before photos of his family members during his Got Your 6 Storytellers talk.
“The majority of the men and women that serve in uniform come from military families,” he says, gesturing to a black and white portrait of Felix Powel of the U.S. Navy Pacific Fleet in the 1950s, a picture of Dr. Kimberlyn Brown of the U.S. Army Medical Corps from the War in Afghanistan, and another of Langley himself, who served in Iraq. “That spirit of service that we give to our sons and daughters is critically important as we think about our national security needs in the future.”
In his talk, Langley describes how the same spirit of service that compelled every one of his family members to sign up for every major United States conflict since World War I remains upon the return home. “It shouldn’t be any surprise that communities are looking for us,” he says. “They want us to leverage the leadership skills that we learned overseas here in our communities at home.”
He zooms in on stories of specific veterans who put their leadership into action, mentioning initiatives like Hiring Our Heroes and Team Rubicon. Langley also speaks of Chris Marvin, founder and managing director of Got Your 6. “Chris flew helicopters. In Afghanistan, his Black Hawk crashed. He was stuck in the rubble, close to death. He suffered surgery after surgery after surgery when he came home,” Langley says.
One of the first things Marvin said to Langley when they first met was how he really wished people would stop thanking him for his service. “Don’t thank us for our service,” Langley explains. “When we come home, say ‘Welcome home. We still need you. Are you ready to serve again?’”
Tag: Hiring Our Heroes
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