Oceanside CA– Adding an additional component to its WorkFirst Military and Veterans Services, Easter Seals Southern California will be working with the California State Council of the Society for Human Resource Management (CalSHRM) and the San Diego SHRM chapter, as part of a pilot program to ensure that HR professionals as well as military veterans and family members receive the training necessary to dramatically increase veteran employment across U.S. industries.
“This program provides Easter Seals WorkFirst with a golden opportunity to communicate directly with critical members of the employment process about the many transferrable skill sets our clients possess that will benefit a civilian employer,” said John Funk, director of operations, Easter Seals Southern California WorkFirst Military and Veterans Service. “The achievement of meaningful employments for veterans should markedly increase when HR leaders are partners in the process of transitioning veterans and their family members into the civilian workforce.”
Easter Seals and the San Diego SHRM chapter will work together to enact pledges made by senior leaders and officials across the country to hire more veterans and military family members.
HR managers and hiring supervisors will be trained in specific tasks such as how to read military resumes, including correlations between skills and education or in-field expertise, and how to set up mentorship programs and flexible scheduling for veterans. HR managers will also be introduced to networking and referral organizations with strong reach into the veteran community.
“We believe that partnership between SHRM and Easter Seals has the potential to dramatically change the employment picture for veterans,” said J. Robert (Bob) Carr, senior vice president of membership, marketing and external affairs at SHRM. “We serve hundreds of thousands of HR professionals who are eager to fill their skill needs from the veteran talent pool. By linking HR professionals with veterans and the organizations serving them at the community level, we can more successfully connect veterans with jobs.”
The partnership with SHRM comes at a time when veterans and their family members are having tremendous difficulty finding jobs. Veterans between the ages of 18 and 24 have an unemployment rate of 20.4 percent in 2012, approximately three times the national average. The unemployment rate for military spouses is even worse at 26 percent.
About Easter Seals Southern California
Through employment services, education, autism therapy, independent living and social skills support, Easter Seals creates life-changing solutions for over 8,000 clients each day at 61 sites across Southern California so they can successfully live, learn, work and play in their communities. Learn more at www.EasterSeals.com/SouthernCal and www.workfirst.us.