Jimmy Wilson felt prepared for the civilian job market when he left the Air Force after 18 years in June, thanks to computer experience he gained in the service and multiple degrees he earned. Since then, he's found his military background doesn't mean much when it comes to landing work in the civilian world.
"Most managers don't care," said the unemployed Smyrna father of four. "They just care about (civilian) work experience."
Wilson planned to be among about 1,000 veterans expected at a vets-only employment fair Thursday at the Georgia Dome. They were looking for work at a time when it's hard for everyone, but even harder for many former military personnel.
State unemployment in September rose to 10.3 percent, up from 10.2 percent in August and 10.2 percent a year ago, according to figures released Thursday bythe Georgia Department of Labor. That's the highest it's been since January. The national unemployment rate is 9.1 percent.
Bleak as those numbers are, they're better than new figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics which show an 11.7 percent nationwide unemployment rate for veterans like Wilson who left the service in the last decade. Veterans of earlier periods fare better, but still make up the majority of the nation's approximately 1 million out-of-work vets.
The high unemployment rate among veterans has prompted calls for action. President Barack Obama recently backed a proposed tax credit for companies hiring vets, saying, "The last thing they should have to do is fight for a job when they come home."
But fighting is what they are having to do, even though companies and politicians say hiring vets is the right thing to do, and even though vets get preference when it comes to federal and other government jobs.
"This is a fantastic niche to hire great employees from, but as a country we have to get together and help," said Drew Myers, founder of RecruitMilitary, an Ohio company that produces veterans-only job fairs around the country including the one at the Georgia Dome, titled, "Hiring Our Heroes." The firm is working with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
One company that will be there and on the lookout for veteran talent is National Distributing Co. of Atlanta, one of the nation's leading wholesale spirits and wine distributors. Frank Grames, regional director of operations, said veterans offer employers self-discipline and leadership skills that translate well into supervisory and managerial positions. They also do well in sales, he added.
Myers said 950 veterans and spouses had pre-registered for the Atlanta event. About 50 companies signed on to exhibit. "We should have hundreds of companies there," Myers said.
Why there won't be more businesses in attendance is attributed to many factors, including a down economy that has few workplaces adding jobs. But veterans and advocates say some of the other reasons for a fewer-than-expected number of recruiters are concerns that vets: lack transferable job skills gained during their military duty; have inadequate education; or won't be able to fit in to civilian corporate cultures.
Myers said that while more than one-half of vets don't have bachelor's degrees when they leave the service, many acquire them later.
The issue of matching skills gained in the service with those needed in the civilian workforce can be a thornier one. Sometimes, vets say, it's hard to convey that work they've done while in the military is comparable to what they would be asked to do on the job.
In some cases, the skills, "absolutely translate," said Rafael Bryan, who spent four years in the Marine Corps until 2005, but who hasn't found permanent full-time work in his field of public administration since he moved back to Atlanta from Arkansas in 2009.
"It's a different atmosphere," he said, "but knowing how to do the job is knowing how to do the job."
Rejection from potential employers has taken its toll on veterans like Brittney Walker who has been looking for work since leaving the Marines in July 2010. She's now studying biology at the University of West Georgia while trying to care for two children.
"I've been looking the whole time (for administrative or warehouse positions) but it's been a year and a half and I haven't been picked up," Walker, of Villa Rica said. "I should have stayed in the military."
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