Cpl. Corey Speck spent almost a year in Afghanistan with the 48th Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the Georgia Army National Guard. For part of his deployment he served with a 14-man team embedded with the Afghan army in the country’s hottest battle zone. He earned a Bronze Star for valor for saving the life of a Polish soldier during one firefight.
“My first tour was a lot more than I asked for, but I’m glad I went,” Speck said. “It opened my mind to how other people live and changed me for the better.”
Two months after returning home in March, Speck began fighting another battle — one that many Americans know well — the battle to find employment. Before deployment, Speck owned a small household remodeling company.
“Times are hard,” he said. “People can’t get home equity loans. There’s no business right now.”
Speck is living on unemployment insurance and savings, applying to Georgia State to complete his education and looking for a sales or sales management job based on his Army leadership skills.
“I thought employers would be a little more open to interviewing veterans,” he said. “I’ll need to work while going to school, and you start to worry when you’re dipping into savings.”
Fortunately, Speck isn’t fighting the battle alone. The Georgia Department of Labor is helping.
“Last year, we provided employment services to more than 63,000 veterans. Of those 36,863 received intensive career development and job search services through our veteran-specific staff,” said Sam Cook, the Labor Department’s state veterans’ coordinator.
In 2006, the Labor Department, along with other state and federal military agencies established the Operation Welcome Home program to help veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq make a successful transition to civilian life. Transition centers at Fort Stewart and other military installations provide information about resources available to provide assistance to veterans in the areas of housing, psychological and medical care, education, finances, and employment. Disabled Veterans Outreach Program staff and local veterans employment representatives are located in Labor Department career centers to help veterans on a daily basis.
“Georgia has one of the largest veteran populations among the 50 states because many [soldiers] come back through Fort Stewart and decide to stay here,” state Labor Commissioner Mike Thurmond said. “This new generation of veterans is returning to a very challenging economic environment.
“Generally, when employment opportunities are more plentiful, companies tend to be very supportive of hiring veterans. They value their discipline, skills and their ‘get-the-job-done’ attitude. With so few job openings, veterans are facing the same challenges as the general population.”
Younger veterans are having a harder time finding work. The unemployment rate for 18- to 24-year-old male veterans was 21.9 percent in 2009, only slightly higher than male nonveterans of that age group, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report on the Status of Veterans’ Employment from April 15. The jobless rates for both groups have about doubled since 2007, reflecting the impact of the recession, Philip L. Rones, the bureau’s deputy commissioner, said in the report.
Younger veterans, who may have entered service out of high school or while in college, often have no work history other than the military, Thurmond said.
“Extended and multiple tours create interruptions in their normal career process. We have to help them learn to translate their formidable military skills to the civilian work force,” he said. “The most important thing we can do is to make sure that the men and women who have served their country have employment for themselves and their families when they return home. That’s patriotism.”
The Labor Department’s veteran’s representatives show military truck drivers how to use Workforce Investment Act grants to get training and their commercial driving licenses so that trucking companies can hire them.
“We can place a lot of [Navy] corpsman and medics in health care jobs or refer veterans with aviation or mechanical skills to technical programs where they can get the training and certifications they need to keep working in those fields,” Cook said.
Canute Edward Tinnie, a services specialist at the Labor Department’s Gwinnett Career Center, e-mails a list of the latest metro Atlanta job postings every morning to 3,031 veterans whom he is currently assisting.
“When someone gets a job, he e-mails me and I take him off the list,” Tinnie said. “But I’m adding new names daily. More come on the list than go off.”
His clients are all ages. Gerald Edwards, 50, recently came in after being laid off from his plastics manufacturing job. He’s using the center’s computers to update his resume and search for jobs.
“I’m willing to learn new skills, but I have a house and it would kill me [financially] to move right now,” he said. “Any help I can get is appreciated.”
Tinnie informs his clients about relevant job sites and veterans job fairs and expos. He encourages them to take advantage of the center’s workshops on resume writing, interviewing techniques and veterans networking, and he tells them how to locate veteran-friendly companies. He hands out a 51-page document on Gwinnett County resources and refers clients to other state agencies for help with education and training.
“I tell them their resume has to be customized for every job,” Tinnie said. “Recruiters and hiring managers don’t have time to play Sherlock Holmes. They need to see the pertinent information right up front.”
He sends out templates of resumes and cover letters to help job seekers tailor their documents to specific positions.
“I watch for Mr. Tinnie’s e-mails every day and follow up on the leads,” Speck said. “He’s doing a great job.”
To learn more about the state Labor Department’s veterans services, visit www.dol.state.ga.us/service_member.htm).
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