Hiring Our Heroes events are part of a nationwide initiative by the U.S. Chamber to increase the hiring of veterans. The initiative will help Corporate America respond to a challenge issued on August 5, 2011, by President Barack Obama. Speaking at the Washington Navy Yard, the President challenged businesses to hire or train 100,000 unemployed veterans or their spouses by the end of 2013.
On March 24, 2011, the U.S. Chamber had already launched “Business Steps Up: Hiring Our Heroes,” a year-long effort to help veterans and their spouses find employment by means of veteran hiring events. The U.S. Chamber scheduled more than 100 Hiring Our Heroes events across the nation through March 2012.
RecruitMilitary and the Chamber expect more than 40 employers, franchisors, educational institutions, and government agencies to reserve exhibitor booths at the Expo in New Orleans. Already signed up are The Home Depot, Wal-Mart/Sam’
To maximize the number of employers participating in this event as well as the job opportunities for veterans and military spouses, RecruitMilitary is offering companies that are members of the U.S. Chamber and local chambers a 10% discount on the cost of their exhibition booths. RecruitMilitary will offer further price reductions for small businesses (businesses that have less than 50 employees), and even lower rates for veteran-owned small businesses.
“This is an especially great year to hire veterans – new tax credits for doing so apply throughout the year,” said Larry Slagel, Senior Vice President of Sales at RecruitMilitary and a former Captain in the United States Marine Corps. “The credits are available via the Vow to Hire Heroes Act of 2011 (http://www.doleta.gov/
The Vow to Hire Heroes Act also established a new target group of unemployed veterans. This group is similar to a group defined in the Recovery Act of 2009, which has expired. One major difference is that, under the Recovery Act, a veteran had to have left the service within 5 years of the hiring date to quality. The Vow to Hire Heroes Act imposes no such limit.
“That is outstanding news for employers,” said Slagel. “Employers can now get credit for hiring highly skilled veterans who have many years of civilian work experience. Veterans like that are heavily represented at our Expos and in our database of job candidates at www.recruitmilitary.com. We have more than 485,000 men and women with military backgrounds in the database, and we add roughly 300 per day.”
RecruitMilitary will produce the New Orleans Expo in cooperation with The American Legion (http://www.legion.org), an association of veterans who served during times of war. The Legion has 2.4 million members in nearly 14,000 posts throughout the world. Congress chartered the association in 1919. The national commander is Fang A. Wong of East Brunswick, New Jersey. Wong retired from the United States Army as a chief warrant officer in 1989. The Commander of the Department of Louisiana is Larry A. Abshire, who was a machinist mate in the United States Navy.
RecruitMilitary has scheduled more than 50 additional events for 2012. Those events will take place in Atlanta (February 9, June 28, October 25), Baltimore (May 24, September 27), Boston (April 12, September 6), Charlotte (June 7, November 15), Chicago (April 5, October 11), Cincinnati (May 31, September 20), Colorado Springs (July 12), Columbus (August 23), Dallas (March 1, July 19, November 15), Denver (April 19, September 13), Houston (April 5, August 9, December 6), Jacksonville (June 14, November 1), Kansas City (October 11), Las Vegas (November 29), Los Angeles (June 21, October 4), Louisville (March 29), Miami (August 23), Minneapolis (August 2), Mobile (May 10), New York (April 26, September 13), Oakland (May 3, November 29), Philadelphia (March 29, July 26, November 1), Phoenix (March 22, October 18), Pittsburgh (October 18), Raleigh (March 8), Richmond (August 16), Saint Louis (July 12), San Antonio (February 16, September 13), San Diego (March 15, September 6, December 13), Seattle/Tacoma (June 7, November 8), Shreveport (September 27), Tampa (October 4), Virginia Beach (May 17, November 8), and Washington (February 23, June 28).
RecruitMilitary has produced Opportunity Expos since 2006. The company also offers subscriptions to its database of registered candidates, retained hiring services, and advertising space in online and print media. RecruitMilitary distributes more than 36,000 copies of each issue of Search & Employ, a bimonthly print magazine, to over 220 military bases throughout the world, National Guard and reserve units, and job seekers who attend RecruitMilitary Opportunity Expos. In November 2011, RecruitMilitary received the First Annual Lee Anderson Small Business Veteran and Military Spouse Employment Award from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber recognized RecruitMilitary as a specific business that has “gone above and beyond to honor the sacrifices our military families make in their service to our nation.”
The U.S. Chamber (http://www.uschamber.com) is the world’s largest business federation, representing the interests of more than 3 million businesses of all sizes, sectors, and regions, as well as state and local chambers and industry associations. The Chamber’s mission is “to advance human progress through an economic, political, and social system based on individual freedom, incentive, initiative, opportunity, and responsibility.”
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