Veteran Will Skydive into Paul Brown Stadium for Vets Job Fair on May 31, GE to Mentor Job Seekers

May 30, 2012 - PRLog -- Cincinnati, OH – The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the military-to-civilian recruitment firm RecruitMilitary, and General Electric have added two features to a hiring event for military veterans scheduled for Paul Brown Stadium, home of the Cincinnati Bengals, on Thursday, May 31. Dana Bowman, a veteran, double amputee, and motivational speaker, will skydive into the stadium and speak at the event; and General Electric will offer mentoring sessions focused on resume building, resume writing, and interview techniques.

Bowman was a special Forces Soldier and a member of the United States Army’s elite parachute team, the Golden Knights. He retired as a sergeant first class.

General Electric will conduct a mentoring session from 9:30 until 10:30. Registration for that session is already closed, but about 20 GE counselors will be available for mentoring throughout the event, which will run from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m.

The event, a Hiring Our Heroes/RecruitMilitary Veteran Opportunity Expo, will be part of a nationwide initiative to increase the hiring of veterans by producing special career fair hiring events. RecruitMilitary is inviting veterans who already have civilian work experience, men and women who are transitioning from active duty to civilian life, members of the National Guard and reserves, military spouses, and other military family members.

Hiring Our Heroes events are part of a nationwide initiative launched by the U.S. Chamber in March 2011 to increase the hiring of veterans and military spouses. In the first 11 months of the initiative, Hiring Our Heroes hosted more than 100 events in 45 states and the District of Columbia. The Chamber plans 400 events in 2012.
   
Union Institute and University will sponsor the expo in Cincinnati. RecruitMilitary and the Chamber expect more than 80 employers, franchisors, educational institutions, and government agencies to reserve exhibitor booths. Already signed up are Union Institute and University, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), The Prudential Insurance Company of America, Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber, Siemens, Verizon Communications, Amazon, Call of Duty Endowment, Citigroup, Reynolds and Reynolds, Coca-Cola Refreshments, The Home Depot Logistics and Supply, The Home Depot, The Kroger Company, General Electric, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the National Veterans Employment Program (NVEP) of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, DeVry University, Grand Canyon University, Wal-Mart/Sam’s Club, PlaneTechs, Performance Toyota, Louisville Police Department, Cincinnati VA Medical Center, Cincinnati Police Department, Time Warner Cable, Independent Electrical Contractors, Napier Truck Driver Training Inc., Adecco, The Bistro Group, Mercy Health Partners, University of Cincinnati Carl H. Lindner College of Business, McSwain Manufacturing Corporation, Integrity Express Logistics LLC, Jasper Contractors Inc., Cincinnati Incorporated, National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB), Flexicom, Pinnacle Entertainment, Total Quality Logistics Inc., Sallie Mae, Boyd Brothers Trucking, United Road, Humana, Nash Finch Company, CinCom, Roadmaster Driving School of Ohio, InSphere Insurance Solutions, Aflac, Thomas and King Inc., Convergys, Elite Welding Academy, WellPoint, Meridian Bioscience Inc., Walgreens Medicare Part B, Michelman Inc., Intelligrated, Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, Meijer, David J. Joseph Company, Fidelity Investments, Parkway Products Inc., American Modern Insurance Group, Western-Southern Life, State Farm, Central Fabricators Inc., the Air Force Reserve, Legal Shield, University of Cincinnati, Farmers Insurance, Strayer University, Lincoln College of Technology, Brown Mackie College, Kaplan University, and Daymar College.  

RecruitMilitary’s Outbound Sales Group (OSG) will also have a booth at the event. The company is hiring account executives (AE’s), who will work by telephone at company headquarters in Loveland, Ohio, selling a variety of RecruitMilitary products and services – including booths at expos throughout the United States. Keith Johnson, Director of the OSG and a veteran of the United States Navy, will be on hand to talk with job seekers about the company’s extensive database of sales prospects, its state-of-the-art high-speed contact system, and its compensation incentives for AE’s.  

“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 (www.doleta.gov/business/incentives/opptax/), which President Obama signed into law on November 21, 2011. The credits range from $2,400 to $9,600, depending on whether the veteran has a disability and how long he or she has been unemployed.”

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 qualify. The Vow to Hire Heroes Act imposes no such limit.

RecruitMilitary will produce the expo in Cincinnati 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 Ohio is Robert Klostermeier.

RecruitMilitary has produced Opportunity Expos since 2006. The company also offers subscriptions (search licenses) to its database of more than 500,000 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 Hiring Our Heroes/RecruitMilitary Veteran 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.”

In February 2012, RecruitMilitary received the first annual One More Way Award from The Sierra Group Foundation. The foundation established the award to recognize people or companies whose support results in awareness and job opportunities for people with disabilities. The Sierra Group Foundation (http://www.thesierragroup.com/foundation.htm) is a non-profit organization whose mission is “to drive up employment for people with disabilities, including veterans.”

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.” More than 96% of U.S. Chamber members are small businesses with 100 employees or less. The Chamber’s strategic partners in its Hiring Our Heroes initiative include the Department of Labor’s Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (VETS; www.dol.gov/vets) and Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR; www.esgr.org).