For California Veterans

Two press releases and some website visits produced the following information to help California military veterans find careers in construction ...

Helmets to Hardhats (www.helmetstohardhats.org), a new program of the Building and Construction Trades Department (www.sbctc.org), has come to California. The new program seeks to recruit members of the military for building and construction trades apprenticeship programs around the nation. Nearly 300,000 veterans leave the military each year and many of them have already worked in some aspect of building and construction crafts.

The new program will inform new veterans and building trades locals of the opportunity to recruit new union members for the trades. More than 60 percent of those leaving the military are married and have excellent training provided through the service. Matching their job skills and needs with the requirements of the diverse crafts in the building trades is a major goal of Helmets to Hardhats.

Some 77 veterans have been recruited from all services as potential candidates for apprenticeship programs. Six have already been placed in United Association programs in Bakersfield, Los Angeles and San Diego.

Helmets to Hardhats is a national program that connects National Guard, Reserve and transitioning active-duty military members with quality career training and employment opportunities within the construction industry. The program is administered by the Center for Military Recruitment, Assessment, and Veterans Employment and headquartered in Washington, D.C. Direction for management of the center comes from a board of trustees comprised of equal numbers of employer and labor trustees.

The Helmets to Hardhats program connects former military personnel with career opportunities from the nationwide building and construction trades. Candidates can access information about careers and apprenticeships via the Internet from anywhere in the world.

The California National Guard recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Armed Forces Support Foundation Hire A Hero program. Hire A Hero is a non-profit community of people who work together to help military personnel, veterans and their spouses network into quality jobs.

"Nationally, recently discharged young veterans are almost three times more unemployed than their civilian counterparts who chose not to serve. We are calling it the "Military Service Penalty" and with the help of the National Guard we can eliminate it," stated Dan Caulfield, Hire A Hero, executive director. "We help the Military Community help itself by enabling the necessary networking that is required to find meaningful employment."

The National Guard is the local military and it is connected throughout the community. By leveraging their existing local network and augmenting it with the powerful web 2.0 online networking tools, the National Guard can create an employment safety net for the military community with military-friendly employers who are eager to interview and hire service members as they continue to serve in the Guard or when they return home after their military obligation is complete.

Most Americans want to support our troops but do not know how. Hire A Hero offers a way to help by acting as local network volunteers. Hire A Hero connects recently discharged veterans, Guard members and their spouses to local networking resources, events and of course military-friendly employers.

Caulfield added, "It is important to us that our Guard members are provided with quality civilian employment opportunities. We have partnered with Hire A Hero to help make sure that our members and their families are taken care of. Men and women of today's Armed Forces possess impressive credentials. Their skills are diverse and numerous. The skills, values and trainability of these men and women make them adaptable, flexible and valued employees. Many business leaders must have recognized the value of such employees. The problem is that few know how to tap into the immense pool of former military men and women in a consistent and effective manner. Hire A Hero is the solution."

There are over 20,000 National Guard members in California. Hire A Hero provides specific training courses to the California National Guard leadership, so they can use the program and make it most effective in their state. www.hireahero.com.