Hiring Together Roundup: Highlights from the Digital Hiring Event with Amazon and other Veteran Employers

Our Veterans Experience Live (VetXL) events are popular and packed with lots of helpful information.

With over 570,000 impressions for our June 16 "Hiring Together" event. The event featured representatives from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Amazon, ACP, Blue Star Families, USAA, Walgreens, & Walmart. Participants from these organizations answered employment-related questions submitted by military spouses, transitioning military, and veteran audiences.

To make it easy for you to follow up on all the helpful advice, we highlighted some of the resources and tips offered by partners during the live event:

Attend a virtual hiring event -
As we social distance to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus, learn about job opportunities through virtual hiring events. Amazon’s representative said the company currently has 40,000 openings around the country of interest to veterans, transitioning service members or military spouses. Roles are in human resources, maintenance, operations and program management. Find Amazon careers at amazonmilitarywebinarseries.splashthat.com. Other entities offering virtual career events include Hiring Our Heroes (https://rly.pt/HOHvirtualevents), Recruit Military and DAV (https://rly.pt/RecruitMilitary) and VA Careers (https://rly.pt/VACareers).

Be a HERO -
If you’re interested in advancing your education while working in a career in retail, James Wood, vice president of Federal Programs at Walgreens, suggested exploring the company’s Helping Veterans with Educational and Retail Opportunities (HERO) program. This initiative puts transitioning service members and veterans on the path to store management while providing tuition discounts as you work toward your bachelor’s degree. Find more information here: https://rly.pt/WalgreensHERO

COL Brynt Parmeter, Senior Director Military Programs at Walmart also shared a range of roles to fill. "The roles range from our heroes on the front line stores, clubs, and the supply chain to operations, technology, business, human resource, and many other roles throughout the company." You can learn more about these programs here: https://rly.pt/WalmartCareers

Find a mentor -
Looking to expand your private-sector know-how, beef up your resume, explore career opportunities, network and do much more? Consider a mentorship with a representative from top-tier companies such as Amazon, Disney, Hearst, IBM, MetLife, Raytheon and UPS. American Corporate Partners (ACP) is a nonprofit that links post-9/11 veterans, and active-duty and eligible military spouses, with corporate professionals for free, year-long mentorships. ACP says that last year, 2,000 veterans found a job with the help of an ACP mentor. Since 2008, more than 17,000 service members and veterans completed mentorships.
Apply at https://rly.pt/ACPmentoring.

Locate hot jobs and trending career paths-
MSG Darren Sherrard, associate director of VA recruitment marketing, said during the Q&A that VA seeks qualified candidates for many different careers (https://rly.pt/VAcareers):

 VA has immediate openings for housekeeping positions (https://rly.pt/VAsupportservices), many of which give preference to veteran and/or military spouse applicants.
 VA’s intermediate care technician program (https://rly.pt/VAintermediatecare) is designed to hire former military corpsmen and medics into positions at VA medical centers.
 VA also seeks health care providers, such as doctors, mental health providers and nurses; health care technology management professionals; information technology specialists; and law enforcement workers

VA careers also come with great benefits, including comprehensive health insurance, paid vacation and unlimited accumulated sick leave, and a generous federal retirement plan. These VA blogs offer more advice on applying for VA Careers:

 “Six tips for acing your VA cover letter” https://rly.pt/VAntageCoverLetter
 “Five things to include on your nursing resume to VA” https://rly.pt/VAntagenursingresume
 “Recruiters share how they can help expedite your application” https://rly.pt/VAntageapplication

Learn how to write a competitive federal resume-
TSgt Renetta Bradford, manager of VA’s Veteran/Military Spouse Employment Program, added that “in the federal government, your resume is your application” and “a general resume will not make the cut.” She said you can contact her directly at [login to see] for assistance. You can also get resume-writing help from VA for Vets by clicking on Training and Resources. (https://rly.pt/VAforVets)

Look into relocation and remote opportunities-
If the right job opportunity isn’t available where you live, the Amazon representative said veterans can consider remote and work-from-home opportunities or even relocating to where the jobs are. View Amazon job openings here: https://rly.pt/Amazon

Some VA Careers also come with relocation assistance. Also check out the GI Jobs article, “Top 25 hot jobs for veterans 2020,” to assess the most military- and veteran-friendly career paths and see where there are job openings (https://rly.pt/GIjobs).

What else?
Q&A partners also fielded inquiries about these additional topics:

 How to exercise your rights under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act: https://rly.pt/DOLemploymentrights
 How to file for unemployment: https://rly.pt/DOLunemployment
 How to find resources to support caregivers of veterans: https://rly.pt/VAntageCaregiving

Check out the full session, “Hiring Together Live Q&A with VA and Partners Now Hiring Veterans and Spouses" here: https://rly.pt/HiringTogether