*Since the American Revolution, women have volunteered to serve in the military. Women make up 10% of today's veteran population, but they only represent 2% of all working women in America. Women Veterans are the minorities of both the veteran population and the working women population. They are also younger, more highly educated, more likely to be of minority status, and more likely to be in the civilian workforce than male veterans. As such, women veterans are more likely to be in the subpopulations that have higher unemployment rates, such as veterans currently enrolled in school, those under 35 years old, and those who served in Gulf War II. For example, in 2014, 11% of women veterans in the labor force between the ages of 18 and 54 were enrolled in school, as compared with 6% of male veterans in the same group. Overall, the unemployment rates for women veterans are trending down, and differences in the annual average unemployment rate for all women veterans and all women non-veterans was not statistically significant in 2013 or 2014 (6.9% vs. 6.8% and 6% vs. 5.9% respectively)
* Dr. Nancy Glowacki DOL VETS
Brittney Becker, served 6 years in the Air Force as a Supply Manger, and recently joined Verizon to recruit other veterans to the company stated "Women in the military are required to perform the same as men, and we pride ourselves on being able to accomplish the mission. We bring the same drive, commitment, mission focus to the civilian job sector, and I am proud to work with Verizon who respects our dedication, and capabilities. It is an honor to recruit all veterans to Verizon, but I am extremely proud to play a role in our efforts to hire women veterans through the Women Veterans Jobs Initiative"
There is no shortage of programs to recruit, hire, and retain veterans for civilian employment, but industry leaders such as Verizon have now turned their attention to Women Veterans specifically for the obvious skills, talent, education, training, and qualifications they add to the workforce.
In July, Veteran Recruiting teamed with Verizon to launch the Women Veterans Jobs Initiative (WVJI) to hire at least 20,000 women who have served in the U.S militar by 2018.
"At Verizon, we seek to find the best talent available for our open positions, and women who have served in the military have proven to be extremely valuable to our organization. Verizon is proud to support and lead the Women Veterans Jobs Initiative. Women Veterans account for 10% of our military population, are skilled, dedicated and bring strong attributes into the civilian workforce, and that is exactly what we seek in any new team member with Verizon. This is our way of showing our appreciation for their service, but more importantly, a great way to increase the level of talent needed to grow our business. We are thrilled to see so many other companies coming aboard to support the WVJI," said Evan Guzman, Head of Military Programs & Veteran Affairs, Verizon.
Veteran Recruiting has developed the WVJI website to make it easy for women veterans and recruiters to connect. Similar to the virtual career fairs VR hosts for the entire military community, VR will now host 4 virtual career fairs each year exclusively for women veterans, and all companies who wish to support the WVJI can post jobs on the site at no cost.
The first virtual career fair is set for August 18, and includes more than 50 industry leading companies such as; Accenture, Aetna, Amazon, Amtrak, Anthem, Apple, Aramark, Astra Zeneca, AT&T, BAE Systems, Cargill, CDW, Charles Schwab, Charter Communications, Comerica, Convergys, CSC, Cubic, Cummins, Cushman & Wakefield, Department of Energy, Department of Transportation, Department of Treasury, Discovery Communications, Eaton, Exelon, First Data, Graybar, IBM, Iron Mountain, J.P Morgan Chase & Co., Liberty Mutual, Monsanto, Oakwood, Penske, Pfizer, Republic Services, Salesforce.Com, TSA, Tyco, United Airlines, US Bank, Wal-Mart, Waste Management, Wegmans, Wells Fargo, Western & Southern Life, and Xerox
Women who are currently serving or who have served, and seeking civilian employment can register to attend at www.womenveterans.com