By Jueseppi B.

First Lady Michelle Obama Announces New Hiring Commitments for Veterans and Military Spouses

Valerie Jarrett

Two years ago, President Obama announced a challenge to the private sector to hire or train 100,000 unemployed veterans or their spouses by the end of 2013.

Today, President Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Biden, and Dr. Jill Biden all participated in a Joining Forces Employment event at the White House.

Joining Forces to Provide Jobs for Military Families

Published on Apr 30, 2013

President Obama set a goal of asking the private sector to hire or train 100,000 veterans and military spouses by the end of 2013.

Today, the First Lady announced that America’s businesses nearly tripled the goal set by President Obama and did so eight months early. The private sector has already hired or trained 290,000 veterans and military spouses.

The First Lady also announced that American companies have committed to hire or train another 435,000 veterans and military spouses over the next five years.

For example:

• BNSF Railroad committed to hire 5,000 veterans and military spouses in the next five years.
• UPS committed to hire 25,000 in the next five years.
• Home Depot committed to hire 55,000 in the next five years.
• McDonald’s committed to hire 100,000 in the next three years.
• Walmart committed to hiring any veteran that served honorably the year after they separate from the service.
• Deloitte will double its veteran hiring over the next three years.
• USAA pledged that 30% of its new hires will be a veteran or military spouse.
• The Blackstone Group challenged each of the 50,000 managers at its affiliated businesses to hire at least one veteran.
• AT&T committed to creating an online military talent exchange.
• The International Franchising Association has helped more than 4,300 veterans own their own business since 2011.
• The U.S Chamber of Commerce just held its 400th hiring fair since last March for veterans.

The First Lady also shared the stories of veterans who have successfully transitioned into second careers. For example, she shared the story of Staff Sergeant Shaun Murphy, an Army veteran who taught sixth grade special education in Delaware for Teach for America. Today, he leads TFA’s efforts to hire more veterans as teachers.  He said, “When you hang up those fatigues and put those boots away, you don’t want to feel like you’ve given up your sense of service.”

And Chryssy Johnson, who is an Army wife and mother. Her family moved around frequently because of her husband’s service, making it hard to keep a job. But USAA gave her an opportunity, and she is now senior financial foundations specialist pursuing her MBA.

With the Iraq war over and the war in Afghanistan drawing to a close, more than one million service members are projected to leave the military in the next several years and transition to civilian life.

Good civilian jobs not only help our veterans and military spouses manage this transition smoothly, but also demonstrate that our nation truly honors their service.

Even with all the wonderful announcements today, it is clear we have more work to do. We still need every business that has not yet joined this effort to make a commitment to hire or train our veterans and military spouses. Together, let’s work to serve our military families as well as they have served us.

Businesses Must Hire More Vets

Michelle Obama and Jill Biden
April 30, 2013
10:09 AM EDT

Two years ago, we launched Joining Forces, a nationwide campaign to rally all Americans to support our veterans and military families. We did this for two simple reasons: because we were both awed by the courage and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform who risk their lives every day to protect our values and keep us safe. We were also awed by their families, the spouses and children who serve right along with them, enduring deployment after deployment with grace and resolve.

As we traveled the country visiting bases and military communities, everywhere we went, we heard from veterans who had years of training and experience in the military — leading dozens, even hundreds of their peers; operating some of the most advanced technology; and solving complex problems under the most extreme conditions imaginable. But when they returned home, they struggled to find decent jobs. We met military spouses who’d spent decades moving from base to base every couple of years and struggled to maintain their careers. As the months passed, we saw that the unemployment rate for our most recent veterans remained far too high above the national average.

These men and women are some of the highest-skilled, best-trained, hardest-working people in this country. They are medics and engineers, drivers and welders, computer technicians and machinists. They are eager to work and determined to keep on serving this country. All they need is a chance.

But the challenge of giving them that chance is only becoming more urgent. In the coming years, more than a million servicemembers will be hanging up their uniforms and transitioning to civilian life. That’s on top of the hundreds of thousands of veterans and military spouses already out there looking for work.

That’s why, back in August of 2011, President Obama challenged the private sector to hire or train 100,000 veterans and military spouses by the end of 2013. And over the past two years, businesses across America have answered that call. By last August, they had already filled 125,000 jobs, with commitments to hire 250,000 more. And today, we are proud to announce that America’s businesses have hired or trained 290,000 veterans and military spouses, almost triple the original goal. In addition, companies like Wal-Mart, UPS, Home Depot, the Blackstone Group, Target, and McDonald’s have committed to hire or train another 435,000 veterans and military spouses over the next five years.

So we’re making real progress. We’re encouraged that the unemployment rate for post-9/11 veterans dropped by 2.2 percent in 2012. But it is still too high; because as long as any veteran or military spouse who needs a job is unable to find one, then we still have work to do.

That’s why, in his budget, President Obama proposed a permanent extension of the tax credits he signed into law for businesses that hire unemployed veterans and wounded warriors. We’ve also been working with governors and state legislators to revamp state laws to give our troops credit for the skills they’ve learned in the military when they apply for professional licenses and credentials here at home. In addition, we’ve created new partnerships between the armed forces and the manufacturing and information technology industries to ensure that our service members are trained for good jobs.

But ultimately, it’s up to our companies to actually hire veterans for these jobs. So today, we need business leaders across this country to ask themselves, “What can my company do for these men and women who have served our country so bravely?” If you own a small business, can you commit to hiring a few veterans — or even just one? If you own a larger company, can you hire a few hundred — or a few thousand? Can you retrain the veterans already in your workforce so they can grow within your company? Can you team up with other businesses to hire the veterans in your communities?

This is an all-hands-on-deck issue, and we cannot rest until every single veteran and military spouse who is searching for a job has found one. These men and women have sacrificed so much for all of us. Now is the time for all of us to come together to serve them as well as they have served this country.

Ed note: This op-ed by First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden was first published on Fortune.com. You can see the original article here.

First Lady Michelle Obama Announces a New Program to Help Transitioning Servicemembers Get IT Jobs

Colleen Curtis

First Lady Michelle Obama delivers remarks at the White House Forum on Military Credentialing and Licensing, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building South Court Auditorium, April 29, 2013. The First Lady announces the IT Training and Certification Partnership, a new public-private partnership that will enable thousands of service members to earn industry-recognized information technology (IT) certifications before they transition from military service. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

In the ongoing effort to help our servicemembers and veterans transition from active duty service to the civilian job market, the White House today invited leaders from the private sector, the military services, industry trade associations, unions, educational institutions, state legislatures, veteran service organizations, and state licensing boards for a forum on military credentialing and licensing.

At the event, First Lady Michelle Obama announced the launch of the IT Training and Certification Partnership, a new public-private program that addresses an issue that can prevent our troops from gaining employment in the private sector: Active military personnel typically do not have the industry-recognized certifications that reflect the IT skills and expertise they gained through their military service.

Today’s announcement is the second major partnership developed through the Military Credentialing and Licensing Task Force, which was established last June by the Department of Defense at President Obama’s direction. The new Partnership will provide opportunities for up to 161,000 service members to gain industry-recognized, nationally portable certifications necessary for 12 high-demand technology professions, including computer programmers, quality assurance engineers, and IT security analysts. The targeted professions are expected to generate more than 1.8 million job opportunities by 2020, and have an average annual salary of more than $81,000. Their high-quality military training assures that our veterans have the skill sets that employers demand to fill these positions.

In her remarks, Mrs. Obama praised the leaders who created the Partnership, saying  their efforts will “make the world of difference to hundreds of thousands of veterans and military families across this country.”

The First Lady also explained that hiring exiting servicemen and women isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s also a smart business decision:

[Our veterans] do everything. They are medics and engineers, they’re drivers, welders… And they are eminently qualified to do the very jobs that employers across this country are desperate to fill.

But too often, because of red tape, or outdated rules, or simple lack of coordination, our men and women in uniform come home only to find that the training and experience they’ve gotten during their time in uniform simply doesn’t count.  Or they discover that the credits that they’ve earned in military courses don’t actually transfer when they enroll in college, so they’re turned away from jobs that they’re more than qualified to do. Or they wind up paying to do the same coursework over again, and all that training, all that education, all that expertise that they have devoted their lives to attain, it all goes to waste.

And this is unfair to the men and women who have served this country so bravely. They deserve a fair shot at a good job when they come home. But it’s also unfair to their families who have sacrificed probably more in some instances so that these men and women can do their job. And they deserve some financial security once they return to civilian life.

It is also unfair to this country, because when we don’t take advantage of the skills and talents of our veterans and military spouses, jobs go unfilled and, far worse, human potential goes untapped. And that’s bad for our economy, as we all know.

Today’s event also featured four roundtables where plans were discussed to launch additional public-private initiatives that will streamline the ability of service members and veterans to earn the civilian certifications and licenses required for high-demand jobs in emergency medical services, healthcare, and transportation sectors as well as streamline the ability for service members and veterans to translate military experience into academic credit.

Learn more about the Obama Administration’s efforts to help our exiting servicemen and women transition to the civilian workforce through Joining Forces.

Read the Fact Sheet about the IT Certification and Training Partnership

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