One of the most significant barriers for veterans trying to get a job is translating their military experience to working in the civilian world, something former President George W. Bush wants to change.
“Say a person applies to a job, and on the form there it says ‘skill set’ and he says ‘sniper,’ ” Bush told a Washington audience on Wednesday. “Likely the vice president of human relations is going to say ‘we don’t need one this year.’ Had that person put on the application form that ‘I’ve had a lot of experience dealing with pressure, that I’m a team player, I’m loyal to a cause greater than self, I understand how to follow instructions, I’m a responsible citizen.’ That vice president more likely would say ‘that’s the kind of person we want working for us.’ ”
When a resume says “United States military,” he said, “to me it says you can count on the applicant to be loyal, disciplined, a team player and a proven leader.” And Bush wants employers to realize that, too.
“Hiring vets is more than a moral imperative, it is good for the bottom line.”
Speaking at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Hiring Our Heroes summit Wednesday, the 43rd president announced the launch of the Veteran Employment Transition Road Map, which veterans can download for free. It breaks down the job search into three “clear” phases, designed to help veterans navigate and succeed in the civilian workforce.
The service is the result of a partnership between the Chamber’s Hiring Our Heroes program and the George W. Bush Institute, part of the George W. Bush Presidential Center, opened in April 2013 in Dallas, Texas, which also includes the Bush Presidential Library and Museum.
The institute’s Military Service Initiative focuses on serving the needs of veterans. According to the initiative’s website, its mission is to “honor the service and sacrifice of post-9/11 veterans and military families by improving their well-being and unleashing their potential.” It is headed by retired Army Col. Miguel Howe and Lt. Col. Matthew Amidon of the Marine Corps.
Over the next five years, Bush explained, 1 million service members will leave the military and return to civilian life. “The question is: Can we help them in a meaningful way? They face challenges really different from the battlefield. Some feel misunderstood or under-appreciated — too many desperately so. They struggle to find the right kind of help for their specific situation. And at a rate even higher than that of the rest of the country, post-9/11 vets have difficulty finding meaningful careers.”
In a partnership with Syracuse University’s Institute for Veterans and Military Families, the Bush Institute conducted studies on post-9/11 vets. They found that 84 percent of veterans believe the American public has “little awareness” of the challenges facing them and their families — and 71 percent of the American public feels the same way.
He said more than 45,000 not-for-profit organizations in the United States have a mission at least partly related to serving veterans, but that it can be overwhelming for newly returned veterans looking for help. And while these organizations have good intentions, some deliver better results than others.
To address this disparity, Bush said the Bush Center has taken up a project to measure the effectiveness of these nonprofits, studying data, conducting case studies on the most effective organizations and releasing tool kits that organizations and funders can use in an effort to “match good intentions with good results.”
Bush cited former Army Sgt. Kyle White, a Medal of Honor recipient for his heroics in Afghanistan in 2007. After taking advantage of the G.I. Bill to earn a degree in finance at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, White has since become a product specialist with Merrill Lynch, the wealth management division of Bank of America, and uses “his bag of skills that he learned in the military.”
Bush said he met White in Dallas to discuss the challenges of transitioning into the civilian workforce. White had mentioned he had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress.
PTS is “mislabeled as a disorder,” said Bush, and the stigma is hurting veterans’ chances of securing jobs. “Most doctors will tell you that post-traumatic stress is not a disorder, it’s an injury … it’s treatable.” He discussed how many people are not aware of the treatment options available and how veterans are reluctant to seek out help.
The Bush Center works with programs to address challenges caused by PTSD, starting an effort to “drop the D.” The goal is to show employers that veterans receiving treatment for PTS are not “damaged goods” or “mentally shattered” and that they are merely being treated for an injury, not unlike a broken leg.
“Employers would not hesitate hiring a talented employee getting treatment for high blood pressure, or recovering from a broken arm,” Bush said. “They should not hesitate to hire a vet being treated for PTS.”
“Our goal is to eliminate the invisible wounds of war as barriers to employment and empower our vets to realize their full potential — and therefore empower our country.”
