Mercy College event seeks ways to help returning veterans find jobs
After serving four years in the U.S. Navy, Ricardo Martinez was hoping he would have a "competitive edge."
But the 27-year-old Yonkers resident is growing frustrated that his military service, a nearly completed college degree
, three internship s and fluency in five languages hasn't translated into any job offers.
"It's frustrating that you're doing everything exactly to the T," Martinez said of getting a job in law enforcement. "You keep hearing they're hiring veterans, but you're just not seeing it."
His angst isn't uncommon.
In addition to facing the traditional post-combat stress and other challenges, veterans are having a much harder time getting jobs in the aftermath of the Great Recession.
Nearly 22 percent of New Yorkers ages 18 to 29 who served — including about 300 from Westchester and Rockland counties who recently returned from Iraq and Afghanistan — are out of work, according to the state Labor Department's figures.
That's more than double the national unemployment rate.
Easing the transition and finding veterans jobs was part of a roundtable discussion Tuesday at Mercy College that included federal, state and local leaders, education, advocacy and business groups as well as veterans.
The key, many said, was informing veterans of available services, creating benefits for businesses and aligning vets' skills with jobs in demand .
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand — a New York Democrat who earlier this month was appointed to the Senate Armed Services Committee — said the country has a "moral responsibility" to provide good jobs and real opportunities.
Despite passage of a "historic GI Bill" in 2007, Gillibrand said, the country has "to do better."
"These are young men and women who have sacrificed for our country and given their lives," she said. "So what we want to make sure is that when they come home the least they can do is find jobs and provide for their families."
Because too many young veterans lack college degrees, it's important to communicate the benefits of the GI Bill and its related opportunities, said Andy Person, a former Naval officer who directs a student achievement program at Mercy College.
"What we're talking about is how do we employ someone with a high school diploma. We're no longer in that world," Person said. "If I had a magic wand, I'd want to get every veteran into college."
Bart Bochenski, who served two tours in Iraq during 13 years in the U.S. Marines and U.S. Army, wasn't concerned with post-traumatic stress disorder or reacclimating into society.
His primary fear was getting a job, so he's studying corporate homeland security at Mercy.
"Certainly, you learn very technical aspects of the job. It requires tremendous knowledge to be able to operate such machinery ," he said. "However, finding a way to translate these skills as a civilian would be a great benefit."
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