From left: Senator Jeanne Shaheen; Will Baas, vice president of talent acquisition for Comcast’s Northeast Division, and General Mark Milley discussing Comcast’s support of ESGR/Employer Support of the Guard Reserve as part of the company’s commitment to hire 10,000 veterans by the end of 2017. Courtesy of Comcast.
It’s not the weights they carry on their backs, the austere living conditions, the long hours or encounters with victims of war-torn countries or natural disasters that make military life a difficult adjustment. For those who thrive in a regimented environment, the return to civilian life can be the most disorienting.
“Coming back is hard,” says Ana McKenna, a care coordinator with the NH National Guard. “You miss the camaraderie.” McKenna is a major in the U.S. Army Reserves returning from an 11-month deployment in Kuwait.
McKenna’s job is to support those members of the NH National Guard struggling to find employment or keep a roof over their heads. She adds some service members think their military skills don’t correlate with those for noncombatant jobs.
But that’s far from the case, says Will Baas, vice president of talent acquisition for Comcast’s northeast division and a 26-year veteran of the U.S. Navy Reserve. He says Comcast and hundreds of other companies employ veterans because veterans know how to assume heavy responsibilities, and often at earlier ages.
“We have college grads driving ships, running missile batteries or commanding infantry platoons,” he says. “On the enlisted side, you’re responsible for millions of dollars of equipment, lives and safety. That’s experience as a leader that a civilian wouldn’t have.”
Helping With Transitions
Nationally, as many as 360,000 men and women leave the military each year. And plenty of companies are eager to hire them.
Yet despite the best intentions, vets don’t always find their post-military careers fulfilling. More than half of all vets leave that first civilian job within two years, according to a 2014 VetAdvisor and Syracuse University survey.
Yet engaging veterans isn’t a mystery. Like many employees, they want an employer who will invest in their future and listen to them. The same study found that veterans were more likely to stay at jobs when employers provided opportunities for development and advancement and ways to address common concerns and interests.
The Veterans Jobs Mission recommends that corporations establish veteran employee resource groups (ERGs) to ease the transition from soldier to civilian. Baas says that at Comcast’s Manchester and Hudson locations, ERGs are major hubs for networking, socializing and mentoring. During Comcast’s national days of service, ERG members volunteer at VA hospitals, clean up veterans’ cemeteries and assemble care packages for overseas troops.
At NH Employment Security, Bruce Ramos oversees outreach programs for vets from Vietnam and the Middle East. About five years ago, younger vets with little or no previous civilian experience peppered his office. Today, with unemployment at a low 2.5 percent, these vets likely have jobs, although many say they’re earning below their potential. Half of Ramos’ 40 or so clients are at least in their 50s. They were laid off during the recession, took “anything to survive, and now want to get back to what they were making,” he says.
“Vets don’t like to ask for help,” says Ramos, “and the Vietnam vets even more so. They feel the system failed them and are leery of organizations like the VA.”
Mike Pacheco is an employment specialist with the Employer Support of the Guard & Reserve (ESGR), a Department of Defense agency. These days, he’s not as busy helping vets find jobs but is instead meeting with their employers to educate them on the sacrifices reservists make for their country and to resolve any misunderstandings that may arise, particularly when members are gone for long stretches.
ESGR finds ways to recognize companies that support members of the Guard and Reserve, who as Pacheco puts it, “go above and beyond” such as offering differential pay, additional time off prior to weekend drills and health insurance during long absences. Recently Brian Hughes, CEO of Holy Rosary Credit Union in Rochester, received the Patriot Award and Marian Noronha, the founder of Turbocam in Barrington, had the chance to fly on an aerial refueling tanker from Pease Air Force Base. Pacheco says the “Boss Lift” is an incentive program that gives employers a first-hand look at what their citizen-soldiers experience during active duty.
Unfurling the Welcome Mat
Large defense contractors in NH such as BAE, Northrop Grumman and Elbit Systems, as well as small one like Port Electronics, an electronics components distributor in Salem, unfurl the welcome mat for those who want to trade their military uniforms for business attire. In the government sector, police departments, correctional facilities and security firms are also a seamless fit for veterans. Service members also have a foot in the door with companies requiring security clearances, which almost every defense contractor does. And that’s a bright note for salaries, as jobs requiring clearance pay at least 5 percent more than jobs without, according to the Human Resource Association of the National Capital Area.
At BAE Systems, veterans comprise 16.4 percent of the national workforce. “A lot of companies talk about what they do,” says Alan Kenneally, BAE’s Warrior Integration Program (WIP) manager in Nashua. “But BAE has been standing up for veterans for years.”
Kenneally, who served two tours in Iraq (the second ended after eight months when he was wounded), is quick to dispel the myth of difficult adjustments. Most veterans respond well to instruction, he says, and are highly motivated. The biggest issue is that “one day they have 60 friends in the platoon and now their 60 best buddies are halfway around the world.”
WIP is a three-year rotational program at BAE designed to integrate post 9/11 service members wounded during their military tours. The idea is to retrain them for new careers in supply chain management, quality assurance, engineering support or other managerial positions. To recruit candidates for WIP, Kenneally visits military hospitals, job fairs, veteran organizations at colleges, as well as networking support groups like the Darby Project for Army Ranger veterans.
It was through the latter that Kenneally met Steve Brown, who was a gunner and K9 handler with the 75th Ranger Regiment between 2009 and 2014. After an honorable discharge, Brown advanced quickly through WIP, beginning in facilities and later as a supply chain planner.
Brown is now a project manager in Technology Solutions. He came to BAE with an associate degree in criminal justice. In only three years, he completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business management from Rivier University in Nashua. “Brown is very driven,” says Kenneally. “You have to be to be a Ranger.”
Justin Rajotte is another WIP graduate. After a tour in Iraq in 2006 driving an armored tank and operating a 240B machine gun, Rajotte spent almost five years in Germany as a squad leader, acting platoon sergeant and a family readiness liaison while he underwent several back surgeries.
BAE WIP graduates Steve Brown, left, and Justin Rajotte. Courtesy photos.
After he retired for medical reasons, he attended Southern NH University and earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology with a concentration in addictions. During his senior year, he learned about BAE’s program for wounded, ill or injured combat vets. He applied, and in February 2015 was hired, where he took on a role as a supply chain planner supporting the business area of the Joint Strike Fighter. His second and third rotations were as a procurement analyst and now a buyer/planner.
Among companies with more than $1 billion in revenue, Comcast and BAE rank in the top 10 of military-friendly companies, according to GI Jobs Magazine. Other national companies with a presence in NH—Hilton and Amazon—consistently make the list.
To score in the top 10, companies must go above and beyond to recruit and retain veterans. For example, Comcast offers up to 15 paid days a year for U.S. Army Reserve training, and both BAE and Comcast offer benefits like differential pay when called to active duty.
When Jen Hagwood worked for a startup in Boston, the company found her former life as battalion training officer in Army intelligence, “interesting.” But Comcast was the first company “that looked at my military experience and saw that as a plus,” she says.
Hagwood is a project manager in Manchester charged with helping Comcast NBC Universal meet its commitment of hiring 10,000 reservists, veterans and their spouses or domestic partners between 2015 and 2017, in partnership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s “Hiring Our Heroes” initiative. In NH, Comcast employs around 2,000 people, with veterans comprising 10 percent of the workforce. Hargood says she wants to inch that up to 12 percent by the end of the year.
Lately, Hargood is training military spouses to work from home as customer service representatives, a job that fits the lifestyle of families that move from base to base.
Many Comcast jobs also require going into people’s homes. Veterans and their spouses “come from respected institutions,” says Baas. “They pass background checks, bring a sense of professionalism to the engagement that they picked up in military and work well with our team-based culture.”
The Long Road to New Career Paths
Eddy Travis of Wilmot drives an SUV with a veteran’s license plate. He parks it almost every morning in the campus lot at Southern NH University, walks to class and then works out at the gym or swims laps in the pool. Sometimes he stops by the DeColfmacker Veterans Lounge to sip a dark roast brew, edit a paper or strike up a conversation with a colleague.
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Eddy Travis, currently a student at Southern NH University, left, and during his time in the Navy. Courtesy photo.
Travis is 48 and expects to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in hospitality management in 2019. Although he hasn’t worn a uniform since 1992 when he was a cook in the Navy during the Gulf War in Kuwait, his experiences in the Navy contributed to setbacks in his civilian life. He suffered sexual trauma in the military, abused alcohol and binged on food until he was 120 pounds overweight.
For the last 25 years, Travis worked as a chef at various hotels and country clubs, but because of his PTSD, he struggled with the cacophony in kitchens as dishes made their way to dining patrons. “I wasn’t able to excel because of flashbacks,” he says.
“I’m not embarrassed about my experiences,” says Travis, because “I’m a survivor and part of my recovery is helping others.” He says he’s been sober for 15 years and hopes to start a PTSD support group for veterans at Southern NH University. He also attends therapy at a VA vocational rehabilitation program in White River Junction, VT and participates in other recovery groups.
Because of his disability, the VA pays for his schooling along with a monthly stipend. After graduation, he expects to work as a chef instructor or a food service manager with a university cafeteria.
With veteran unemployment rates the lowest they’ve been in a decade, Travis’ goals are within reach. But that doesn’t mean all veterans easily transition to civilian jobs, particularly if they have high levels of education and experience.
Matthew LaCoe of Nashua, left, joined the army after graduating college. That was in 2001. It was a lifetime commitment, he says, but 16 years later, the army had other plans. As a result of a troop drawdown, he was selected for early retirement from his post as a U.S. Army Signal and Electronic Warfare Officer in Missouri.
“I had great technical skills with 54 months of combat and an additional 12 months in Korea,” says LaCoe, but his job hunt was an uphill battle. His security clearance gave him a leg up, yet confidentiality concerns also hindered how much he could reveal about his accomplishments.
After a lengthy search, he joined a management consultant firm in Massachusetts this summer that services the defense industry. He prefers not to name his employer.
One of his biggest adjustments? The slower pace. People in the military don’t hesitate, he says. They commit quickly to decisions. In the civilian sector, “everybody is concerned with how everybody feels as opposed to whether or not they can do the job,” he says. “It’s odd to me,” he jokes, while admitting he’s still adapting to the culture.
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