As of October 2011, 850,000 U.S. veterans were unemployed. The jobless rate for post-9/11 vets hit 12.1 percent. With an estimated one million service members scheduled to leave the military between 2011 and 2016, it was high time for President Obama to find new ways to help vets find civilian jobs. In addition to launching a government resource on WhiteHouse.gov, Obama teamed up with LinkedIn and Google to offer additional resources for veterans.
LinkedIn now tags job postings that might be best for veterans, and Google offers additional tools for the building the military veteran community online.
Yesterday, LinkedIn launched a veterans microsite that includes tips, tools and information to help vets find job opportunities. LinkedIn also offers suggestions on ways for veterans to connect with one another using LinkedIn groups U.S. Veteran and U.S. Military Veterans Network.
Today, Google launched Google for Veterans and Families, which was created by veterans who work at Google, and their families. Here, vets will find VetConnect, a tool to help vets find each other on Google+, the Google Veterans YouTube Channel, a video-focused space for connecting vets and Resume Builder powered by Google Docs. Soon, Google will launch Tour Builder powered by Google Earth, which offers a map-based way for vets to share stories about their service. While the new Google services are more focused on community than jobs, there are definite benefits to connecting with others who have shared a similar experience.
Google already joined forces with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to create a customized job search engine for veterans. It identifies veteran-focused job openings on the web using JobPosting markup from Schema.org.
Image via US Army Africa.
