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Get Skills to Work seeks to join major manufacturers
and educators to prepare and place veterans in long-term careers.
A message from John R. Campbell, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Warrior Care Policy
Recently, I was honored to regroup with the Get Skills to Work Military Advisory Council for our first in-person gathering since the initiative’s launch last year to discuss the progress made to date and identify how the organizations we represent can continue to collaborate. Our goal is simple: to train transitioning Service members for manufacturing jobs, and then match them to those jobs. But the solution is complex, and greatly influenced by the different dynamics of military and civilian culture. As wounded, ill or injured Service members are recovering and grappling with a “new normal” and new capabilities, many will reach a decision point in their military career: do I change my Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) or leave the service? The decision is hard, but the unknowns of the future can be much harder. How can the military resume of Infantryman or Medic translate to the current needs of labor market? And how do employers weigh the values a Service member brings from their military training – loyalty, honor, teamwork and adaptability – when screening resumes?
The investments made to date by this program have the potential to impact 15,000 Service members facing this critical decision! Check out GE’s blog to learn more about these three initiatives: Accelerated Skills Training at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College; a new digital badging system to match local manufacturing jobs to core military MOS skills; and the Institute for Veterans and Military Families at Syracuse University (IVMF) employers toolkit.
I am thrilled to be a part of this advisory council to help close the gap and redefine “MOS” for our nation’s Service members—through this initiative, we are working to make it mean Manufacturing Outside Service.
I also invite you to follow the program’s progress on the web, Facebook, and Twitter.