Barlow:

Marcum:

Our approach is that all service members have a disability – namely, they’ve been gone for 20 years, in service. So they’ve missed certain education, getting the right contacts. A disadvantage, if you will.

This is the reason why we spend so much time on transition between inside the fence and out. It’s not just the resume and individual skills, it’s a culture. We tell veterans, don’t underestimate the right cultural fit – you’ve been living in the same culture for, say, 27 years – and you don’t think about asking about culture when you’re looking at a job because we often don’t know what corporate culture is. You need to ask first about the culture, and if it’s not a good fit for you, that matters. Another part of the transition is that you may not be going into a 20-year job, you may be going into a two-year job. It’s easier for millennials to understand that. There’s a huge generational difference between veterans – older veterans aren’t as tech-savvy as millennials, and they may also think: What’s my next career? We may have to help them see they don’t need to be looking for that.

In the service, your job is to take orders. It’s a very radical mind shift from that to where if you’re not happy in a job, you tell the boss that in two weeks you’re hanging up the company hat and finding something else.

Semsel: Q: Are there more jobs than veterans, or vice versa?

Barlow:

More jobs than veterans – it’s just such a great market now.

Q: What about entrepreneurship for this cohort?

Barlow:

Depends on the person. I think millennials have more of the entrepreneurial spirit – they sense that now you can choose different tracks – the job track, the entrepreneur track, create my own business.

There’s such a strong research and development capacity here around Wright-Patterson that you don’t see at many other bases, and we see people with unique skill sets who would fit into that entrepreneurial skill set. I think that’s a regional advantage we should capitalize on.

That’s why we’re working so hard through veteran networks to find some who did not grow up in Ohio, and talk to them about the great opportunities in our region and get them to move here. We have a lot of opportunities, and veterans are extremely employable. There’s also the workforce gap we see in manufacturing, logistics and the supply chain – you know veterans are going to walk in drug-free, in the right clothing, on time and safe. Many employers in our region are interviewing hundreds of people to find somebody who can pass a drug test. I guarantee, the veteran you talk to on the phone will be drug-free. At our job center, we’re looking for ways to reach out and attract them here.

Semsel: Barlow: