Companies eager to hire returning veterans

Corporate America is on a veteran hiring binge.

With the war in Afghanistan winding down, thousands of veterans are returning home to an economy that is improving but by no means robust. That’s creating a unique challenge for those coming back from years in the service and trying to readjust to civilian life.

So far, many are finding jobs thanks to a climate that is — at least for now — vocally in support of giving veterans a helping hand.

The Obama administration, which launched a nationwide campaign called Joining Forces in 2011 to connect veterans to jobs, has made it a mission to nudge companies to hire former military personnel.

Corporations have heeded the call, seeing a chance to do good and burnish their do-gooder credentials at the same time.

Retail giant Wal- Mart Stores Inc. has committed to giving a job to any honorably discharged veteran in his or her first 12 months off active duty. Private equity firm Blackstone Group plans to bring aboard 50,000 veterans over the next five years. More than 2,000 businesses have partnered with Joining Forces.

“Right now hiring veterans is a popular thing to talk about,” said Hayes Roth, chief marketing officer of Landor Associates, a brand consulting firm. “There’s more than charity or being nice people. It can be a smart business move.”

Those efforts have helped recently returned veterans. The jobless rate for those who served since the Sept., 11, 2001, terrorist attacks dropped to 7.3 percent in May, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s below the national average and down from 12.7 percent in the same period a year earlier.

Experts say recent good news on the veteran job front can obscure the hard road ahead that young soldiers face. Many went into the service straight after high school and never went to college. And they are competing with civilian peers who have been steadily racking up years of job experience.

Somecompanies are helping veterans translate their military skills into the workplace.

Delivery behemoth United Parcel Service Inc. is giving potential truck drivers a hand by trying to speed up the licensing process for service members skilled in driving commercial vehicles, spokeswoman Kara Ross said. UPS this year committed to hiring 25,000 veterans over the next five years.

Many veterans also have to overcome stereotypes that soldiers return home with problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder, experts say. Some employers view them as potential liabilities.