The Palm Coast Business Assistance Center and the Flagler County Chamber of Commerce are partnering to implement a new “Hire a Hero‟ program to encourage local businesses to employ local veterans and to guide new applicants through the intricate hiring process.
“With the unemployment rate for young veterans being a staggering 20 percent, our own government leaders and local business organizations want to take action and make a difference in the lives of our local hometown heroes,” says Joe Roy, area Manager for the Palm Coast Business Assistance Center. “The Center for Business Excellence, SCORE and officials from Flagler County, Flagler Beach and Bunnell are pulling together all of their resources to commit to this essential new initiative.”
Local veterans who have been honorably discharged, who live in Flagler County and are eligible to work may contact the One Stop Employment Center at (386) 323-7011 or the Flagler County Chamber of Commerce at (386) 437-0106. Once registered, SCORE and the Palm Coast Business Assistance Center will assist with creating resumes and practicing interviewing skills. Preference will be given to unemployed veterans, although all veterans are eligible for this program.business
Flagler County businesses are urged to review their employee needs and commit to filling a vacancy with a hometown veteran. Tax credits may also be available to those who hire a veteran as well as grants from the Center for Business Excellence. Acting to employ a local veteran may boost the economy and honor the men and women who served the nation.
For more information about the “Hire a Hero‟ program, contact Joe Roy at the Business Assistance Center at (386) 986-2499 or Doug Baxter at the Chamber at (386) 437-0106.
Devrie says
The One Stop Employment Center, SCORE and the like, do the same thing for non veterans. Anyone can get help with resume writing and interview skills. Classes are offered between Flagler and Volusia Counties. As far as businesses hiring Veterans, nobody has to hire anyone just because he is a veteran.
I find these “veteran’s services” to be more smoke and mirrors then to be helpful to veterans. Being a veteran doesn’t give anyone a leg up on getting a job. All it really does is give jobs to the cronies involved with starting these programs. It gives parents of young sons and daughters the false hope that if their kids enter the military, they will get out and have all these very special employment services available to them. It gives the illusion that military experience equates to certain future employment. These veteran-geared services are not really different then what’s available to everyone.
A military kid can have managed twenty people, been a head of a volunteer corp, have given dozens of public speeches, worked with Power Point and Excel, managed books and inventory, but if he hasn’t worked with some popular commercial software mainly used in the civilian world, despite having used something similar in the military, the employer doesn’t need to hire him.
What military veterans really need is a voice. I think the Chamber of Commerce could invite military veterans to come to a meeting to describe their jobs and what they did as service members. Give them a face and a forum to openly discuss the details of being a military member that are difficult to articulate in a resume and a cover letter (even a well-written resume and cover letter). The Chamber could host a veterans forum,maybe near Veteran’s Day, and ask for a few members to register to discuss what they did in their jobs and outside their jobs. It can be an open forum where people can ask question to learn about the unique skills of enlisted and commissioned service members.
“Hire a Hero” certainly sounds reverent, but it’s nothing special. Not really, anyway. It’s a play on emotions. It’s a waste of resources and energy.