Modesto job fair helps match veterans with employers
Rank Investigations & Protection wasn’t looking for anyone to rig parachutes and jump out of planes. But that didn’t stop its representatives at Wednesday’s Central Valley Job Fair and Veterans Summit from scheduling an interview next week with Kathleen Benjamin.
During her visit to the security company’s table at the downtown Modesto job fair Wednesday, she was able to demonstrate that beyond her very specific training in the military, she had qualities that can make her a valuable employee.
That’s a challenge many veterans face, and one of the reasons the event’s host, Rep. Jeff Denham, R-Turlock, gives vets a leg up with early fair admission and other perks.
Veterans bring a lot of very solid work skills. We need to educate employers on what those skills are and how they translate. We also have to give veterans room to brag. They need to feel confident in bragging about what they’ve accomplished in terms of their people management and budget management.
Jowanda Collins
business and career services supervisor with Alliance WorknetA lot of young people recruited out of high school don’t know what they want to do with their lives, said the 30-year-old Benjamin, an Army veteran who lives in Modesto. “So you choose a job, parachute rigger – what am I going to do with that?” she said, recalling her own choice when she enlisted. “And then I tell people I can pack parachutes and jump out of airplanes and they’re like, ‘Uhh, I don’t know what to do with that. … What can you do for my company?’ Well, I can follow directions, I’m really good at cleaning.”
Her advice to young people joining the military: “Pick better” than she did. “I had friends who did medical, and they were able to come back out and get jobs,” Benjamin said. “If they did legal, they were able to use that and get into firms.”
The skills Benjamin recognizes in herself, and that employers see, are more general. Thanks to military discipline, “I’m really good with people. You have to work with everybody,” she said. “…You’ve got to work with snot bags and just smile and get the job done. I can pretty much work with anybody, learn anything, do anything and keep my mouth shut. The military forces you to try new things, work out of your comfort zone.”
In the Marines, we were very mission-oriented about what was ahead. There was not time for education. ... We were focused on mission, which is to win the war. That’s not a bad thing, it’s why the Marines are one of the fiercest fighting outfits in the world.
Jose Garcia
Stanislaus County Veterans ServicesAt the job fair, which was held at Centre Plaza, she was exploring positions with law enforcement and security, where she has an edge beyond her military experience. “What’s really good for me is that a lot of these jobs that are looking for veterans are looking for women,” Benjamin said. “Because if you need a security guard, well, what if there’s a woman who needs a pat-down? It’s a little easier, I’m in luck there. So those females better keep misbehaving, right?”
Eugene Garcia, who supervises the business services unit at Alliance Worknet, said many employers in the area request job candidates who are veterans because of the strong work ethic the military instills. That often matters more than the specific vocational skills the veterans bring to the table. “They’re used to discipline, deadlines, schedules,” he said. “… They’re trainable, used to working under adverse conditions, under pressure.”
The Air Force prepared but didn’t train him for civilian life, said Michael Williams, who ended his service in 2004. Beyond basic training, Williams said he didn’t pursue any education during his military service. “They did prepare me for dealing with problems and situations, how to handle that,” said the married father of three. “A lot of times I fall back to stuff I learned.”
My first term in Congress, I authored a bill to allow our military to get credentialed. Basically, whatever their specialty is in military, to have civilian credentialing alongside that. Me, for example, I was a crew chief, I was a jet mechanic, and it was going to take three more years of training on the outside to get certified on less sophisticated aircraft than I worked on in the Air Force. This allows them to get credentialed on active duty so they can immediately get a job when they come home.
U.S. Rep. Jeff Denham
It was after the service that he pursued an education, earning his bachelor’s degree in accounting from California State University, Stanislaus. Williams was at Wednesday’s fair “to find better employment, to advance myself.”
Marine veteran Jose Garcia was at the fair not looking for work but as a representative for Stanislaus County Veterans Services. He can relate to the hurdle many veterans face in translating their service skills to post-military life. “In the Marines, I was in field artillery, so I can’t really transition the field I was in – shooting cannons and rockets at the enemy – to a civilian job.”
He agreed with Benjamin that pursuing the right path in the military can ease the way when re-entering civilian life and the work force. But he said the military needs to do a better job about preparing its service members in general. He received three days of classes on such topics as building a résumé and pursuing available benefits. “In three days, you’re not going to learn to become a civilian,” he said, “after what you’ve gone through in four years.”
Randall Reyes, outreach coordinator at the Modesto Vet Center, concurred. “This is just me, ‘Gunny’ Reyes, saying this, but I think whatever branch you’re in, however long its boot camp is, why not be willing to give them that back at the end? … If I took 13 weeks to make you a Marine, now I’m going to take 13 weeks to make you a productive citizen.”
Denham said the Department of Defense is doing a much better job than in the past of making sure veterans are ready to transition back into civilian life. “The challenge is continuing to develop a portal that allows our businesses to recruit those who have the skills within the military that they’re looking for,” he said, and the Job Fair and Veterans Summit, which drew 60 employers, all with job openings, is an effective way of doing that.
Amber Edwards of the Stanislaus Business Alliance estimated that the fair drew 750 general job-seekers and 76 veterans.
This story was originally published April 6, 2016 at 6:35 PM with the headline "Modesto job fair helps match veterans with employers."