Working together to employ America

David J. Lemaire, a program support manager in Louisiana for EPI watches as Ted Daywalt signs the memorandum of agreement at the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 61st Annual Conference and Exposition in New Orleans Monday.


By 1st Lt. Olivia Cobiskey
EPI Director of Marketing – Media

NEW ORLEANS - The Army Reserve Employer Partnership Initiative staff hit the ground running Monday.

Before the conference even opened Ted Daywalt, CEO and President of VetJobs, signed a memorandum of agreement to "maintain a deep commitment to hiring and supporting the brave men and women who protect and defend American," at the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 61st Annual Conference and Exposition in New Orleans.

"The beauty of the EPI program is it emphasizes to the employer the importance of hiring member of the Reserve and National Guard," Daywalt said.

This philosophy is inline with VetJobs, which also offers resources to help veterans find employment with military friendly companies.

Not an easy task today, said Daywalt, who testified for the Commission on the National Guard and Reserve in May.

Daywalt said three surveys by Business & Legal Reports, the Society of Human Resources Management (SHRM), and Workforce Management reveal that support for employees who are active in the National Guard and Reserve by employers is declining.

The is particularly reveling of the workforce survey, in which companies were asked if they had employees deployed in Iraq and if it was a hardship to their business. Of the 335 executive and human resource managers who answered 67 percent answered yes, said Daywalt.

The companies where also asked if they knew that a military Reserve or Guard Soldier could be called up and taken away from their job for an indeterminate amount of time, would you still hire a Citizen-Soldier, 54 percent answered no.

Daywalt told the commission, that returning members of the National Guard and Reserve are increasingly finding it difficult to obtain meaningful employment equal to their education and experience due to a perceived and real bias by employers who are concerned about the uncertainty of the time their employee would be needed during a potential mobilization.

"The U.S. Army Reserve and Guard system will not work if we do not have employer support," Daywalt said.

The EPI program was created to open a direct line of communication to employers to mitigate that strain. More than 400 employers have signed memorandums of agreement with the Army Reserve including Wal-Mart, IBM, Schneider National, Inc., General Electric and Sears Holding.

"EPI establishes a means by which the Army Reserve and employers can share personnel and collaborate on human resource issues and ideas," said Lt. Col. Kris Carle, an Outreach STRATCOM Officer with Army Reserve Communication, in her booth at the Convention Center Monday. "It creates a mechanism through which employers can raise with the Army Reserve concerns and issues associated with deployments and training and collaboratively resolve them."

Several other companies also signed Monday:

American Hospital Service Group (AHSG)
Illen Products Ltd.
Rehorn Professional Groups Inc.

National Guard and Reserve Mobilized as of April 28, 2009

Army National Guard and Army Reserve - 103,709
Navy Reserve - 6,750
Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve - 14,892
Marine Corps Reserve - 7,575
Coast Guard Reserve - 697

This brings the total National Guard and Reserve personnel who have been activated to 133,623, including both units and individual augmentees.

A cumulative roster of all National Guard and Reserve personnel who are currently activated can be found here.

Two Bosses, One Employee, Sharing the Talent

Maj. Gen. Peter S. Cooke and Mr. Keith O. Rattie “shake on it” after signing a formal partnership between Questar Gas and the U.S. Army Reserve. (Army Reserve photo by Master Sgt. Stephen H. Leitch)

SALT LAKE CITY - The U.S. Army Reserve and Questar Gas agreed to work collaboratively to develop long-term staffing solutions for America's Soldiers and veterans. The partnership, launched under the Army Reserve Employer Partnership Initiative (EPI), allows both organizations to recruit, train and employ individuals interested in serving the nation and pursuing careers in diverse business industries within Questar Gas.

Keith O. Rattie, chairman, president, and CEO of Questar Gas, and Maj. Gen. Peter S. Cooke, commander of the 96th Regional Readiness Command, signed the agreement Tuesday. The agreement will allow the Army Reserve to post Questar Gas job vacancies to the job portal on the Army Reserve Web site making it easier for skill rich Reserve Soldier to apply for jobs with Questar Gas.

"It is important to not just talk about supporting, but to actually support those who have and are wearing the uniform," Rattie said, and promised that under his direction Questar will nurture this partnership to make the bonds even stronger.

Questar currently employs a number of Army Reserve Soldiers and maintains a deep commitment to hiring and supporting the brave men and women who protect and defend America. These Warrior-Citizens have a well-earned reputation as exemplary employees with proven leadership skills, are team oriented, and exhibit discipline and grace under pressure, all attributes that are immeasurably valuable to any organization.

Through EPI, the Army Reserve is partnering with business leaders such as Questar Corporation to develop staffing solutions to meet America's industry demands, tackle the issue of workforce preparedness, and reinvigorate America's human talent. This will allow both the Army Reserve and America's business leaders to remain competitive in the global economy by encouraging professional and high-quality employees to enlist in the Army Reserve and encouraging active Army Soldiers who are looking at their options and Army Reserve Soldier to pursue a career with Questar.

It's an initiative close to Lt. Gen. Jack C. Stultz, chief, Army Reserve and commanding general, U.S. Army Reserve Command, who created the Employer Partnership Initiative.

"It's really a human capital strategy, where we're looking at what are the needs of employers of America: what kind of skill sets, what kind of quality, what kind of attributes. We look for those same quality skills and attributes, and why don't we share those? We share the training, because I put them through a lot of training, in terms of technical training, as well as leadership training," Stultz said of the initiative. "When we have a Soldier in Iraq or Afghanistan, they're not only using their military skills, in a lot cases they're using their business skills."

Stultz gave the example of a senior military leader who was in Iraq on his last tour – about a year ago.

"The portion of Iraq he was working in was heavily unemployed. He said we have about 600 people working locally here and took some of our civil affairs guys and put them to work down there with the people. He said by the time they left, they had 6,000 employees. They were building fish tanks, trailers, and they were teaching them Internet marketing. Where do you think they learned that?" Stultz asked. "The military didn't teach them that, their business skills kicked in. They said we're going to teach these people how to build a business. The senior leader said, "I walk the streets without any flack vest on, because everybody's working and happy.

"That's partnership."

GE Newest Army Reserve Partner

By Guest Blogger Frank Taylor
Vice President and Chief Security Officer at GE

I’m back in familiar territory today at the Pentagon to sign a GE and U.S. Army Reserve memorandum of agreement. As a military veteran, I’m very excited about this signing to start an employer partnership to recruit and train Soldiers for positions across our company.

GE employs more than 11,000 active reservists and veterans in our U.S. workforce. As such we are experienced in helping veterans and reservists adjust to life in the private sector. As part of the partnership, we are guaranteeing priority consideration for job interviews for all qualified participating Soldiers no later than 30 days after completing military occupational specialty training.

This partnership is a great opportunity for us to interview qualified candidates with leadership, integrity and experience.

I joined Lt. Gen. Jack Stultz, Chief, Army Reserve, and Commanding General, U.S. Army Reserve Command, for the signing today at the Pentagon. It was such an honor to be a part of this event with this great man who created the Employer Partnership Initiative as a way to show his appreciation for the dedication of Army Reserve Soldiers and their Families, and to help them succeed in both their civilian and military careers.

* Employer Partnership Initiative
* GE Military Recruiting

National Association of State Workforce Agencies

If you are looking for a job in a particular state Army Reserve Soldiers have access to jobs in their states via partnership agreements that were facilitated by the National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA). NASWA, because it is also an Army Reserve partner, reached out across its membership and made them aware of the initiative. States that have signed agreements are the following:

Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Hawaii
Idaho
Indiana
Iowa
Maine
Massachusetts
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Nebraska
New Hampshire
North Carolina
Ohio
Oklahoma
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Wisconsin

These agreements mean that the Army Reserve job search engine's search will access any job postings at these state placement offices.

Drive Your Military Career With the Employer Partnership

Imagine you're driving your "dream" car on a favorite route close to home or somewhere across the country. You're following your road map, controlling the speed and the direction.

Now imagine you're traveling on the road map you've laid out for yourself in your careers - the one in the Army Reserve or the National Guard and the one in the civilian workplace. Always looking for options, you check out the Employer Partner "job connection" site.

At the Employer Partnership site, you'll find a meeting space where you can connect with employers who recognize the value you and your fellow Guard and Reserve Soldiers bring to the workplace, and are eager to consider you for employment if you meet their requirements.

At the "job connection" site you'll find Fortune 500 companies and a host of other businesses in the industries in which professional and experienced Soldiers like you are trained - health care, law enforcement, information technology, telecommunications, intelligence, civil engineering, human resources, and more.

Book mark the Employer Partnership site, and check back often, because new employer partners are constantly being adding.

If you have any questions, please contact the Employer Partnership team at ARCareers@usar.army.mil