New exec council spearheads jobs for vets program

The Obama Administration is launching a new initiative to increase the number of military veterans hired for jobs in civilian government agencies once their tours of duty are complete.

Representatives for the first agencies that will serve as the vanguard for a new "Interagency Council on Veterans Employment" met at the Labor Department yesterday to brief reporters, congressional liaisons, and other administration staff.

Earlier this week, the President signed an executive order at the White House launching the new jobs for vets initiative. Ray Jefferson, the Assistant Labor Secretary for Veterans Labor and Development, offers this background:

This program is designed to transform the Federal Government into the model employer for our nation's veterans, by establishing a Veterans Program Employment Office within most Federal agencies.

At the Cabinet level, the President's order sets up the "Interagency Council on Veterans Employment", to be co-chaired by Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki. John Berry, the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, will serve as vice chair, and chief operating officer of the council.

"We want to make sure that they know they are welcome, and that we will have a job for them," Berry told reporters. "We will find one that matches their skills, their passions and their interests and abilities. We're not just going to give them 5 points or 10 points (of veterans preference, as in in the current civil service system) like we've done in the past. We're going to make sure we marry the interest and the position, and then mentor them as they make that transition from military culture to civilian culture."

Berry says that as of last year, there were 480,000 vets working in the Federal Government. And he says there's a very simple metric for success for this program: just wait a year from now on Veterans Day 2010.

He told Federal News Radio that the proof will be in the next edition of the annual report issued by OPM on the employment of vets in the federal government.

"I think its a great focal point, with the nation focused on Veterans Day, and it would be my advice to the chairs of the council that we use this as our baseline. We'll be standing here next year, and hopefully, you'll be opening champagne bottles with us. And if not, we'll be here to take our knocks."

Berry says the jobs for vets program has set no target quotas for hiring military veterans, but instead has as its goal steady, measurable increases in the number of vets working for federal government agencies.

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On the Web:

White House - Executive Order: Employment of Veterans in the Federal Government (11/8/09)

White House - Press Release: President Obama Launches Major Veterans Employment Initiative

Federal News Radio -Rep. Bob Filner: steps to improve government for veterans

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