The unemployment rate for veterans who served in the U.S. Armed Forces at any time since September 2001 fell 5% last year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. And more major corporations are integrating programs to ensure that veterans are hired and remain employed.
Microsoft is one of the companies taking steps in this area. The tech giant teamed up with the Computing Technology Industry Association, to build a program that offers employment training and mentorship for veterans and active duty members of the military. Microsoft Software & Systems Academy (MSSA) provides information technology certification to its students.
“[For] those that want to try to get into the I.T. industry, why not create a path?” Chris Cortez, vice president of Military Affairs at Microsoft, told Cheddar in a recent interview.
Cortez, a retired major general in the U.S. Marine Corps, says that veterans and members of the military have a lot to offer to corporate America.
“In the military you’re grounded in leadership, in the mission, figuring out tough situations, getting the job done,” with limited resources, he said. These are qualities, Cortez says, are transferable to any industry.
After retiring, Cortez says his major struggle was understanding how his skills would fit into a traditional work setting. So he encourages companies to create more "pipelines and programs" to make the transition easier.
MSSA focuses on job development skills and also provides pointers for interviews and resume writing. Students can also be placed in a mentorship program to better understand corporate life. Those who are hired at Microsoft are assigned a work mentor for their first year with the company, Cortez said, adding that the program has allowed Microsoft to develop high veteran-retention rates.
“Our retention rate, above two years, is at 90 percent,” he said.
About 780,000 pressure washers sold at retailers like Home Depot are being recalled across the U.S. and Canada, due to a projectile hazard that has resulted in fractures and other injuries among some consumers.
President Donald Trump has fired one of two Democratic members of the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to break a 2-2 tie ahead of the board considering the largest railroad merger ever proposed.
Ford is recalling more than 355,000 of its pickup trucks across the U.S. because of an instrument panel display failure that’s resulted in critical information, like warning lights and vehicle speed, not showing up on the dashboard.
The Rev. Al Sharpton is set to lead a protest march on Wall Street to urge corporate America to resist the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. The New York civil rights leader will join clergy, labor and community leaders Thursday in a demonstration through Manhattan’s Financial District that’s timed with the anniversary of the Civil Rights-era March on Washington in 1963. Sharpton called DEI the “civil rights fight of our generation." He and other Black leaders have called for boycotting American retailers that scaled backed policies and programs aimed at bolstering diversity and reducing discrimination in their ranks.
President Donald Trump's administration last month awarded a $1.2 billion contract to build and operate what's expected to become the nation’s largest immigration detention complex to a tiny Virginia firm with no experience running correction facilities.
