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.
An independent watchdog within the IRS reports that while taxpayer services have vastly improved, the agency is still too slow to resolve identity theft cases. And National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins says those delays are “unconscionable.” Erin M. Collins said in the report released Wednesday that overall the 2024 filing season went smoothly, though IRS delays in resolving identity theft victim assistance cases are worsening. It took nearly 19 months to resolve self-reported identity theft cases as of January, and Wednesday's report states that now it takes 22 months to resolve these cases.
Amazon.com Inc. surpassed $2 trillion in market value for the first time in afternoon trading on Wednesday. The push higher for Amazon’s stock market valuation comes a little more than a week after Nvidia hit $3 trillion and briefly became the most valuable company on Wall Street. Nvidia’s chips are used to power many AI application and its valuation has soared as a result. Amazon has also been making big investments in AI as global interest has grown in the technology. Most of the company’s focus has been on business-focused products.
