New online tool links veterans to the perfect job for their skills

The unemployment rate in Washington is 5.7 percent, but for veterans, it’s more than seven percent. The state has a new online tool designed to link vets with the perfect job.

Veterans are leaving the military by the thousands each month. And even though they get training in the job hunt well before their separation date, it’s not always easy to match military skills with civilian jobs.

Washington’s Employment Security Department is launching a new tool called Veterans Military Crosswalk. It enters a vet’s military employment code, what used to be known as Military Occupation Specialty, into the state’s database to find specific job openings.

Agency spokesman Bill Tarrow said there are hundreds of archaic job titles and military employment codes. For example: 3C-151, the designated code for radio operator.

“But 3C-151 doesn’t mean anything to an employer in the private sector, so this really helps them to be able to enter those codes in and it identifies jobs that are of like-mind, so to speak, so that they can go out and apply for those jobs,” Tarrow said.

The program will even send the veteran an email alert when it finds a match. Keywords can further narrow the search of the data base of 40,000-50,000 jobs.

“It takes that extra step in trying to identify real jobs in the state of Washington that are a fit for them,” Tarrow explained.

Job fairs are a more traditional way to help veterans find work. RecruitMilitary, a veteran-owned and operated organization, sponsors thousands of job fairs across the country. Spokesman John Lundberg appreciates specialty tools, such as Veterans Military Crosswalk, but he encourages vets to think outside the box.

“A person that served in the military police, they get out and feel like ‘all I can do is either law enforcement or security,’ and I tell them ‘absolutely wrong!’ I guarantee you any man or woman that ever served is a leader and a lot of these organizations are here to hire leaders. So what I try to do is get them to think outside their technical skill,” said Lundberg.

Thankfully, Lundberg said his organization no longer must work so hard to convince major employers that it’s a good idea to hire military veterans.

RecruitMilitary is sponsoring a jobs event for veterans Nov. 20 at Safeco Field in Seattle with 51 exhibitors expected to attend, including Amazon.com, Apple, Lockheed-Martin, Amtrak and the city of Seattle. RecruitMilitary boasts an average of 100 jobs offers for each event it hosts.

Employment Security reports that it placed almost 21,000 veterans in jobs last year at an average salary of more than $35,000 a year.