VA hiring fair produces 500 job offers

The Department of Veterans Affairs has reported that over 500 tentative job offers were made to veterans at its recent Hiring Fair in Washington, and it hopes to continue that success by expanding its hire-a-vet program and launching more veteran career fairs throughout the country.

According to VA, more than 4,100 veterans attended the 13-hour career fair, Jan. 19, at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Attending the event were employers from all over the public and private sectors, including Microsoft, Lockheed Martin, JPMorgan, and the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Interior, Agriculture and Labor.

A reported 6,400 public and private jobs were made available to attendees at the event, and about 2,600 veterans interviewed on site with potential employers. Additionally, VA reports that about 700 veterans created online accounts for accessing their VA benefits, and 30 homeless veterans were referred to care providers.

The American Legion manned a booth at the event, providing career counseling to attendees and assisting with veteran-oriented services.

Patricia Orsini, a Legionnaire and former Legion employee, also was on hand for the event, recruiting veterans for work-placement in her Wounded Warrior Program, which she directs in coordination with the U.S. House of Representatives. The program finds disabled veterans to work two-year paid fellowships with representatives, which gives the veteran employment and valuable job experience working under a lawmaker. A good number of fellowship participants transition into full-time employment, and some even stay on to work with their assigned representative.