Veteran employment summit set
Medal of Honor recipient Salvatore A. Giunta will be the keynote speaker during the National Veteran Employment Summit. (U.S. Army photo Leroy Council)

Veteran employment summit set

Medal of Honor recipient and retired Army Staff Sgt. Sal Giunta, an honorary life member of American Legion Post 735 in Hiawatha, Iowa, will be the keynote speaker during the National Veteran Employment Summit, April 30, in Washington, D.C.

Giunta was awarded the country’s highest military honor for his actions in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan on Oct. 25, 2007. He is the first living person since the Vietnam War to receive the Medal of Honor.

The summit, sponsored by Monster and Military.com, will feature several speakers, including Steve Gonzalez, assistant director of The American Legion’s Veterans Employment & Education Division in Washington. Gonzalez will discuss in-demand occupations, manufacturing jobs, credentialing initiatives, and skill sets that veterans entering the workforce should have. Giunta and Gonzalez will speak April 30 during an invitation-only event at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel in Washington.

The summit kicks off April 29 with “Recruiting Day,” from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (EDT) at the Double Tree by Hilton in Crystal City, Va. Veteran-friendly employers will be matched with qualified veterans in northern Virginia who are seeking jobs, as well as National Guard and reserve members. Employers will have the opportunity to present their companies and job openings directly to a pool of pre-screened candidates and conduct interviews on-site to speed up the hiring process.

Those who wish to participate in Recruiting Day should send an email to veterans@nvtc.org. For employers, any jobs being offered must be open by April 29. To ensure a quality event, employer spots are limited. For more information about Recruiting Day, contact Andrew Schwartz at the Virginia Department of Veterans Services: andrew.schwartz@dvs.virginia.gov.

The summit’s second day will feature sessions about bringing government, industry and veterans together to share best practices in veteran hiring and retention. The audience will be comprised mostly of leaders from organizations and human resource professionals who seek to improve or start a hiring program for veterans.

Other speakers during the two-day summit include John DiPiero of USAA, Vivian Greentree of First Data Corporation, Evan Guzman of Verizon, Linda Nguyen of Workforce Central, Daniel Villao of the City of Seattle, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, John Harvey, the Virginia Secretary of Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security, and Al Garver of the Enlisted Association of the National Guard of the United States.