HOH job fair a 'home run'
Shaun Fitzpatrick, a transitioning service member, receives coaching on his résumé during a Hiring Our Heroes career fair at Nationals Park Aug. 9. Photo by Andrea Dickerson

HOH job fair a 'home run'

Transitioning military members, veterans and their spouses attended a Hiring Our Heroes (HOH) career expo at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C., Aug. 9.

HOH, in partnership with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, has successfully helped countless active-duty and veteran job seekers break into the civilian workforce during multidimensional events held in major cities and aboard large military installations.

“We want to help our highly talented veterans and servicemembers during their job search and ensure that they have the skills and knowledge they need to get a job at any company,” said Eric Eversole, HOH president.

Washington Nationals Vice President of Corporate Partnership Jake Burns said he was very honored to host an event of that magnitude at the baseball stadium. “The military is near and dear to my heart. As an employer of military and veterans, I recognize the value of the skills that you bring to a job,” Burns told attendees. “I want to give everything I can to create opportunities to help servicemembers get connected to jobs.”

The event afforded job seekers access to informative workshops on a variety of topics ranging from personal branding to federal résumé writing. Coaches provided by Grant Thornton were also on hand to provide assistance with résumé writing.

Transitioning service member Shaun Fitzpatrick attended the event with his wife, who is also job hunting, to get help with his résumé and gain new contacts. “It is very likely that I will retire from Marine Corps in the next year. I wanted to get a leg up and use some information gathering to my advantage,” he said.

Fitzpatrick said he tremendously benefitted from having access to a résumé coach. Together the two discussed ways to highlight Fitzpatrick’s career accomplishments. The Marine officer said he believes it is always useful to get feedback from someone outside of the Department of Defense who can use their perspective to help translate military skills into the tools civilian employers seek.

“I am very eager to find out how employers contribute to society and how I can fit into the equation,” he said. “Running a military unit is very similar to running a company. I feel good about the information I received at the event. I am glad I decided to attend with my wife.”

Bonnie Amos, wife of former Marine Corps Commandant (Ret.) Gen. James Amos, reminisced when she saw military spouses in attendance. She said it reminded her of the more than 42 years she spent following her husband from duty station to duty station. All-in-all the Amoses moved 31 times.

“Every time we moved, I followed him to different places, knocking on doors seeking jobs to help support our family. Not even because I needed to – I wanted to,” said Bonnie, an ambassador for HOH. “If ever there was a young generation of spouses that want to work and have a career, it is now. HOH offers great opportunities for our service men and women and their spouses to find portability in their careers.”

Amos said the work that HOH does speaks volumes to her. “I see so many valuable spouses with such amazing capabilities. They don’t have to keep going back out knocking on door after door. HOH offers lots of doors. I believe in HOH because it speaks to our needs – the needs of military spouses.”

Eversole attributed the event’s success to the collaborative efforts of The American Legion and other organizations. “The American Legion has been right there with us, side by side,” he said. “Much like the Chamber of Commerce, we are both national grassroots organizations and our strength is our local members. While we have the ability to create policy and programs on a national [level], we have the ability to reach people out in local communities. These are people who deeply care about their communities. Working with organizations like The American Legion really helps us connect the employment side of everything with the civic engagement side of things – it is really powerful.”