Time Warner Cable looking to hire veterans as field technicians

Time Warner Cable Inc., the country's second-largest cable provider, has a unique employment opportunity for veterans that will be on full display during the Hiring Our Heroes career fair at the Legion's 96th National Convention.

On Aug. 26, Time Warner Cable (TWC) will be among 90 employers in the Charlotte Convention Center for the career fair. Representatives from the company will be on hand, meeting veterans and looking for candidates to join the company's field technician program, which trains individuals to become field operations personnel who install equipment on location and answer off-site service calls.

The training program is a particularly good opportunity for veterans and transitioning servicemembers, says Paul Turevon, vice president for Talent Acquisition & Movement at TWC, because the Department of Labor has certified it as an apprenticeship training program. This allows veterans enrolled in the program to receive their GI Bill benefit payments while collecting salary as employees - and gaining valuable job skills.

“One of the things we find is a lot of veterans come off active duty and are married and have kids," Turevon said. "Going back to college is not necessarily something they can do. They really want to get to work. This is a good opportunity for them.”

TWC's field technician training program is currently operational in North Carolina and South Carolina, but Turevon says the company is looking to bring it to other locations throughout the country. He says that veterans tend to have a high rate of success working as field technicians because the job involves fulfilling daily missions and adapting to unforeseen circumstances - similar to the military.

"In the military, you train somebody to perform a task, a condition and then a standard to meet," he said. "This training follows those same kinds of guidelines.”

At the career fair, TWC will also be looking to fill positions in its sales department - retail sales, telesales, direct sales and customer retention - and customer care department. However, Turevon invites attendees to visit TWCs careers website beforehand to review positions available with the company, and then inquire about them with company representatives at the career fair.

"If people see something on the website, they can come in and talk to us, then we can help them navigate the process," Turevon said. "Veterans need that sometimes because often their resumes don't translate 100 percent. They need someone to sit down with them and make sure their skills are represented."

TWC has more than 50,000 employees, and nearly 8 percent of them self-identify as veterans. Many of them, including Turevon, have not only found careers in the company but have risen to high-level positions within it.

“Veterans make good employees. They are accountable, and they are used to working in challenging situations," said Turevon, an Army veteran who served in Operation Iraqi Freedom. "We benefit from them as much as they benefit from us."

The Hiring Our Heroes career fair will be held in the Charlotte Convention Center's Grand Ballroom on Aug. 26 from 9:15 a.m. to 2 p.m. Veterans, servicemembers and spouses are invited to attend free of charge and can pre-register online.

Attendees should also consider attending the Legion's two-day Employment and Empowerment Summit, which will feature workshops with experts on finding employment, job-skills training and one-on-one resume writing guidance. Attendees can register online for the free event, held in the Charlotte Convention Center and Westin Charlotte Hotel from Aug. 25-26.