'It's no longer a problem, it's an opportunity'
Photo by Lucas Carter/The American Legion

'It's no longer a problem, it's an opportunity'

A few hours before Golden State’s Steph Curry set an NBA single-game record with 13 made 3-pointers in a win over New Orleans, veterans from around the Oakland, Calif., area were taking their shots toward new careers.

Across the way from Golden State’s Oracle Arena sits O.co Coliseum, home of the NFL’s Oakland Raiders and Major League Baseball’s Oakland A’s. Monday afternoon, it served as host of a Hiring Our Heroes job fair which drew dozens of employers and hundreds of job-seeking veterans and military spouses.

Marnie Holder, director of transition summits for Hiring Our Heroes, noted that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce program began in 2011 in response to record unemployment rates among veterans.

“We started all this effort because we had an unemployment problem. I am happy to announce that recent studies this year show that we are at a nationwide average of about 4.4 percent for veteran unemployment, and that is a huge success. So it’s no longer a problem, it’s an opportunity,” Holder said.

As with similar hiring events around the country, Monday’s career fair was held in conjunction with a local sports team—in this case, the Warriors—with attendees eligible for two free tickets to that evening’s game.

John Beaven, vice president of ticket sales and service for the Warriors, pointed out that events such as this “are a fantastic way to impact the community.”

“Do what you need to do today,” he told the job-seekers before the hiring fair. “I wish all of you the best of luck to find something that fits for you and you’re passionate about, then get ready to have fun tonight (at the game).”

Hadara Stanton, president of the Jewish Community Relations Council and a daughter and granddaughter of veterans, echoed those sentiments.

“Tonight we will root for the Golden State Warriors, but today we are rooting for you,” she told the veterans.

Among the employers on hand looking to tap into the veteran community to fill jobs was MuleSoft, a San Francisco-based IT company. MuleSoft’s head of North American account development, Steven Broudy, recognizes the value veterans can bring as he’s one himself, having served six years in Army Special Ops.

“I can tell you, there’s a steep learning curve” in transitioning into the tech field, Broudy said. “I think the difficult part in transitioning extends into the need to be more effective at translating your past experience into what you can bring to a company like (MuleSoft). And also, I think a lot of veterans, I know I struggled with this, struggle to crisply articulate exactly what they do want to do, what roles they do want to pursue. They tend to find themselves drawn to companies, but it’s critical to not only identify the right opportunity but the right role within a company.”

However, “any sort of lack of experience can eventually be overcome if you embody the kind of growth mindset and desire to learn and intellectual curiosity that we actively try to seek out in the hiring process,” he said.