My Recruiting Blog

Officials in San Diego are attempting to make it easier to create city government jobs for veterans (Click here).

A recent bill proposed by Councilmember Todd Gloria would amend a city charter to give hiring preference to all U.S. veterans. Under the current measure, only those who served in the armed forces when a draft was in effect are given hiring preference.

Last week, the Rules, Open Government and Intergovernmental Relations Committee put the proposed bill to the San Diego City Council, which will place the measure up for vote on the general-election ballot in June.

According to an article by The San Diego Union-Tribune, military members who return to the United States after serving in Iraq or Afghanistan are not currently eligible to receive extra credit on civil service exams, a courtesy extended to other veterans that makes it easier for them to compete for city jobs.

The new bill would require that hiring preference be given to anyone: who has served in any branch of the U.S. armed forces during any war, major military action or peacekeeping mission; who has been honorably discharged; and who receive a passing grade on exams.

This comes on the heels of Operation Welcome Home, a statewide initiative throughout California championed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. That measure will use $20 million in one-time special funds from the Employment Development Department to hire 325 combat veterans to personally connect with newly-discharged service members in need of job assistance.

As part of the new initiative, Schwarzenegger will ask for more coordination among state agencies to help organize nine regional outreach teams in an effort to more effectively connect veterans with local job offers. In addition, he will ask cities, counties and nonprofit groups to increase cooperation and communication as they serve veterans.

Even prior to the statewide initiative, however, was the Veterans Employment Initiative, a measure by President Barack Obama that requires federal agencies to increase the number of veterans they recruit for federal jobs.

That initiative leaves agencies with the responsibility of: developing a plan to promote employment opportunities to veterans; establishing a Veterans Employment Program office to help carry out the plan within 120 days of the order; and providing annual training for HR managers to ensure they are giving veterans preference and are exercising special hiring authorities for veterans.

Obama also established an inter-agency Council on Veteran's employment, which is led by the Department of Labor, Department of Veterans Affairs and the Office of Personnel Management.

The council will be responsible for: coordinating government-wide recruitment and training to increase the number of veterans that agencies employ; serving as a forum for promoting employment opportunities to veterans; and establishing ways to measure the effectiveness of the initiative.

Labels: Jobs for veterans