Monday, May 28, 2012
Patch does a Q & A with Kevin Hargrave, an Afghanistan veteran from Maryland facing challenges at home.
Patch recently sat down with Afghanistan veteran Kevin Hargrave, 49, of Rosedale as part of a series, Maryland Vets: Jobs Wanted, which looks at the challenges of veterans who return from war and face a tough job market. It's one veteran's story of transition. Hargrave, a father of five, escaped a life of selling drugs in east Baltimore to join the Marines, and now he believes he has achieved the American Dream -- a dream he clings to while coping with everyday realities, including that of having a 15-year-old daughter who is paralyzed from the waist down after a hit and run accident in Halethorpe Aug. 24, 2011. He is now a correctional captain in Maryland, but he said he's hoping to retire in order to funnel a portion of the retirement …
Thursday, May 24, 2012
A Reisterstown Patch reader thanks Patch and offers information for veterans looking for jobs.
- OPINION
-
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Dear Mr. Shapiro, Please allow me to introduce myself. As Deputy Under Secretary for Economic Opportunity at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), I have responsibility for VA’s education (GI bill), vocational rehabilitation and employment and guaranteed home loan programs. Additionally, my office assists in coordinating many veteran employment efforts and works collectively with the Department of Labor (DOL) and other federal agencies to promote and impact nationwide veteran employment. I came across the Reisterstown Patch article entitled “Help Wanted? Hire a Vet” and I would like to personally thank you for the valuable service your newspaper is providing to this deserving group of individuals. There is a new benefit called the …
Baltimore Gas and Electric Company to host event focused on hiring veterans.
- BUSINESS
-
Thursday, May 24, 2012
As part of its series, Maryland Vets: Jobs Wanted, Patch is highlighting opportunities for veterans who have returned from war and are looking for employment. BGE announced an event set for Thursday to emphasize the skills and training that veterans can bring to the private sector. Called "Honor Their Service - Hire Veterans," the forum is designed to focus on the need for jobs for servicemen and women, who face higher unemployment than average upon returning from war. The event features Vice Admiral David Architzel, commander of the Naval Air Systems Command; Brigadier General Peter Hinz, assistant adjutant general of the Maryland Army National Guard; and Stephen J. Woerner, senior vice president and chief operating officer, BGE. "BGE is …
Thursday, May 17, 2012
As part of our series on veterans and jobs, we're posting veterans' resumes on Patch. If you're a potential employer, we invite you to take a look.
Patch has begun telling some of the stories of the struggles of veterans facing fewer employment opportunities, and the successes, too. We want to do more. If you are a veteran and are looking for work, we invite you to contact us and answer the questions below, so we can put your job search information on our sites. 1. Name, rank, age, town, brief work/service history. Nicole McFarland, Chief (E7), Columbia. I was a military photographer and video production specialist during my time in the Navy. I started my career as a command photographer for a P-3 Orion squadron documenting command history, awards, change of commands, re-enlistments, retirements, etc. I also was an aerial photographer, deploying worldwide on numerous occasions. In …
Monday, May 14, 2012
'Work, altogether right now, is hard to find.' - Andrew Smith III, 29.
Maryland veterans are speaking out, as this video shows. They fought overseas, sometimes on multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, and returned home to find sparse job opportunities. Patch has been covering the issues of unemployed veterans in our series entitled “Maryland Vets: Jobs Wanted.” To see a list of businesses interested in hiring vets, go here. Editors recently interviewed about a dozen veterans at a job fair in Baltimore hosted by the Maryland Department of Transportation, where veterans spoke about the transition from military to civilian life, and the shocking realities of the 2012 economy. “It's been pretty nip and tuck—I’ve been supporting myself by taking draws out of my annuity fund and looking for jobs here and there …
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Readers tell Patch about job fairs, job postings and other resources across the region to help veterans.
This story was updated Thursday at 12:00 p.m. to reflect job opportunities for veterans in Perry Hall and Annapolis. A recent series of Patch stories reporting the difficult situations faced by veterans without jobs triggered responses from across the region offering reactions and ideas for help. Here’s a roundup of what we’ve heard from you: Howard County Department of Fire & Rescue Services: Spokeswoman Jackie Cutler wrote to Patch that the department will be specifically asking military veterans to apply to its next training class. “Several members of our department are veterans, and it’s something that we really felt the need to focus on, given the challenges they face once returning home from service," she wrote. Cutler said …
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
As part of our series on veterans and jobs, we're posting veterans' resumes on Patch. If you're a potential employer, we invite you to take a look.
Patch has begun telling some of the stories of the struggles of veterans facing fewer employment opportunities, and the successes, too. We want to do more. If you are a veteran and are looking for work, we invite you to contact us and answer the questions below, so we can put your job search information on our sites. Below is a submission from Robert Castellano. 1. Name, rank, age, town, brief work/service history. I am Robert Castellano, Air Force Chief Master Sergeant, 47 years old, and live in West River, MD. I have 27 years of uniformed service with my start in logistics, eight years as an Air Force instructor, teaching subjects under leadership, management, communications and the profession of arms. The rest of my time has been in …
‘I called in every favor, pulled every thread I could find.’
In September 2008, two things happened: The world economy collapsed, and I was looking for a job. Since I was leaving the Navy, I used a “military career transition service,” which helps you with interview preparation, resume writing and culminates in a one-day/10-interview extravaganza. From those 10 initial interviews, I received nine “call-backs,” or second interviews; I turned down seven of them. This was not a smart decision. In retrospect, my standards were too high, my self-regard a bit … overly optimistic. I also had no plan beyond this one day of interviews. I figured with 10 companies, I had to find something. I was wrong. By the time I went for the two second interviews I chose to pursue, companies were literally instituting …
Monday, May 7, 2012
“If it weren’t for my daughter … I’d be one of those guys on the corner with a sign”—Maryland veteran.
When Andrew Smith III talked with his U.S. Marine Corps platoon mates in Iraq before he returned to Maryland in 2009, he recalled they agreed finding a job in a recession would be tough. But he said he never imagined it would be like this. Smith said he sleeps four hours a night to make time for his part-time job loading baggage for Delta Airlines, training classes in the afternoons and searching for a full-time job with benefits to support his wife and two kids without relying on food stamps and other assistance. But last week, during a job fair organized by the Maryland Department of Transportation for veterans in Baltimore, he was almost optimistic. “For a while, we as veterans feel like we were forgotten about,” said Smith, 29, of …
Friday, May 4, 2012
As part of our series on veterans and jobs, we're posting veterans' resumes on Patch. If you're a potential employer, we invite you to take a look.
If you're a veteran or have a veteran in your family, you know that the job market for those formerly in the military can be worse than for civilians. In Maryland, the 8.9 percent unemployment rate among the 28,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans is higher than the state’s overall average. Veterans often get preference in hiring from government agencies but it's still tough out there. Patch has begun telling some of the stories of the struggles of veterans facing fewer employment opportunities, and the successes, too. We want to do more. If you are a veteran and are looking for work, we invite you to contact us so we can put your job search information on our sites. We'll feature you in your hometown Patch among hometown employers. We'll …
Robin Lake
6:53 pm on Monday, May 28, 2012
Thank you for your honorable service. Your bravery and selflessness is what true patriotism is all about. May God continue to help you soar! more ›