After risking their lives to defend our country, veterans return home to face what feels like an upward battle: Finding employment outside of their military experience. As if job-searching in a rough economy isn't hard enough, these men and women can also struggle to find positions that leave them feeling fulfilled beyond a paycheck.
But thanks to emerging programs like Deloitte’s Career Opportunity Redefinition and Exploration (CORE) leadership program and others, veterans are able to discover their passions and pair them with their skills sets to find careers. Christie Smith from the Deloitte University Leadership Center for Inclusion and veteran Alex Hooper joined HuffPost Live host Caitlyn Becker today to discuss how veterans can thrive during this challenging transition.
“I think that it’s important to all veterans to find a fulfilling career because their career in the military was so fulfilling,” said Hooper. “I wanted to have the same experience and wake up every day looking forward to going into work the same way I was excited about my job in the army.”
Through her work in the CORE program, Smith played a direct role in helping Hooper find a job that made him feel like he served a purpose.
“What we need to do is help them identify how their skills in the military apply to the private sector,” she said. “I think it is all about finding your passion and marrying your passion with your skills. And really, your new mission is all about you and how you articulate your value proposition -- your skills and your passion -- and finding that in the workforce today.”
Hooper struggled to reach those answers for himself, but he found his experience with CORE helpful in his search.
“There’s a lot of transferrable skills and that’s exactly what the CORE program at Deloitte taught us all to do,” he said. “I think for a lot of veterans, it’s very uncomfortable for us to talk about ourselves in kind of a bragging sort of way, and so to talk to a potential employer, it’s kind of intimidating.”
To hear more about how veterans can not just survive but thrive in the job market upon returning home from duty, watch the full HuffPost Live clip in the video above.