Veteran Spotlight: Artur Landa

Hire a Hero, Hire a Vet recently caught up with Artur Landa, an Orion alumnus and Navy veteran, who has been in his career with Voltaix, a manufacturer of specialty chemicals, since early 2008. Hired as a Chemical Operator a month after separating from the Navy, Landa is now a Production Planner. Currently enrolled in the City University of New York – Staten Island, pursuing a B.S. in Economics, Landa continues to improve his prospects for ongoing success in the industry. In the military, Landa was an E-4 stationed in San Diego, CA, on the USS Ronald Reagan CVN-76. As an Engineman, his job in the Navy was to work on diesel engines. "As a Production Planner, I plan and prepare production schedules and workflow while addressing any delays or unforeseen conditions," explains Landa, "My military experience helps me even today in this industry, because it taught me to always work safely, pay attention to details, and to always be on time."  Landa's focus on safety is an important one. It is estimated that workforce safety injuries cost American industry over $18.3 billion annually. Military professionals like Landa are trained to work efficiently while physically overexerted and with quick, precise reactions. "Safely working on engines was a huge part of my military career and was the most important part of the job. If safety was not followed there was possibility of getting hurt or losing a finger or even worse," states Landa.  Safety is paramount in the military, and veterans bring this focus with them to the civilian workforce. Veterans like Landa continue to find success in their civilian endeavors thanks to their dedication to detail, integrity, and safety. And as major veteran hiring initiatives continue to stream out of DC, the value of these veterans is being recognized on national scale.

Social Media in the Workplace

In recent years, social media has become a part of our daily lives, offering us a chance to connect and interact with old friends, sound off about topics that interest us, and serve as a platform for our interests and inspirations. This fascination with social media is not going away, either – in 2012, Americans spent 74 billion minutes on social media websites, which include Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest, and many more. That averages out to about 20 percent of our time each day.

Social media is such an integral part of our lives that it only seems natural for businesses to jump on the bandwagon, too. Utilizing social media can be a great tool to reach out to customers, allowing a peek into what they are saying and doing regarding your company. Additionally, social media is a good way to interact with your customers, creating a positive dialog between your business and your customer base. Social media can also give your company the opportunity to create and generate a solid, popular online presence.

However, some may balk at the idea of allowing social media in the workplace, not just for their company, but more specifically for their employees. If the 2012 statistic above reveals anything, it shows that most of the time Americans spend on social media is at work. In fact, access to social media in the office has cost employers around $650 billion a year. While taking on a strict, no social media policy may seem like the best solution, it can backfire. Those companies that issued a ban reported lower employee morale, and it didn’t deter employees – they just used their smartphones instead.

In response to the social media problem at their company, 1SaleaDay.com, a Miami-based e-commerce company, created a Facebook-like site called Yammer, where employees can connect with each other through their company's own social media platform. The website a huge success, and 1SaleaDay.com saw their employees’ morale and productivity increase after the website launch.

1SaleaDay.com’s approach to employees spending too much time on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media outlets touched upon one major point about employees and social media – camaraderie, collaboration, and interaction is something that all employees crave and need to be better workers. Yammer just gave them a company-approved outlet.

If social media is a dilemma in your office, it may be a good idea to think up a solution to combat the problem before it gets out of hand. However, social media can also be used to your company’s advantage, increasing customer (and employee) satisfaction, loyalty, and revenue. Ultimately, embracing social media in your workplace doesn’t have to become an issue.

Below is an infographic on social media in the workplace:

Resources:

30 Tips for Using Social Media in Your Business

 Social Media And The Workplace

Recouping $650 Billion in Workplace Social Media Cost

White House Announces New IT Credentialing Program for Service Members

Monday marked the announcement of another veteran initiative by First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House Forum on Military Credentialing and Licensing. This new initiative, called the IT Training and Certification Partnership, is aimed at helping veterans more easily find jobs in the tech sector by completing training and earning industry-recognized IT certifications prior to their transition out of the military.

A White House Fact Sheet on the Partnership estimates that about 161,000 service members would gain the necessary certifications for 12 high-demand technology professions, including computer programming, quality assurance, and information security. There will be 1.8 million openings in the targeted fields through the end of the decade, and these jobs will provide an average salary of $81,000+.

Service members often have the most up-to-date technological training but may lack the required certifications for civilian IT jobs. In addition to correcting this issue, the program will also allow veterans to fill in any gaps in their training required for employment in civilian positions.

Along with the announcement, the forum featured four round tables exploring ways to make it easier for service members to earn the civilian certifications and licenses required for jobs in emergency medical services, healthcare and transportation sectors, as well as ways to translate their military training into academic credit.

Among the companies supporting the program are Cisco, Microsoft, Oracle, and CompTIA. As an example of the type of support they are providing, CompTIA is donating vouchers for certification exams, such as CompTIA A+ and CompTIA Security+, to program participants.

A blog post on The Hill quotes Gene Sperling, the director of the National Economic Council, as calling the IT/military partnership "a triple win", saying it is a win for service members, a win for businesses, and a win for the economy. We agree. America’s military veterans possess world-class technological training, and a program such as this will enable them to put that knowledge to work in a rewarding civilian career.

To learn more about the Partnership, as well as the commitments other companies have made to it, please click here.

President Obama Calls for Permanent Tax Credits for Hiring Veterans

Under President Obama, there have been wide-ranging legislation and programs designed to train, educate, license, and employ veterans, including Joining Forces, the Veteran Gold Card, Veterans Job Bank, Veteran Skills to Job Act, and Veteran’s Retraining Assistance Program (VRAP). In this ongoing effort to quell veteran unemployment, the Obama Administration has also incentivized employers for hiring veterans through two tax credits, Returning Heroes and Wounded Warriors tax credits.

Set to expire December 31, 2013, the Returning Heroes Tax credit provides incentives of up to $5,600 for hiring unemployed veterans, and the Wounded Warriors Tax Credit doubles the existing Work Opportunity Tax Credit for long-term unemployed veterans with service-connected disabilities, to up to $9,600. Signed into law in November 2011, the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 extended the credits through this year.

On April 5, President Obama addressed their expiration by including a permanent provision for them in his FY2014 Budget. Information released by The White House Blog by Denis McDonough, Chief of Staff to President Obama, and Gene Sperling, Director of the National Economic Council and Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, indicates that there has been a near doubling of the number of veterans hired through tax credits in 2012 when compared to the previous year. McDonough and Sperling call these tax credits “a critical tool to spur more robust hiring of some of our nation’s most skilled workers.”

The last few years have brought about many initiatives aimed at facilitating veterans’ transition to the civilian workplace, and a permanent tax credit for hiring veterans would be yet another in a long list of reasons why companies should seek out veterans for their open positions. From the technical, leadership, and operational skills inherent in veterans, to the non-tangible skills like integrity, teamwork, and efficiency, companies who hire veterans are not just availing themselves of a tax credit, but adding a valued employee to their team.

To learn more about these tax credits, click here.

The Interview Process: Questions to Ask (And Not to Ask)

To determine the top, most qualified candidates for a position with your company, the most important step is undoubtedly the job interview itself. While reference checks and careful resume reviewing are extremely helpful to determining a candidate’s fit within your company, nothing beats the job interview. Here, you can meet the potential employee in person, and can gauge firsthand if they are a fit for both and the job and your company.

There are a multitude of questions that an employer can ask a potential candidate to determine if they are a good fit. Interview questions can vary from company to company and position to position. Below are some good questions to ask (and not to ask).

Determine the position’s job requirements and responsibilities in regards to the work environment. Is it a managerial/supervisory role? Does the position rely heavily on working with a team? If the former, some good interview questions may be asking the candidate to provide examples of a time that they were successful in a leadership role and what made them successful. This can reveal a potential candidate’s leadership style, and the efficiency of their management abilities. If the latter, asking for an example of when the candidate was involved in a successful project and what role they played can help identify what type of team player they are and if they can effectively work with others to achieve results.

It is also important to make sure that a potential candidate will fit in personally with your company. While this may be apparent right away during the interview, sometimes a few questions are necessary to discover the candidate’s fit. You can ask the candidate to describe their perfect work environment, one that would make them the most productive and happy, or some positive aspects of their current position that they particularly enjoy.

Of course, questions pertaining to the skills and responsibilities of the particular position, and the candidate’s ability to perform the requirements of the job should be asked. Since all companies and positions are different, these questions should be tailored to each position within your own company.

There are some interview questions that legally should be avoided, for the sake of your company and your potential employer. Anything pertaining to race, age, religion, marital status/pregnancy, disability, gender, or birthplace/nationality are off limits. These topics can come up in seemingly harmless questions, especially if you are comfortable during the interview and making small talk. If a candidate offers the information willingly, there is no harm in responding, but as a rule, steer clear from these conversation topics.

The examples above only skim the surface of the different interview questions that you could potentially ask a candidate. Get creative with your questions. Most likely you are not a candidate’s first interview, and if you ask a lot of canned questions, you will more than likely receive a lot of canned responses. The interview aspect of the hiring process doesn’t have to be a chore, and is the best way to find those stellar employees for your company.

Resources:

Teams and Teamwork Interview Questions

Leadership Job Interview Questions

Interview Questions to Access Cultural Fit

Interview Questions that Can Cause Legal Problems

Ensco Careers Featured in GI Jobs Magazine

Ensco plc, an Orion Featured Employer and former Top 100 Military-Friendly Employer, was recently featured in an Occupation Profile in G.I. Jobs magazine, where author Dan Fazio experienced what life is like for veterans who work on their offshore rigs. In the article, Fazio not only gives detailed descriptions of two key positions on the rigs, but he also speaks with veterans onboard. The subtitle to Fazio’s article describes his view of a veteran’s career with Ensco in a nutshell: “Military veterans working on offshore rigs find high-paying jobs, great benefits and six months of R&R every year”.

Fazio boards the ENSCO 8506, their newest ultra-deepwater semisubmersible oil rig, and finds that veterans are just the men and women for the particular lifestyle that is offshore drilling. He speaks with veterans onboard, Steven Matzen and Allen Vineyard. Matzen, an Army veteran and Electrical Technician with Ensco, explains, “It’s almost like you’re deployed for these mini-rotations. They have great benefits, just like the military does. The pay is very good. And with the economy the way it’s going, I think the oil field is only going to get better. (Veterans) that are looking for a job, I think there are numerous opportunities to excel.”

Hired in August 2012 as a Roustabout, Matzen was promoted to Electrical Technician in January 2013. He gives a description of what life was like as a Roustabout, including a mention of Seafood night (every Saturday where they make gumbo) and tells Fazio, “If you have ambition, you’ll be able to make it in the oil field.”

Vineyard, an Air Force veteran and Electrician, also gives a detailed description of his job. He describes Ensco’s emphasis on safety when he explains, “Before we start any kind of job we sit down and we assess the risks and hazards. And you put into place plans to avoid any kind of risk or hazard so no one gets hurt.” In fact, Ensco has established a safety performance record that consistently exceeds industry averages.

Both Matzen and Vineyard were promoted within six months of beginning their career with Ensco, which Fazio points out is a testament to how well veterans can do in this industry. “I think that this industry is a great opportunity to advance whatever field you’re involved in. There’s a big opportunity to learn more, since Ensco provides me with training and an opportunity to move up – to advance. It’s been a good move for me,” he tells Fazio. With a corporate culture geared toward hiring trained military technicians to support the operations and maintenance of their drilling units, Ensco understands that there is no better place to recruit from than the United States military.

Click here to read the full article.

Five Recommendations for Successful Veteran Hiring

Following the first National Veteran Employment Summit on December 12, 2012, Monster and Military.com have released a report detailing findings and recommendations for both hiring and retaining veterans. The Summit was composed of senior military and government officials, academic leaders, human resource professionals, and military veterans and covered the issue of veteran employment from the employer’s viewpoint, as well as the veteran’s and the government’s. The resulting report ultimately gives five recommendations for companies looking to hire veterans:

Build Veteran Affinity and Mentoring Programs: Companies that create programs that specifically address the needs of veterans are more successful at recruitment and retention of those veterans.

Hire a Veteran: According the Monster’s 2012 Veteran Hiring Index, 69% of the 750 employers surveyed, hired a veteran in the past year. 99.9% said that they were doing as well or better than their nonveteran peers. And nearly all would recommend hiring a veteran to another company.

Take the Lead: Turn a million transitioning service members (the number of veterans estimated to be leaving the service over the next five years) into a million talented candidates.

Use Available Tools: There are a number of tools available to both employers to help overcome any barriers to employment. Veterans often feel pigeon-holed by employers in their Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) while they have many other skills. With everything from military skill translators (like O*Net) and online tools (such as the Department of Labor’s step-by-step guide and the Society of Human Resources’ 10 Steps to Becoming a Military-Ready Employer) to workshops and specialized military recruiting firms, employers should be able to easily overcome this potential hurdle and see the full potential of all their veteran applicants.

Learn from the Best: There are many companies that have instituted very successful veteran hiring programs, such as Siemens and Honeywell. These programs should be emulated by others seeking to bring veterans into their fold.

It’s never been easier to implement a veteran hiring program. With federal initiatives like Joining Forces, online tools, and an increasingly prepared group of transitioning veterans thanks to a new transition preparation program called Transition GPS, companies that do not take advantage of the talented candidate pool found in our nation’s veterans are missing out on valuable employees who may very well be the next generation of CEOs. Senator Joe Manchin spoke at the Summit and said it best: "Today's veterans make great hires, and I've always said, if you want to help a vet, hire a vet."

Click here to read the report in full.