Orion Alumnus Attends White House Launch of "Joining Forces"

Nicholas Espe, a Service Specialist with Siemens Industry in Beltsville, MD, and former Nuclear Electrician’s Mate, attended the Presidential kick-off of Joining Forces at the White House on Tuesday, April 12. Joining Forces, sponsored by President and Mrs. Obama, and Vice President and Dr. Biden, is a national initiative to increase programs and opportunities for military families.

According to the White House website, “Joining Forces is a comprehensive national initiative to mobilize all sectors of society to give our service members and their families the opportunities and support they have earned.” Key priority areas include employment, education, and wellness. In the area of employment specifically, Joining Forces aims to highlight the workforce potential of veterans and military spouses; expand employment and career development opportunities for veterans and military spouses; and help employers create military family-friendly workplaces.

Several companies have partnered in this initiative, including Sears Holdings, Walmart and Sam’s Club, Siemens Corporation, Goodwill, the Society for Human Resource Management, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Cisco, and Indeed.com. Siemens has committed to reserve ten percent of its more than 3,000 open positions in their clean tech industries for veterans in a program called Siemens Initiative to Support Military Families. Siemens’ President and CEO, Eric Spiegel, attended the launch event at the White House on behalf of Siemens, along with Nicholas Espe, who found his position as a Service Specialist position at Siemens through Orion a few months ago.

Espe explains his participation in the announcement of Joining Forces by saying, “I am very glad I was given the opportunity to attend as a representative of Siemens.” While at the White House for the launch, Espe got the chance to meet the Secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus. Sitting only a few rows back from the podium, he was able to hear the announcement of Joining Forces by President and Mrs. Obama, along with Vice President and Dr. Biden firsthand. “This was a very memorable moment that I shall not forget. I’m thankful I was given the opportunity to be invited to attend,” states Espe.

Hire a Hero applauds the creation of Joining Forces and the companies who have made commitments to increase opportunities for military members and their family.


For more information:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/Joining_Forces_Launch_Press_Release_logo.pdf
http://www.whitehouse.gov/joiningforces

6 Ways to Retain Millennials

According to the Employment Policy Foundation, our country is heading into a labor shortage of approximately 35 million skilled and educated workers. That is why, for many companies, the focus has turned to retaining Millennials. Millennials are those born between 1980 and 2000 and make up the generation that follows Generation X.

Millennials are moving into management roles at a fast pace. While they can easily be trained to fulfill leadership roles, it does take some work to retain them. Below are 6 tips to help managers effectively retain millennial talent.

1.Constant Contact. A recent survey revealed that 60 percent of Millennials want to hear from their manager at least once a day. They need to communicate often.

2. Praise Culture. This generation tends to need praise more often than previous generations. They need to feel valued on a regular basis, or they will leave.

3.Rapid Advancement Alternatives. If a millennial is truly qualified for a promotion, offer it to them versus someone who has just simply been there longer. If they are not qualified for a promotion but are starting to feel restless, find alternatives to a promotion to reengage them such as starting a company blog or contributing to the company newsletter.

4. Cubicle Shackles. Millennials crave the flexibility to work anytime from anywhere and many companies are overhauling their policies to accommodate this, using flex time as a perk for Millennials.

5. Mentor Programs. Millennials have grown up with an abundance of guidance from parents, teachers and society. They enter the workforce expecting the same amount of hand holding. If your company doesn’t offer a formal mentorship program, create one.

6. Leadership Training. There is a resurgence of Leadership & Management training programs simply because Millennials want and need them. Unfortunately, many companies still do not offer such programs and Millennials are more than ready to leave for companies that do.

Millennials are not all that different from older generations, they just have a lower tolerance. A Boomer might put up with a job where they feel undervalued or bored, but a Millennial will not.

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Veteran Spotlight: Michael Worrell

Michael Worrell, an early Orion alumnus placed with Target Distribution in 1992, recently spoke with Hire a Hero about his civilian work experience since transitioning nearly 20 years ago. Worrell served as a Captain in the Air Force and was an Aircraft Maintenance Officer for eight years. During that time, he was stationed at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia, Howard Air Force Base in Panama, and MacDill Air Force Base in Florida. When he transitioned out of the military, Worrell had earned a Master’s degree in Aviation Management from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Ultimately, Worrell landed in the logistics field working for Target. Worrell says that it was not so much that he chose Target as an employer, but that Target chose him. “Still clueless of the civilian way of life, I focused on what I knew. That was how to handle and work with people [and] how to get the mission accomplished. Target saw that in me. Understanding that I had no idea of the workings of distribution center or at the time what a Target store was, they took a chance on me.”

After five years at Target, an opportunity to develop Victoria’s Secret Beauty, division of Victoria’s Secret Stores, into a larger stand-alone distribution center (DC) came his way. Worrell did just that, and nine years later he began running an entire DC for Home Depot. Worrell credits the knowledge that he gained at his previous employers with giving him the solid foundation to move on and be successful at Home Depot.

As Worrell’s family got older, they wanted to move back home to Fayetteville, NC. Armed with a much better understanding of the civilian business world and the customer service and logistics knowledge he had obtained over the years, Worrell started his own business and opened a funeral home in Goldsboro, NC, that is doing very well. Additionally, Worrell runs a distribution center for a small company called Acme United.

Worrell reminds veterans that their skills take them a long way as they accomplish a successful civilian transition. In fact, it is those skills that currently compel Worrell to hire veterans himself. Orion is proud to have helped Worrell start his logistics career nearly 20 years ago and wishes him continued luck as his career continues to evolve.

Tips for Behavioral Interviewing

For those who many not be familiar with the concept, behavioral interviewing is a method of interviewing that requires the candidate to answer a question with a specific instance of how they handled a given circumstance. It is designed to draw answers that reflect how candidate would handle real life situations.

Behavioral interviews allow you to hone in on how the candidate may perform in the future. There is always something to be learned by what is said or not said in an interview answer. You may also receive deeper detail than with other formats of interview questions. Plus, the storytelling format helps almost all candidates to interview more effectively.

Although effective, the behavioral interview method isn’t perfect. There are weaknesses as well. If you choose to use the behavior method for an interview, consider the following to keep the interview on track.

1. Questions must be designed with behavior in mind. Even if your questions are designed perfectly, consider whether they will accurately measure the desired behavior.

2. Don’t ask leading questions. If you divulge what it is you are trying to measure, it’s equivalent to giving answers to a test.

3. The interviewer must still control the interview. Candidates might be nervous in interview situations and have a tendency to ramble. If this happens, you must refocus the conversation and stay on track.

4. The storytelling technique is another great way for an interviewer to relay information to a candidate. If you’d like to make a point they will remember, consider putting it in story form. It will help the candidate understand what the position is about.

Behavioral interviews are one of the greatest advances in recruitment, but that doesn’t make it perfect. If you choose to use this interview style, the tips above will ensure a more successful interview.

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