USAA is hosting a “best practices summit” on Tuesday for companies that want to learn more about hiring veterans.
The day-long event pairs dozens of local employers and hiring consultants with Disney’s Veterans Institute course for employers.
The Disney course is designed to help companies build effective veteran-hiring programs of their own, and to solve the disconnect between job descriptions and the veterans’ experience.
USAA Assistant Vice-President for Talent Management Jackie Purdy said veterans often bring core transferable skills that employers may not recognize by definition.
“When I think about business continuity and operational risk management, these are hard, transferable skills that every soldier, sailor, airman, marine, is familiar with on a day-in-and-day-out basis," Purdy said. "But these are not career fields in the military. But they’re certainly career fields out in the corporate world that are highly desirable."
Purdy said the summit will educate corporate entities on how to recognize skills among military veterans but also among their spouses, who may have long and varied resumes.
USAA Communications Partner Pete Casiano said the summit involves almost 300 companies and individuals seeking to learn how to get better at hiring veterans. Casiano said companies like AT&T, Rackspace and La Quinta will be there.
"We’ve got folks from different government offices like the Texas Workforce Commission, the Houston Mayor’s Office of Veterans Affairs, or there are other agencies or non-profits who are working to help others learn how to improve or create that veteran hiring program,” Casiano said.
The Texas Workforce Commission estimates there are nearly 1 million veterans in Texas ready to go to work.
Employers registered in advance for the program, but all employers can get more information through Disney's Veterans Institute website or from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Hiring Our Heroes Foundation at www.employerroadmap.org.
