100,000 Jobs Mission Halfway to Reaching Goal

One of the biggest issues facing men and women in the armed forces is finding good jobs when they leave active duty. Veteran unemployment is a pressing issue for our country -- the unemployment rate for recent veterans ages 18-25 is significantly higher than the national average.

The 100,000 Jobs Mission is a coalition of 94 companies committed to hiring at least 100,000 U.S. military veterans by 2020. The companies have collectively hired 51,835 veterans through 2012, more than halfway to reaching its goal.

 “This is a major milestone in our mission to hire 100,000 veterans in ten years,” said Frank Bisignano, chief operating officer for JPMorgan Chase, a founding member of the 100,000 Jobs Mission, in a statement. “To have achieved more than half of our goal in two years is a testament both to the talent of our returning service men and women and to the commitment of the 100,000 Jobs Mission companies. We will continue to make the most of this momentum in 2013.”

The 100,000 Jobs Mission has a presence on the U.S. Veterans Pipeline, a Web portal designed to increase veterans’ chances of finding employment by matching veterans’ military skills with open positions in the corporate sector, identifying skill or education needs and providing discussion forums. Veterans can search the U.S. Veterans Pipeline to learn about job openings across the member organizations.

The member companies represent a wide array of industries across the U.S., including financial services, defense, healthcare, telecommunications, technology, transportation, retail and energy – and they are hiring at all levels within their companies. There is no monetary cost for joining the coalition. Each company has made a commitment to hire veterans, share best hiring practices with other member companies and report their results quarterly. The 100,000 Jobs Mission is focused on the entire employment continuum – not just recruiting and hiring military talent but also retaining them long-term.

One of the companies in the 100,000 Jobs Mission is Alorica, a provider of business process outsourcing solutions that span the entire customer lifecycle. Since October of 2010, Alorica has been lending a hand to Wounded Warriors and American Veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces through its AloriCares program, a division of Alorica that recruits and hires members from these groups to work in the call center environment.  It provides more than 250 jobs to veterans working throughout the United States, and has had a specific focus on hiring veterans for the last three years.  

“We are honored to be part of the 100,000 jobs coalition – a very important effort for our nation. We take great pride in hiring veterans into our organization,” said Andy Lee, Alorica’s chairman and CEO. “Joining the coalition is a symbol of our commitment to helping veterans mainstream into society after serving. Our existing veteran employees take their military training and discipline and apply it to their daily duties and operate with integrity, quality and operational excellence. They receive many commendations from our clients and their customers.”

Alorica has established a best home agent program, particularly focusing on the hiring of veterans for AloriCares, by providing a support network and professional development opportunities, focusing on the applicant’s skills rather than a disability, creating an environment that mimics the military experience they’ve thrived in and structuring their workplace to cultivate the agents’ maximum potential.