New Vet Employment Site Launched

Active-duty service members, veterans and even their families have a new online service to connect them to employers.

The Veterans Employment Center, online via the Department of Veterans Affairs website, also includes a skills translator and a resume builder to help in the transition from the military to the civilian world.

The new service was announced Wednesday by the White House to mark the one-year anniversary of Joining Forces, the national campaign headed by First Lady Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden. Its goal is to rally public and private-sector support troops and their families

"Our service members haven't always had the time or information they needed to prepare their resumes, to plot their career goals, to meet with employers and get the jobs they deserve. And that's simply not acceptable," the First Lady said in a statement.  

Veterans groups have said they are pleased with the latest effort to help veterans find employment.

"Any initiative that helps transitioning military and veterans to get jobs is a good initiative," said Joe Davis, national spokesman for the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki said the online service will be the single federal jobs source for veterans, transitioning service members, their spouses and beneficiaries.

The site also includes a searchable database of resumes that can accessed by employers.

The Veterans Employment Center is also supported by the Labor Department, which operates more than 2,500 job centers across the U.S., and Office of Personnel Management's USAJobs, the federal government's online jobs board.

The resume and search tools at the new site combine the job search functionality and tools from Veterans Job Bank, VetSuccess.va.gov, and VA for Vets, as well as from the Labor Department's Occupational Information Network, or O*NET, and OPM's USAJobs sites.

The resume generator and the skills translator of these sites are now co-located with upgraded search functionality within the new Veterans Employment Center, according to the VA.

Eventually troops, veterans and eligible family members who may access similar programs on these other websites will be redirected to the Veterans Employment Center.

Rep. Mike Michaud, D-Maine, ranking member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, called the new website "a long-awaited milestone that will benefit so many of those who have served our nation."

"I believe it is a real step forward in our efforts to enable our veterans and servicemembers to find substantive careers and maximize the talent they have developed through their service," he said.

-- Bryant Jordan can be reached at bryant.jordan@monster.com.

For more on veteran employment visit Military.com's Veteran Jobs channel.