Job Expo Aimed @ Vets

As repored on nky.com

FLORENCE - An event designed to help veterans of the U.S. armed forces and their spouses find work, start a business or further their education will be held Thursday at Turfway Park.

More than two dozen companies, organizations and schools are expected to participate in the RecruitMilitary Opportunity Expo. The free event runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and is open to all veterans and military spouses.

"A lot of civilian employers don't understand quite fully what these veterans can offer them," said John Lundberg, a national career fair representative with RecruitMilitary and a retired Marine. "But they know what they do bring to the table is a great work ethic, the understanding of accomplishing a goal in a timely manner and being able to work with less than desirable resources and coming to work every day.

"Once they realize what skill sets they do have and how it's transferable it makes them then even more valuable."

RecruitMilitary is a Loveland-based firm owned and operated by veterans. It matches veterans with employers and has 68 career fairs scheduled throughout the country this year, Lundberg said. The events are produced in cooperation with the American Legion, HireVetsFirst and the Military Spouse Corporate Career Network, according to a news release.

Sharon Cohany, an economist with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, said Wednesday that the jobless rate last month for all military veterans was 7.7 percent. That translates into 933,000 unemployed veterans, she said. The jobless rate was even higher for those who served at any time since September 2001. That figure rose to 11.3 percent, or 185,000 veterans, in August, Cohany said.

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