RecruitMilitary stands up for veterans, holds career fair
Lance Cpl. Drew Barker
 On
May 16, there was a small, low key event held at the EXPLORIS
Museum in Raleigh. It may have appeared to be an average
job fair at first sight, but upon further examination it
was quite obvious that this was something entirely different.
“There aren’t a lot of recruiting companies
out there going to bat for veterans,” said Larry
Slagel, the senior vice president of recruiting with RecruitMilitary
LLC. “That’s what we’re here for.”
RecruitMilitary, which was founded in 1998 and is headquartered
out of Loveland, Ohio, is a nationwide, full-service, military-to-civilian
recruiting firm that uses a number of tools and resources,
including career fairs and internet services, to connect
employers with men and women who have a military background.
“Our goal is to get as many vets hired as possible,” said
Slagel, who is a former captain in the Marine Corps. “We
need to get the word out to corporate America that former
and transitioning service members are an extremely viable
workforce.”
Close to 1,000 people, including former, retired, reservist
and active duty service members attended the RecruitMilitary
Career Fair, which featured representatives from more than
20 military-friendly companies and corporations.
“There are a lot of patriotic businesses out there
looking for the intangible qualities men and women from
the military possess,” said Slagel. “Things
like leadership, discipline and work ethic; that’s
what makes service members so desirable as employees.”
One such business, OldCastle Building Performance and
Growth, a major international producer of construction
materials and building products, has a direct impact on
the Eastern North Carolina economy.
“Oldcastle companies operate at more than 900 locations
in 48 states, including sites in Jacksonville and Wilmington,
N.C.,” said Mary Scullion, human resources director
of Oldcastle Architectural Products Group Northeast, Inc. “We’ve
had a lot of success hiring military personnel and we hope
to hire more today.”
Interviews and networking were a top priority at the fair,
but one of RecruitMilitary’s greatest resources may
be their on line services at www.recruitmilitary.com.
“Our site is like a monster or careerbuilder.com,
only for anyone with veteran status,” said Slagle. “You
register, create a profile, build and post a resume. From
there we link you up with the companies that are looking
for people with your specific skills.”
After finishing the online registration, RecruitMilitary
markets members’ skills to more than 3,800 different
organizations for hiring in nearly 6,000 jobs.
In addition to being one of the top job-finding services
designed for veterans, RecruitMilitary is the only service
aligned with the President’s National Hire Veterans
Committee, also known as HireVets First. The committee,
which falls under the U.S. Department of Labor, was created
when President George W. Bush signed Public Law 107-288,
the Jobs for Veterans Act, on Nov. 7, 2002.
“RecruitMilitary does a terrific job bringing employers
and veterans together,” said William L. Offutt, executive
director of the committee. “We need to get the message
out that it’s good business to hire vets, not good
charity.”
The responsibilities of Hire Vets First include furnishing
employers with information on the training and skills of
veterans and disabled veterans, and the advantages afforded
employers by hiring veterans with such training and skills.
Offutt and the committee were also charged with facilitating
the employment of veterans and disabled veterans through
participation in America’s national labor exchange
and by other means.
When asked to explain the importance of service members
using RecruitMilitary’s tools, Slagel said, “The
job market is like a Super Walmart, they’ve got everything
in there, but you can never find what you need. We take
the people that want to hire you and show them where you
are.”
Possibly the greatest aspect of RecruitMilitary may be
their sincerity and honesty in wanting to help veterans.
“It’s not just about making a buck,” said
Slagel. “We’re trying to help vets and do it
right.”
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