Xcel CEO: Corporations Can Do More to Hire Veterans
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Among those testifying in Washington Wednesday on ways to hire more military veterans was the chairman of Xcel Energy.
Benjamin Fowke III told a joint congressional committee that 12 percent of Xcel's 11,000 employees are vets.
However, Fowke said there's still a gap in the effort to translate military skills into civilian job requirements.
"With the veteran unable to articulate his or her experience and skills that fit our positions and our hiring leaders unable to recognize the military experience that they have and how it's comparable to our work," Fowke said.
The nationwide unemployment rate for military veterans who served after 9/11 has fallen from 12.1 percent to 9.9 percent, but it's still higher than the general population rate.
Hiring Veterans
U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and U.S. Rep. Erik Paulsen, R-Minn., were participants in the Joint Economic Committee Hearing on Veterans' Employment.
