NY Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand Pushes To Help Unemployed Veterans
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Thousands of military veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan are now living in New York City with no jobs.
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is pushing for legislation to be passed that would help veterans gain the job skills they need.
As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Gillibrand is pushing for passage of the Hiring Heroes Act of 2011.
The legislation would help veterans through training, personal employment assessments and workshops on how to write resumes and conduct interviews.
"Our young veterans have an unrivaled work ethic, they have top-notch leadership and decision-making skills and lots of learned skills as well," said Gillibrand. "We need to get these veterans in front of more employers and get their resumes to translate what they know how to do better so employers know how exciting they would be as employees."
Back in May, more than 2,000 veterans crowded a Midtown hotel for a job fair to help vets transition into the civilian workforce.
"Many of the service members come back and they don't know how to tell their story, to tell the story of how does a person who's operated a .50 caliber machine gun fit into JP Morgan Chase," Jeff Klare of Hire Disability Solutions said at the May job fair.
Gillibrand says that too many of our troops who risked their lives protecting our country are returning home to an alarming rate of joblessness.
"We want to make sure that we train our veterans well before they become veterans," said Gillibrand. "So while they're still active-duty service members we're going to have all of them go through job training, resume and interview workshops so they are prepared to fine a job when they leave."
Nationwide, the Democrat says more than 20 percent of young vets are unemployed.
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