Job Fair in South Philadelphia Aims To Put Unemployed Veterans To Work
By Cherri Gregg
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A web company that tries to match unemployed US military veterans with jobs held another job fair in Philadelphia today.
The event was hosted by RecruitMilitary.com at Lincoln Financial Field. And even though the job market is tough, some companies were welcoming vets with open arms.
But not all.
"The general feedback I get is, 'Well, you have a lot of military experience, but not in the civilian sector,' " lamented Alfred Concha, 31.
Concha served in the Army for eight years and left as a captain. He says his dream job is in management, but it's been a hard road showing employers how his experience as an officer would translate to a private company job.
"For me, personally, I've put out 260 application over the year since I have been unemployed," he tells KYW Newsradio. "But I'm not going to stop because people say no."
Concha's persistence is great news for Steve Kenny, a vice president at EHS Technologies of Moorestown, NJ, a defense company that supports the armed services. He says his company has a workforce that is about 40 percent ex-military, and they're always looking for more.
"We have a particular strength in employing veterans because they're familiar with the environment that they go into, they're familiar with the language, and they're very trusted and good employees," Kenny says.
Organizers say about 500 veterans registered for the hiring expo.
