Direct Employers, a nonprofit association of companies, is working to make job-searching easier for military veterans.
The organization hosted the Veterans Connect Career Fair in Coronado on Monday. More than 5,000 veterans and transitioning military personnel were invited to meet with dozens of employers from around the country.
Mark West, who attended the job fair, spent 24 years in the Navy before going back to school and getting a masters degree in public administration. He graduated in August, and said the job search is going well, but can be frustrating.
“If I can just be in front of the person, tell them what I can do, show them what I can do, I know people are going to be interested,” West said.
Direct Employers has also created Veterans.jobs, a job search website designed for military veterans. Nancy Holland, Vice President of Marketing for Direct Employers, said a user on the site can enter their military code to see related jobs from Direct Employers members.
Nearly 700 companies are members of Direct Employers, including United Airlines, Lockheed Martin, and REI.
“The vet can put in their military occupation code and then it will translate to a civilian job within our database of over a million jobs that we pulled from our members,” Holland said.
Veterans can also search jobs on the site by location, job title or specific company.
