Top 10 High Demand Jobs for Veterans from 2011 to 2016

In November 2011, the Whitehouse announced the opening of 100,000 jobs in the private sector to be dedicated to US Veterans and their families from late 2011 through 2014 and onward. This program is called Joining Forces and sounds good on the first blush. Michelle Obama and Jill Biden promised veterans and their families that a list of 100 major companies had joined with the Whitehouse to offer these jobs to returning veterans.

The companies are listed below; however, there are not 100 companies. Agreements with a total of 100 is to be secured by the end of 2013. A bulk of jobs may become available from 2014 -2016. Still, The First Lady announced that a program begun during Summer 2011, the Military Spouse Employment Partnership, does already involve 100 companies that are veteran friendly and military recruit family members as well. I have been unable to find them all at this time, so please feel free to list any you know about in the Comments section below (company names, but not links, please).

Companies on the list of 100 in Joining Forces:

1. Accenture - Forecasts 250,000 more jobs for everyone worldwide by 2015. How many of these new jobs are earmarked for veterans is unclear.
2. Arby's
3. AT&T
4. Code for America - An online military skills translator for the private sector. Note: After the Persian Gulf War, IT companies found that military IT experience had not kept pace with the private sector (at least in the Ohio workplace). How about now?
5. Data Doctors
6. FASTSIGNS
7. Futures, Inc.
8. Guidant Financial
9. Hewlett Packard - donating money. No jobs promised yet.
10. Home Depot
11. Honeywell
12. Humana
13. JP Morgan/Chase
14. Lockheed Martin - This is a good one, since aerospace manufacturing is increasing. Also Number Ten on GIJobs' Top 100 Military Friendly Employers in USA (see link below).
15. SCORE - Service of the Small Business Association.
16. Microsoft Inc. - No new jobs promised for vets. Offers 10,000 technology training and certification packages from 2012 - 2014.
17. Mr. Rooter
18. Siemens - Already hired 300 veterans and pledges to hire 150 more by December 31, 2011.
19. TeamLogic
20. The UPS Store
21. TSS Photography
22. US Chambers of Commerce
23. ValPak - Produces coupons for goods and services.
24. WalMart - Presumably offering funds for management training.

The Joining Forces job bank page (linked below) allows job candidates to search by Keyword (or job skill) and Metro Area, but does not permit one to see how many total jobs are listed on the site. For a Metro Area at this juncture, one must page through the results and count if one wants that total. Veterans may add the MOS/MOC job code or job title as well.

How many total jobs are available from the site? We do not know, although the Whitehouse states 550,000.

Good News is that a $9,600 tax credit is available to companies that hire a disabled veteran. This will put people to work and decrease disability payments. For instance, a veteran couple I know each receive $2,853/month in VA disability, with free medical care and prescriptions, totaling $5,706 cash monthly income and $68,474 cash annually.

Despite the List of 100, aerospace manufacturers will continue to offer increasing numbers of jobs that veterans can fill. One of the largest pools of emerging work belongs to Space-X, who needs Engineers, Avionics Technicians, Salespeople at various levels, Administrators, Technical Writers and dozens of other job titles for over 400 open positions today.

Let's look at the "veteran friendly" jobs listed across the Internet on this Veterans Day, 11-11-2011. We find 654,445 jobs marked Veteran Friendly out of 5.6 million jobs listed across the Internet. Most of these are involved with Information Technology/Telecommunications and Sales.

Top 10 Highest Demand Job Titles for Veterans:

1. Retail Salespeople
2. Systems Engineers
3. Tellers
4. Senior Software Engineers
5. Software Engineers
6. Cashiers
7. Office Supplies Associate
8. IT Chief Architects
9. Telecommunications Technicians
10. Electrical Technicians

Top 100 Military Friendly Employers at GIJobs (See the link at right for the complete Top 100).

1. Booz Allen Hamilton Inc. (defense) - www.boozallen.com
2. ManTech International (defense) - www.mantech.com
3. CSX Corporation (transport) - www.csx.com
4. URS (defense) - www.urscorp.com
5. CACI International Inc. (defense) - www.caci.com
6. Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation (transport) - www.bnsf.com/careers
7. Johnson Controls, Inc. (industrial products mfg.)- www.johnsoncontrols.com
8. USAA (insurance) - www.usaa.com
9. Northrop Grumman Corporation (defense) - www.northropgrumman.com
10. Lockheed Martin (defense and aerospace flight) - www.lockheedmartin.com

Note that these Top 10 are involved almost entirely in defense and transportation. If the Whitehouse 100 list the same as the GIJobs 100 List? Probably not, but there is some overlap already.