Baltimore Area HR Pros Help Vets Answer the Call of Duty

Do you know a veteran who is looking to join the workforce? Are you a veteran looking to brush up on your career skills and even create your LinkedIn account? The Chesapeake Human Resources Association’s Workforce Readiness committee is hosting “Call of Duty: Operation Workforce Readiness” on October 29, 2013. As a member of the committee, I spoke with the Chairperson, Ryan McShane:

Joey Price: Can you give us an overview about the event on October 29? Who should attend?

Ryan McShane: Call of Duty: Operation Workforce Readiness will hold its second annual event, this year at the new CCBC Owings Mills Campus on October 29th, 8:30am to 1pm.

This event was conceived with the intention of supporting our region’s military veterans through career transition and prepare for employment in the civilian workforce.

If you are a Veteran or a Human Resource Professional this is a must attend event! Veterans will learn how to prepare a LinkedIn Profile for career search purposes, how to handle stress during the career transition, a panel discussion on military skills translation tools and a career expo where Veterans can bring their resume and receive feedback and counseling. Additionally attendees may participate in mock interviews, meet Veteran friendly employers and discuss their open positions, learn how to “present” themselves to prospective employers and how to respond to behavior-based interviews to receive top consideration.

JP: What key distinctions do veterans bring to the workplace?

RM: A chief complaint I hear from my HR colleagues and fellow managers is that the workforce is not very loyal, dependable or civil. The veteran population typically excels in these areas of loyalty, dependability, civility, not to mention leadership and compliance rate very high in most military trained personnel, as well, which also meets a documented need of many organizations to have stronger leadership.

JP: If you’re an HR professional looking to hire a veteran, what would be a good first step?

RM: Attend the “Call of Duty:Operation Workforce Readiness Event on Oct 29th, 2013, CCBC Owings Mills Campus, 8:30-1pm. To register to go www.chra.com

JP: How can a veteran benefit from attending the October 29 event?

RM: A veteran can benefit by walking away from this half-day workshop with job leads, a new LinkedIn profile, interviewing practice, understanding of how they present themselves in an interview, knowledge of the behavior-based interview process and methods for responding to receive high consideration from hiring manager and tools for managing stress during career transition.

JP: How can someone from the community support the event, even if they are not currently hiring at this time?

RM: CHRA and the Workforce Readiness Committee welcome the communities support for this event and hiring veterans in general. To support and let others know you support the hiring of veterans, you are welcome to attend and/or sponsor the event on Oct. 29th. For sponsorship opportunities and to register go to www.chra.com

Do you have a resource for veterans? Feel free to drop it in the comment section!

About Ryan McShane:

Ryan McShane is the Human Resource Officer for Baltimore County Department of Aging where he has created and implemented various Human Resource Development programs such as Knowledge Management, Knowledge Management for Project Management, The Continuous Learning Committee (CLC), career coaching and many other organizational development initiatives.
His professional affiliations and interests are serving as State Director of MD SHRM’s Workforce Readiness, Director of CHRA’s Workforce Readiness Committee, Member of UMBC’s Instructional Systems Development (ISD) Advisory Board, Co-chair of the Baltimore County Chamber of Commerce’s HR Exchange Committee and Member of the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD).
Ryan is passionate about workforce development and driving organizations to achieve their business potential through human capital. If you are in career transition or an organization challenged to address HR issues contact HRevolution for resume writing, interview skills development, career transition tools, training and organizational development solutions.