Hiring the ‘Other’ 1 Percent
Posted by TSA, Inc.
Leading Edge
WANTED: Service-disabled veterans and veterans returning from the field into our domestic workforce.
Technology Security Associates, Inc. (TSA) announced today that they are launching a new program to help the returning veteran workforce to obtain employment in the defense contracting industry.
“We’ve heard a lot about the U.S. unemployment rate of between 8 and 9 percent, but most companies like ours are well aware the unemployment rate for returning vets is much higher,” said Lee Bradshaw, President and CEO of TSA.
The Bureau of Labor recently released the November unemployment statistics which show that veterans returning from OEF/OIF have an 11.1 percent unemployment rate as compared to the national unemployment rate of 8.6 percent. These veterans represent less than 1 percent of the United States population, but they are the men and women that put their lives on the line every day to protect our freedoms.
At a recent Wounded Warrior recruitment conference held by the Naval Air Systems Command, Vice Admiral David Architzel, commander of NAVAIR, summed it up perfectly: “Employing wounded warriors and veterans is one of our highest priorities at NAVAIR. We know full well the value of this effort.”
TSA agrees with this statement and has launched a new industry-based apprenticeship to assist our returning veterans in obtaining meaningful work in our industry.
Congress enacted and President Obama signed into law the “VOW to Hire Heroes” act in late November to encourage industry to recruit and hire our returning veterans. While the sentiment is real in wanting to address the veterans unemployment problems, such “jobs bills” are simply not enough to encourage businesses to consider hiring our veterans. Employers need to understand the experience and training that these men and women bring with them from the battlefield and how that can translate into value for their company or enterprise.
As a Service-Disabled, Veteran-Owned Small Business with a workforce comprised of veterans from all five branches of the United States military, TSA understands the value and is able to translate military experience into civilian workforce skill sets. TSA is willing to invest in those that put it all on the line for our country.
There exists a need at TSA, Inc. to build a pipeline of talented individuals with particular skill sets necessary to solve the unique and challenging security issues surrounding the US and Allied interests in the 21st Century. The development of this apprenticeship opportunity will result in a highly skilled, steady stream of human resource capital for TSA and our customers while simultaneously offering our returning military veteran workforce the opportunity for further education and meaningful career opportunities that meet TSA’s business strategy.
The TSA apprenticeship program is all about commitment.
At TSA, we will commit to:
- Offering specialized preliminary skills training and on the job training
- Mentoring by Subject Matter Experts
- Providing continuing education tuition assistance
- Guaranteed job placement following the apprenticeship program
Participant commits to:
- Continuing education in pursuit of Bachelor’s degree or higher education
- Exhibiting a strong work ethic, putting forth 100% effort in all that they do
- Conduct themselves with professionalism and integrity at all times, following the instruction and planning provided by their TSA career mentor(s)
Program Benefits:
- Participants will receive $15.57 / hr (GS-4, Step 3) starting pay with additional incentives for motivated individuals.
- Participants will receive free tuition assistance to attend College of Southern Maryland/University of MD Engineering program or $2k tuition assistance annually to attend any other college (institution must be accredited by an agency approved by the US Department of Education).
- Participants will be assigned TSA mentor(s) from the specialty areas for which they are assigned based on career interests and objectives. The mentor(s) shall provide on the job training and guidance throughout the apprenticeship program.
- Mentor(s) will work with TSA customer clients for external job placement and offer career guidance once the participants are merged into the general workforce.
Service-Disabled Preference:
- TSA is a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business and therefore we are very interested in offering opportunities to those who have faithfully served in the military and have become disabled during their service. This program is open to all interested and qualifying veteran applicants with a service-disabled veteran participant preference.
For more information, contact Lee Bradshaw ([email protected]) or Tom Jarboe ([email protected]) or visit www.theTSAteam.com.
Thank you for what your doing to support our Wounded Warriors. It will truly be appreciated by the families involved. We are also on a mission in an attempt to support these same families. The troops are coming home, getting out of the service and the job market is indeed limited. Therefore many are having to start their own businesses in an attempt to survive and support their families. These Wounded Warriors do very much NEED our support! For this reason we have created VeteransDirectory.com AKA The “Wounded Warrior Directory” a directory of over 5000 disabled veteran businesses that need and deserve our support. Please help us in this mission to promote and support Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Businesses by linking to Veterans Directory,liking us on Facebook,grabbing one of our banners or badges and let others know you support this cause. Thank you!!