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WASHINGTON (Dec. 30, 2008) - Thirty percent of
employees of the Department of Veterans Affairs
(VA) are veterans - the second highest ranking
among cabinet departments after the Department
of Defense - and nearly 8 percent of VA
employees are service-connected disabled
veterans. But the VA intends to increase the
number of disabled veterans who obtain
employment in its workforce. "I am proud of
this effort," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Dr. James B. Peake. "VA knows the true quality
of our men and women, and we should be a leader
in employing them."
Peake said all severely injured veterans of
the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will be
contacted by VA's Veterans Employment
Coordination Service to determine their interest
in - and qualifications for - VA jobs. So far,
that office has identified 2,300 severely
injured veterans of those wars, of whom 600
expressed interest in VA employment.
The coordination service was established a
year ago to recruit veterans into VA, especially
those seriously injured in the current wars. It
has nine regional coordinators working with
local facility human resources offices across
the country not only to reach out to potential
job candidates but to ensure that local managers
know about special authorities available to hire
veterans. For example, qualified disabled
veterans rated by the Defense Department or VA
as having a 30 percent or more service-connected
disability can be hired non-competitively.
"Our team is spreading the message that VA is
hiring, and we want to hire disabled veterans,"
said Dennis O. May, director of VA's Veterans
Employment Coordination Service.
VA coordinators participate in military
career fairs and transition briefings, and
partner with veterans organizations, the
Department of Labor's Veterans Employment and
Training Service, as well as VA's Vocational
Rehabilitation and Employment Service, the
Marine Corps' Wounded Warrior Regiment and the
Army's Warrior Transition Units. |
