Goal of Job Fair for Veterans is to get nearly 200 job seekers back to work: "We'd love to see that"
MILWAUKEE -- Dozens of companies were on the hunt for good employees on Thursday, October 8th -- but for this job fair you had to meet one criteria: be a veteran.
A 2014 national report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says the unemployment rate for veterans who have served our nation since 2001, is at about 7.2% nationally. But the 14th annual Milwaukee County Job Fair for Veterans was an effort to change that.
Milwaukee County Job Fair for Veterans
The search for a job can be long and tiresome, but Michael Buelow is determined.
"We're highly dependable. We show up to work on time and we give people an honest day's work for an honest day's wage," said Buelow.
Buelow is a Navy veteran and spent years in submarines around the world. He now wants to serve his own city.
"There's a lot of good employees here. There's a really good selection," said Buelow.
Nearly 200 veterans turned out to talk to the 80 employers on hand -- the goal was to get each veteran hired.
"We'd love to see that. We believe that veterans are special because they stepped up to serve their country," said Greg Williams, Office of Veterans Services.
Milwaukee County Job Fair for Veterans
All veterans were given a free flash drive loaded with forms and files to assist with job applications and Springfield College was on hand to assist in resume editing.
Milwaukee County Job Fair for Veterans
Computers were also available for printing those resumes and a variety of companies took part in this year's event.
"Blue collar, white collar, technical jobs, sales jobs, services jobs like Myriad," said Williams.
Marriott International comes every year and says this job fair has proven successful.
"We just hired a veteran in the spring. He's doing an excellent job," said Amanda Ramsfield with Marriott International.
Thursday's job fair was half as full as it was in past years, but organizers say that's a good thing. In its 14 years, this particular job fair has resulted in the hiring of 1,400 veterans.