On July 25, dozens of companies looking to hire highly qualified employees will come together with hundreds of job-seekers at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst for the annual Hiring our Heroes Career Day.
Hiring our Heroes, a national nonprofit affiliated with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, helps service members find employment as they transition from military to civilian life. It also helps veterans and military spouses find jobs.
There will be between 200-250 job-seekers attending the event and 50 or more prospective employers.
The day will be divided into two parts:
- A morning session at the McGuire Air Base theater with workshops and panel discussions focused on successful job searches and personal economic success;
- An afternoon job fair at Tommy B’s Recreation Center.
Want to go?
Employers interested in participating in the Hiring our Heroes Career Day at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst on July 25 can register here at no cost.
Job seekers can register through the Hiring our Heroes Career Connector team here.
“Military job candidates are always high-quality candidates,” said Brad Bentley, president of FASTPORT, a company that regularly participates in the Hiring our Heroes employment events. “We find military candidates have handled more responsibility than their civilian counterparts. They are used to high-stress environments, they are physically fit, drug tested and they come to work on time.”
Crystal Kearns, director of events and engagements for Hiring our Heroes, emphasized that military spouses will be among the job-seekers that day.
“Don’t discount military spouses,” she said. “They are educated, experienced and great workers.”
Mona Dexter, vice president of military and veterans affairs at Comcast NBCUniversal, and the keynote speaker at the July 25 event, agreed.
“We are absolutely dedicated to hiring military spouses,” she said. “We are committed to the Military Spouse Career Accelerator Program started by Hiring our Heroes, which can jump start a military spouse’s career.”
Comcast NBCUniversal is another longtime attendee at Hiring our Heroes events.
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Finding and hiring qualified workers remains one of the most significant challenges identified by businesses in New Jersey.
In November, a business outlook survey conducted by the New Jersey Business & Industry Association reported that 55% of Garden State businesses could not find appropriate staffing due to a lack of qualified candidates, yet more than a quarter of these businesses said they planned to increase employment in 2024.
“We are bringing solid talent, so be ready to hire,” Kearns recommends to businesses planning to participate at this year’s event.
Kearns said 160 job offers were extended at last year’s job fair and more than 200 follow-up interviews were scheduled.
Dexter said the event has a big impact.
“Hiring our Heroes always presents us with a wide range of job-seekers, and they help them hone their interview skills, their résumés and their elevator speeches, which really helps us make efficient use of our time,” she said.
FASTPORT’s Bentley, whose company specializes in helping organizations find top talent, with a focus on military and veteran hiring, said the process has changed.
“There has been a paradigm shift,” he said. “It used to be that companies would not talk to job candidates from the military until they were maybe 90 days or closer to transitioning, but, now, because the talent pipeline is so challenging, conversations begin much more in advance.”
Kearns said there is still time for businesses to register for the July 25 event and emphasized that there is no charge for businesses to attend.
Kearns also offered participating businesses a few hints for success, beginning with the suggestion that companies be ready to make job offers or schedule follow-up interviews on site.
“We think it is helpful for companies to have some familiarity with the military,” she said. “Some companies bring recruiters who have experience dealing with job candidates from the military. Other companies bring employees who are veterans.”
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On average, 200 to 250 job-seekers have attended the previous career days at the Joint Base.
“Just as they do for their missions in the military, preparation is the key,” Kearns said in describing how job-seekers can make the job fair a success. “The job-seeker should not ask ‘What kind of jobs do you have for me?’ but, rather, ‘What kind of positions does the company have that fit my skills and experience?’”
“We encourage every job-seeker to visit with every company at the job fair,” said Lauren Kovaleski, deputy director, Hiring our Heroes in-person events. “We tell our job-seekers not to assume companies do not have job openings for their kind of experience. For example, one job-seeker at a recent show was surprised when he stopped at the Lowe’s table and found out they have their own planes.”
Bentley and Dexter concurred with that advice.
“I had one military member who loved being a nurse,” Bentley recalled, “and was unhappy that she was leaving the service because she thought she would have to give up that profession. I asked her if she was aware of how many companies have their own clinics and medical facilities for their employees. That gave her a new outlook on her job search.”
Dexter offered a similar story.
“We had a transitioning military member who was a jet propulsion mechanic, and we hired him to supervise our roller coaster maintenance team at Universal park,” she said.
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The morning workshops and panel discussions are designed to prepare military job-seekers for success at the job fair and in future job searches.
Dexter’s keynote address will touch on everything Comcast NBCUniversal does to ensure the employment journey for their employees is a positive one.
“I want to share the fact that hiring military has always been one of our values,” she said, “and for our Guard and Reserve employees, we have a unique military concierge program that helps them seamlessly transfer in and out of military service.
“I am also looking forward to talking about our digital equity program. We are investing millions of dollars to help ensure everyone can be connected to the internet, which drives economic mobility.”
The morning sessions also include a discussion with representatives from Johnson & Johnson, Prudential Financial and INvets about best practices in job interviews and the importance of understanding a company’s culture.
There are workshops on achieving economic success and finding apprenticeships and a special workshop on using LinkedIn for creating a network of contacts and finding employment opportunities.
“LinkedIn is a great example of why the morning sessions are so important,” Kearns said. “Job-seekers find out information they otherwise might not hear about. For instance, LinkedIn offers military job-seekers free premium access for one full year and access to thousands of their learning courses that can be worth up to $1,000.”
Bentley summed up the day this way.
“The great thing about the Hiring our Heroes events is that most of the participating companies are repeat participants and we all look to the greater good,” he said. “Unlike other job fairs, where companies can be pretty competitive about job candidates, here, if a job-seeker visits a particular company, and its representatives believe the job-seeker’s skills are better served at a different business, they will send the job-seeker there.
“The key is culture and finding the right fit for the candidate.”
