KGWN –Cheyenne, WY– Scottsbluff, NE News,Weather, SportsVets Show What They Can Offer to Businesses

Vets Show What They Can Offer to Businesses

With national unemployment at 9.1% it's not easy to find a job these days, especially military veterans.

38 employers filled the Kiwanis Community House for military veterans to try and help them get back to work.

Veterans of our military sometimes have a tough time getting into the work force because the skills they learned in the military don't always translate to the civilian world.

Instead of just filling out an application or sending in a resume, this job fair gave vets an opportunity to sell themselves.

"It's very helpful when you get to see somebody face to face, because it's that selling point, than it is actually doing something over the internet or applying through the mail," Cynthia Williams, Navy veteran, said.

With nearly 40 companies available to for veterans to talk to, it helped them realize their skills might be useful in places they never would have thought of.

"This gives us the opportunity to talk to some other folks, that maybe we wouldn't normally talk to and if they say; hey you know what we could use you. That's one more opportunity that you never knew you would've had," Scott Archer, USAF veteran, said.

Even if military veterans might not have the perfect skill set, sometimes good work ethic and an ability to learn make up for it.

"We found in the past that veterans are great people to talk to. They have a lot of life experience and they're the kind of people that we would like to look at and talk to about our career opportunity," Jeffry Smith, Northwestern Mutual, said.

"What I find is reliability. These guys come in, they interview really well. They show up for training. They take it up very quickly," Rena Appel, Halliburton, said.

The employers that I talked to were very impressed with the veterans that showed and one employer even told me that there were a few candidates that would definitely be getting a call back.