Employers have implemented a variety of newfangled ways to help veterans transition from military life to the civilian work world, but it’s an old training strategy that could offer the most promise — apprenticeships.
“Entering a new field can be difficult, especially when you possess all the core skills but lack some of the lingo, perspectives, and specific task training used in a new field. For such employees returning to school full-time is too great an investment for the amount of learning needed and may conflict with economic demands such as supporting a family,” explained Ken Matos, director of research for Families and Work Institute and co-author of a just released veteran report titled “Employer Support for the Military Community.”
Apprenticeships, he continued, “can be an ideal alternative to degree programs for experienced employees who just need to round out their skill set, not start from scratch. Paid apprenticeships are best because they provide greater economic stability during the learning period, removing the frustrating choice between earning a living today and earning a better living tomorrow.”
Several companies that offer such apprenticeship programs are featured in the new report, in addition to a host of programs to help veterans find and keep careers, and also those that support military families.
Here are some examples of apprenticeship and other on-the-job learning offerings from top employers:
* General Electric offers apprenticeships in many of its businesses, but the Get Skills to Work program is specifically designed to train veterans in the basic manufacturing skills needed in their facilities and those of their partners and suppliers. The program was designed to close the gap in manufacturing employers’ needs while also offering a career in the manufacturing industry for veterans leaving the service.
* Goldman Sachs’ launched the Veterans Integration Program (VIP) in 2012, an eight-week program that provides transitioning service men and women exiting the military an opportunity for professional skills training and education in financial services. Veterans receive two rounds of 360º feedback from peers and managers, participate in weekly team meetings, and present deliverables to senior managers. In addition to their day-to-day roles, participants take advantage of training and networking opportunities with senior management.
* Merck has established Workforce Opportunity Services (WOS), a work-study program, that helps integrate veterans into the corporate workforce. As a service member’s tour of duty concludes, the WOS program readies these individuals through an intensive 13-week continuing education program. During the training period, veterans attend classes at a local university and work part-time at a sponsoring corporation.
* Lockheed Martin established a Department of Labor certified apprenticeship program targeted at severely wounded veterans for sub-contract management certification in 2006. It is a 2-year program, complete with on-the-job training, mentoring and monitoring, testing and progressive level certification. After successfully completing the 2-year program the employee is certified as a Sub-Contract Administrator able to work as an exempt employee at Lockheed Martin or anywhere in the defense industry. This program is also available for IT certification.
* Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center’s (MSKCC) Veteran to Research Study Assistants (RSA) Program focuses on newly transitioned service men and women who are interested in a career in research and healthcare. These veterans are trained to become RSAs who perform data collection and data entry and participate in data analysis for research projects, databases, and research protocols within MSKCC. This position develops research skills and creates the building blocks for a career at the center
Many of the initiatives these employers have taken make a lot of business sense, beyond just fostering the hiring of ex military employees, Matos pointed out.
“Other employee groups making a transition between fields and life stages (e.g., people with disabilities, retirees switching careers, caregivers returning to a new field after a leave, prisoners starting over) can benefit from apprenticeships,” he said. “Organizations that have large numbers of unfilled positions should consider whether devoting resources to a few weeks of intense training of new entrants to the field is less costly and more effective than trying to poach employees from competitors.”


The jobless rate for veterans who have served since 9/11 is more than 9 percent, and even higher for younger and wounded vets, compared to 7.6 percent for the overall population, according to the 
President Obama and the First Lady hosted a 
On the 
Work-Life Quotes Employers Must Read
Families and Work Institute is honoring ten work-life trailblazers with our 2013 Work Life Legacy Awards.
Here are some words of wisdom offered by the honorees over the years, words that have helped shaped the work-life movement and the workplace:
~ Stephanie Coontz, Director of Research and Public Education, Council on Contemporary Families, University of Miami and Professor, The Evergreen State College (Via Sage magazine)
“Work/life is not only a social movement to benefit the next generation of children in our society,
~ Stewart D. Friedman, PhD, Practice Professor of Management, Director of the Work/Life Integration Project, The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania (Via the Baltimore Sun)
~ Arlene A. Johnson, recently Mayor of Livingston, NJ, former Vice President at WFD Consulting, former Catalyst and The Conference Board leader (Via The Boston Globe)
“People who work from home tend to have less stress and are more productive, partly because they
~ Brad Harrington, EdD, Executive Director, Center for Work & Family or Center for Work and Family and Associate Research Professor, Carroll School of Management, Boston College (Via Bloomberg News)
~ Bradley Googins, PhD, Professor, Carroll School of Management and Founder of Boston College Center for Work & Family (Via the Corporate Social Responsibility Newswire)
“I think [Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg]’s had a golden path herself, and perhaps does not more
~ Sylvia Ann Hewlett, PhD President and CEO, Center for Talent Innovation, author of Winning the War for Talent in Emerging Markets: Why Women Are the Solution (Via The New York Times)
~ Deborah Stahl, Deborah Stahl Consulting, former Director of the AT&T Family Care Development Fund (Via the Associated Press)
“A nation’s competitiveness depends significantly on whether and how it educates its female talent
~ Rosalind Chait Barnett, PhD, Research Professor, Graduate School of Social Work, Boston College Senior Scientist, Women’s Studies Research Center, Brandeis University. (Via Harvard.com’s Graduate School of Education)
~ Lisa Belkin, former New York Times Motherlode blogger and now Huffington Post’s Senior Columnist on Life/Work/Family (Via Hufflington Post)
“Here’s the thing. If what we really care about is what’s good for kids, instead of being mad at each
~ Ellen Bravo, Executive Director of Family Values @ Work (Via MothersMovement.org)
(All ten honorees will be part of an Immersion Learning Experience during the afternoon on June 3 where they’ll share their vision of the workplace and provide marching orders to attendees on what still needs to be done. They will be officially honored that evening at a dinner to be held at Cipriani’s 42nd Street. For more information on how to get tickets to either event click here. Media are invited to attend the afternoon’s Immersion Learning Experience.)