Citizen 2.0: Startup HeroJobs Connects Veteran Skills With Civilian Workforce
During periods of high employment, particularly with the U.S. economy in a general slump, it's more important than ever to connect people who need jobs with those they might be qualified for. But there are lots of websites like Monster.com which have countless jobs descriptions, not to mention job postings on the websites of huge companies. So what's the problem, you might ask?
In some cases, particularly with military veterans who have unique experiences on their resumes, it is a matter of connecting skill sets from one 'world' and translating them into those from another profession. In the case of veterans, they have different or complicated or unusual skill sets and don't know how to easily translate that into skill sets for government civilian jobs or those in the private sector.
Herojobs, with their website and other services helps veterans connect their skills to civilian jobs. Tony Webster was able to tap into White House open government data following a challenge from U.S. CTO Aneesh Chopra to connect users' "Military Occupational Specialty" with job descriptions. One only need visit the HeroJobs.org website, enter their ZIP code and mobile number, along with descriptions of their military job duty descriptions,to get text messages giving nearly real-time job postings that match your skills.
Tony wrote:
Veterans face many problems when they return home,and finding a job in a tough job market and economy is certainly at the top of that list. The jobs presented to veterans from HeroJobs.org are from companies that have made a commitment to veterans, and the veterans get the advantage of knowing about the jobs first.
One feature of Herojobs we found particularly interesting is that the information is available through "mere" text-messaging (screenshot here), making it accessible to those without smartphones, or users who aren't "power-users" of technology. This is a great example of thinking about the audience for a service rather than thinking about building a cool app -- How many veterans coming back from Iraq to, say, Illinois, have a shiny new iPhone 4G in their possession? The value of this site prompted Chopra himself to give Herojobs a shoutout at the recent launch of Startup DC, the local affiliate of Startup America.
There are other entrepreneurs thinking about how to improve veterans' lives. McLean, VA-based Troopswap and its [veteran] CEO Blake Hall, for example, get veterans daily deals which are exclusive for them -- say, discount Southwest airline tickets -- not unlike LivingSocial but just for their community. Troopswap helps further by only employing military spouses. This is for-profit entrepreneurship with civic good in mind. We think such social enterprises can play a large role in helping America come back during its "second half," as Clint Eastwood might say.
Chris Marvin, director of civilian-military partnerships for ServiceNation, has a terrific essay in Huffington Post about veterans assuming leadership roles in America. Among other things, he says in conclusion,
Returning veterans can and will assume the leadership roles in the workplace and in the community that will reinvigorate our nation, but only if we all can see them as the civic assets that they are. Do not doubt that a small change in the way veterans are perceived in the minds of millions of Americans can result in a significant positive impact on our nation.