Increasing number of Canadians believe private sector obligated to help veterans find jobs

The unemployment rate is no higher than the rest of the population, but quality of work and salaries are lower

By Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press


Veterans Affairs Minister Kent Hehr, seen here in the House of Commons, raised the issue of hiring veterans in a speech to
military contractors in Calgary earlier this month. (Fred Chartrand/Canadian Press)


A group that helps military veterans find jobs in the private sector says many former soldiers are struggling to find meaningful employment after serving their country.

"There isn't necessarily a larger population of veterans that are unemployed. The challenge to transition successfully into a job is more difficult," said Angela Mondou, president of Canada Company, a charitable organization that connects businesses with the Canadian military.

It's estimated about 140,000 personnel have left the Canadian Forces in the last 15 years.

A report from the Veterans Transition Advisory Council says that while the unemployment rate for those leaving is no higher than the rest of the population, the quality of jobs and salaries is much lower.

Unused skills

It found earnings for former military personnel declined by 42 per cent and former soldiers are frustrated they aren't able to find work that utilizes their skills.

"Based on the survey, about one in four who are transitioning to civilian life find it a really difficult transition. About 25 per cent of them find it's not that easy to move on to the civilian world," said Mondou.

"Lots of private-sector companies are not necessarily motivated to hire veterans, partly because they're not aware or don't understand their skills, background or culture of that skilled workforce."

Veterans Affairs Minister Kent Hehr raised the issue in a speech to military contractors in Calgary earlier this month.

"I want to draw attention to the depth and the skills and innovation that former (Armed Forces) members can bring to your sector. Over 200,000 veterans live in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba," Hehr said.

"While not all of these individuals are looking for new careers, we know that many of them are."

Leaving a structured environment

Clayton Myhill, a former Air Force pilot who left in 2015, said many individuals are at a loss when they leave the military's structured environment.

"They no longer have that support network they had when they were in uniform. They don't have the mentorship. They don't have the guy who's been there and done that," said Myhill, manager of business development at Calgary-based Microlynx Systems, an electronics design service.

Myhill, who still serves in the reserves, would like to see a mentorship program involving corporations that already have former military personnel on staff.

"Those veterans who ... have done that transition successfully and have stumbled into those potholes, can then guide those who are coming after them and say, 'Watch out for this."'

Young vets

Jim Gillespie walked into a full-time job at Harris Canada Systems following his retirement after 32 years in the Canadian Air Force. The company develops and provides communications systems.

"I recently hired a person who was released two years ago and spent two years sort of wandering around, trying to figure out how to get back into the defence industry, and even considered rejoining the military," said Gillespie.

"We tend to think about veterans as those old guys in the Legion that fought World War II — that's not what veterans are these days," he added.

"There are a lot of young veterans out there that I imagine are having a difficult time working themselves into positions."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/military-veterans-canada-private-sector-work-1.4207608

Will you hire a veteran?

The Canadian Press - Jul 16, 2017 / 9:12 am |


Angela Mondou, president of Canada Company, which helps military veterans transition into the workforce.

A group that helps military veterans find jobs in the private sector says many former soldiers are struggling to find meaningful employment after serving their country.

"There isn't necessarily a larger population of veterans that are unemployed. The challenge to transition successfully into a job is more difficult," said Angela Mondou, president of Canada Company, a charitable organization that connects businesses with the Canadian military.

It's estimated about 140,000 personnel have left the Canadian Forces in the last 15 years.

A report from the Veterans Transition Advisory Council says that while the unemployment rate for those leaving is no higher than the rest of the population, the quality of jobs and salaries is much lower.

It found earnings for former military personnel declined by 42 per cent and former soldiers are frustrated they aren't able to find work that utilizes their skills.

"Based on the survey, about one in four who are transitioning to civilian life find it a really difficult transition. About 25 per cent of them find it's not that easy to move on to the civilian world," said Mondou.

"Lots of private-sector companies are not necessarily motivated to hire veterans, partly because they're not aware or don't understand their skills, background or culture of that skilled workforce."

Clayton Myhill, a former Air Force pilot who left in 2015, said many individuals are at a loss when they leave the military's structured environment.

"They no longer have that support network they had when they were in uniform. They don't have the mentorship. They don't have the guy who's been there and done that," said Myhill, manager of business development at Calgary-based Microlynx Systems, an electronics design service.

https://www.castanet.net/news/Business/201927/Will-you-hire-a-veteran

Motivating private sector to hire military veterans still a struggle

BILL GRAVELAND
CALGARY — The Canadian Press
Published Sunday, Jul. 16, 2017 10:22AM EDT
Last updated Sunday, Jul. 16, 2017 10:24AM EDT

A group that helps military veterans find jobs in the private sector says many former soldiers are struggling to find meaningful employment after serving their country.

“There isn’t necessarily a larger population of veterans that are unemployed. The challenge to transition successfully into a job is more difficult,” said Angela Mondou, president of Canada Company, a charitable organization that connects businesses with the Canadian military.

It’s estimated about 140,000 personnel have left the Canadian Forces in the last 15 years.

A report from the Veterans Transition Advisory Council says that while the unemployment rate for those leaving is no higher than the rest of the population, the quality of jobs and salaries is much lower.

It found earnings for former military personnel declined by 42 per cent and former soldiers are frustrated they aren’t able to find work that utilizes their skills.

“Based on the survey, about one in four who are transitioning to civilian life find it a really difficult transition. About 25 per cent of them find it’s not that easy to move on to the civilian world,” said Mondou.

“Lots of private-sector companies are not necessarily motivated to hire veterans, partly because they’re not aware or don’t understand their skills, background or culture of that skilled workforce.”

Veterans Affairs Minister Kent Hehr raised the issue in a speech to military contractors in Calgary earlier this month.

“I want to draw attention to the depth and the skills and innovation that former (Armed Forces) members can bring to your sector. Over 200,000 veterans live in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba,” Hehr said.

“While not all of these individuals are looking for new careers, we know that many of them are.”

Clayton Myhill, a former Air Force pilot who left in 2015, said many individuals are at a loss when they leave the military’s structured environment.

“They no longer have that support network they had when they were in uniform. They don’t have the mentorship. They don’t have the guy who’s been there and done that,” said Myhill, manager of business development at Calgary-based Microlynx Systems, an electronics design service.

Myhill, who still serves in the reserves, would like to see a mentorship program involving corporations that already have former military personnel on staff.

“Those veterans who ... have done that transition successfully and have stumbled into those potholes, can then guide those who are coming after them and say, ‘Watch out for this.“’ Jim Gillespie walked into a full-time job at Harris Canada Systems following his retirement after 32 years in the Canadian Air Force. The company develops and provides communications systems.

“I recently hired a person who was released two years ago and spent two years sort of wandering around, trying to figure out how to get back into the defence industry, and even considered rejoining the military,” said Gillespie.

“We tend to think about veterans as those old guys in the Legion that fought World War II – that’s not what veterans are these days,” he added.

“There are a lot of young veterans out there that I imagine are having a difficult time working themselves into positions.”

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/motivating-private-sector-to-hire-military-veterans-still-a-struggle/article35701557/

Unfortunately for the Commissionaires, at least here in the Maritimes, we have larger Security companies from out west coming in and under bidding by millions of dollars, because they are getting vastly overinflated contracts in places like Alberta and BC. We lost our contract to a company called Paladin, who only had one employee in NS, when they won the contract for Capital Health, and then had to go on a hiring blitz to man all the positions. Now they just beat out the commissionaires for the Airport contract, and have once again gone on a hiring spree. But Paladin, is only interested in hiring youngsters, and supervisors are only in their mid 20's.

Increasing number of Canadians believe private sector obligated to help veterans find jobs

CNW GroupNov 8, 2016, 9:00 AM



For more media materials please visit: https://www.multivu.com/players/English/7960251-commissionaires-veterans-jobs

OTTAWA , Nov. 8, 2016 /CNW/ - Although still a minority, the number of Canadians who believe the private sector has the highest obligation to help veterans find jobs more than doubled from five per cent last year to 12 percent in 2016, according to a new national survey conducted by NANOS RESEARCH Group and released today by Commissionaires.

"I was struck by the significant growth in the number of Canadians who believe the private sector bears some responsibility to help veterans find jobs," said Vice-Admiral Duncan Miller (Ret'd), National Board Chair, Commissionaires.

Commissionaires is the largest private sector employer of Canadian veterans. Each year, Commissionaires hires more than 1,000 veterans in its 15 divisions across the country to provide a full range of security services to clients in the private and public sectors.

"It's no secret that former members of the Canadian Forces bring skills, leadership, and expertise to their new employers. We see that in each veteran we hire," Miller said. "We'd like to see more private sector players, across all industries, benefit from the veteran advantage. It's a win-win proposition."

The survey revealed that men (15.3%) are more likely than women (7.8%) to consider the private sector as having the most important obligation to help veterans find jobs after leaving the military. Eighty per cent of respondents rank the federal government as having the highest obligation to ensure veterans find meaningful employment.

Since 1925, Commissionaires have provided meaningful employment in the security services industry for veterans as they make the transition from the Canadian Armed Forces to civilian life.

Nanos Research conducted a hybrid telephone and online random survey of 1,000 Canadians of 18 years of age or older between August 22 nd and 25th, 2016 as part of an omnibus survey. The participants were recruited by telephone using live agents and administered a survey online. The margin of error for a random survey of 1,000 Canadians is ±3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

About Commissionaires

Commissionaires is one of Canada's leading security providers and the largest private sector employer of veterans. Founded on the core military values of dedication, responsibility and sense of mission, it employs 21,000 people from coast to coast to coast. It offers a wide range of security services including professional guarding, monitoring and surveillance, threat risk assessment, bylaw enforcement, identification and fingerprinting services, and security training. The completely self-funding not-for-profit enterprise returns approximately 95 per cent of its annual generated revenue to employees. Its clients include an array of public and private sector organizations.

SOURCE Commissionaires

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/increasing-number-canadians-believe-private-130000128.html