Unique program helps veterans adjust to labor force

The Department of Veteran Affairs says one of the most common challenges for service members adjusting to civilian life is preparing to enter the workforce. 

Booz Allen Hamilton’s Fort Bragg fellowship program, launched in partnership with Hiring Our Heroes, seeks to make that adjustment easier.

The 12-week program, which began mid-May, is the first of its kind for the region but one of several programs that Booz Allen has launched nationwide. Booz Allen has been partnered with Hiring Our Heroes, a 501(c)3 organization under the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, since 2013. The nonprofit helps veterans, service members and military spouses find employment in the civilian workforce. 

Booz Allen Hamilton is a part of Hiring Our Heroes’ Veteran Employment Advisory Council’s Chairman’s Circle. The group also includes BP, Comcast NBCUniversal, FedEx Corporation, Brazen, Fastport, and Google.org. 

Booz Allen is also a member of the nonprofit’s Military Spouse Employment Advisory Council, among Comcast NBCUniversal, HCA Healthcare, Johnson & Johnson, BP, Google.org, Hilton, and Microsoft. 

Since the information technology company’s partnership with HOH began, the two organizations have worked to develop numerous programs that provide hands-on training to service members and military spouses in the civilian workforce. In November 2020, Booz Allen launched their Mil/Tech Workforce Initiative. The initiative is designed to help transition service members into civilian life. 

The fellowship in the Fort Bragg/Fayetteville region falls under that umbrella and seeks to equip its applicants to transition into civilian careers in technical fields such as artificial intelligence, analytics, data science and software and cloud development. 

Simplilearn, a Hiring Our Heroes partner, provides certification training courses, so the fellowship is at no cost to job seekers or employers. 

The corporate fellowship program is approved by the Department of Defense SkillBridge program. Under DoD Instruction 1322.29, eligible service members from any branch of the military may apply with command approval. 

Jay Dodd, vice president at Booz Allen and a leader in the Fayetteville office, recognizes the impact the program can have in the region. “Fayetteville — with proximity to Fort Bragg and Camp Lejeune — offers a tremendous pipeline of talent and provides an important access point for transitioning service members to make the leap into the civilian sector with in-demand, high- tech roles,” Dodd said. 

“Booz Allen’s local Fayetteville office, established in 2009, has grown tremendously, benefiting from that transitioning service member talent base, and the city provides close access to our critical clients, allowing us to sit at the apex of mission and technology in Fayetteville.”

Since Fayetteville is a pilot location for the program, the company aimed to bring on one fellow for the first run of the program. Over a dozen eligible candidates applied for theMil/Tech Fellowship in Fayetteville. Out of those, two were selected for the program at the Fayetteville office. In general, Booz Allen Hamilton’s MilVet-focused fellowship programs have a hire rate of 85 percent. 

Sharon Lewis, principal in the firm’s Fayetteville office and a leader in the firm’s Joint Combatant Command (JCC) business is hopeful about the impact the localized fellowship will have. 

“Fayetteville is so rich with talent and opportunity, and we really see this fellowship program as a way for transitioning service members to feel empowered to move seamlessly into the civilian sector, which can be a challenging process, and to leverage their diverse experiences and deep knowledge to continue making a difference, in or out of uniform,” Lewis said. 

The fellowship does more than creating opportunities for future employment, Lewis explains. It empowers service members. “Booz Allen has a saying – ‘empower people to change the world,’” she said. “What that means in practice is creating opportunities, like the Mil/Tech Fellowship program, that empower folks to bring their full selves and full experiences to bear to meet the mission at hand.”

Booz Allen values the skills that service members acquire during their military careers, and looks for applicants that will bring those traits and an interest in tech careers to the table. 

“Transitioning service members have dedicated themselves to meeting critical missions throughout their military careers and often have more skills than they realize that can be transferred to civilian roles – helping in this case, our clients meet their missions,” Lewis said.

“We look for folks who want to not only bring their current skillset to the role—including an understanding of the military, those with a proven track record of leadership, those who value integrity and ethics, understand what it takes to meet critical missions and can operate in stressful environments—but also those who are interested in pursuing those tech-forward careers and are open to being trained on new technology, like artificial intelligence, machine learning, DevSecOps, cybersecurity and more.”

Visit https://www.hiringourheroes.org/ for more information about Booz Allen Hamilton’s partnership with Hiring Our Heroes and on how to apply for fellowships.