Patch.com today focuses on the employment challenges facing military veterans. Highlighted in the article is UMBC financial economics major and former staff sergeant Stephanie Gilbert, who has had difficulty finding a summer internship despite a high GPA, military leadership experience and fluency in Arabic. This is not a unique experience among veterans. The article notes that Maryland’s unemployment rate for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans was nearly 2% higher than the rate for non-veterans in 2011.
UMBC’s Fritzie Charné-Merriwether, who works on veterans’ issues in Student Affairs, says a notable challenge in matching student veterans with employers is translating their military backgrounds to non-military contexts. “They have all this great experience… [but] sometimes, it’s difficult for someone not exposed to that to understand what they bring to the table.”
Political science major Mike Ball, president of UMBC’s Student Veterans Association, has responded by focusing on networking and learning how to market his military experience. He also teaches fellow veterans on campus how to hone their resumes, highlighting how their previous work (e.g., managing expensive equipment and responding effectively to high stress situations) translates to the civilian job market. He reflects, “Army leadership—if it’s taught me anything, it’s that you’re competent, confident and agile.”
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