Hiring Our Heroes Corporate Fellowship Program - E18

Lenora interviews Rob Comer, Regional Manager for the Corporate Fellowship Program under Hiring Our Heroes.  A program that every business owner would want to know about.

The Hiring Our Heroes Corporate Fellowship Program connects businesses with transitioning service members.  Originally a workforce development agency initiative out of JBLM in 2014, to help transition military leaders to roles in corporate America, is now a national fellowship program.

As an Internship or fellowship model it is connecting junior, mid-grade to senior noncommissioned officers to business. The best way to transfer skills is to use them on the job.  With 12 weeks to participate, there has been instant success with now 500+ companies participating that can consider management level opportunities.  

A jobs program to connect to an employment opportunity for 12 weeks at no cost to the business, now sustaining 92% national job placement rate.

• Hiringourheroes.org
• Corporate Fellowship Program  
• Three Regional Managers
  • West Coast:  Rob  Comer             RComer@USChamber.com
  • Midwest: Sierra Schafer               Sschafer@USChamber.com
  • East Coast: Aleksandra Johnston  AJohnston@USChamber.com

Under the Hiring Our Heroes umbrella: 

• Service members are paid under the DOD Skillbridge to fund a 12 week transition period
• 36 hours weekly with 4 hours of CFP support
• No acquisition fee
• No placement fee 
• No percentage of salary fee 
• Resume reviews
• Remote interviews
• Available across the country
• Similar program available to military spouses
• Trades programs available

 Resume reviews and interviews happen the 8 weeks prior to each cohort start date.

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Transcript

I'm Lenora your host for 3Ps In A Podcast, about purpose, pathways, and perspectives. If you're a business owner, do you want to know about a job placement program with a 92% success rate? No acquisition fees, no placement fees, no percentage of salary fee where you can do resume reviews ahead of time remote interviews and it's available across the country?

[00:00:31] I think you do. You have to hear this podcast episode today with Rob Comer and the Corporate Fellowship Program out of Hiring Our Heroes. Every business leader wants to know about this and every service member in our military ought to know about this, as well.

[00:00:47] You're going to enjoy this episode. And pass it on to someone else who may benefit from it. We also talk about a program for veterans, spouses and more.

[00:00:57] The website for this is hiringourheroes.org/fellowships and the contact for our guest, Rob Comer is rcomer@uschamber.com.

[00:01:09] Lenora: Rob, I'm very pleased to have you as a guest on my podcast today. I met you, gosh, it's been a couple of years ago now and, I'm just impressed with the organization that you work with, what you do, and the impact it's making across the country.

[00:01:25] So I have Rob Comer on this podcast. He's the senior regional manager for the Corporate Fellowship Program for the Western region. Did I get that right? 

[00:01:34] Rob: That's right, I'm with Hiring Our Heroes, US Chamber. And Leanora, it is so great to be here with you. Thanks so much for having me on this podcast.

[00:01:41] Lenora: It's absolutely my pleasure and an honor. I am impressed with the great work and the hard work that everyone at the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation does. I've come to know it over the last few years. Then I learned more specifically of Hiring Our Heroes. But something we're gonna really focus on today, which is some corporate fellowship programs.

[00:02:03] Rob: Right.

[00:02:03] Lenora: So I want the audience to get a sense of the work you're doing for veterans. That's pretty unique here. Pretty amazing for businesses to get involved with, and they're going to find out why cost-wise, why it's so smart, can you give a little bit of an outline on it and some of its history and maybe even a little bit of your history, and then we'll jump in more?

[00:02:21] Rob: Well sure. You know, I'd be happy to. And I think one of the things we were talking about a little bit earlier, and if you know this, the history of the program is pretty fascinating and without going too much into it, this whole program started as a workforce development initiative out at Joint Base Lewis McChord in Washington State when, the local workforce agency Pacific Mountain Workforce Development Council was given a grant by the Department of Labor, US Department of Labor to provide workforce services to transitioning service members. And through that effort, we saw a need to provide a way to connect transitioning military leaders to roles in corporate America, that were commensurate with their education and experience.

[00:03:04] And to that end, I was looking at a number of different initiatives and ways to do that and settled in on internships as a great model, to connect, transitioning service members, to corporate management level roles and opportunities. 

[00:03:19] Lenora: I've always thought that internships were so smart because both sides get to see who am I working with; both sides get to do that.

[00:03:26] Rob: And there we saw one of the biggest challenges with service members was transferring their skills or being able to transition and talk about the skills that they had in the military and how they translate, you know, to corporate America roles and things like that. And what better way to translate your skills than actually doing the job and working with the company?

[00:03:46] You know, we just want an instant win. When we launched that first cohort here at Joint Base Lewis McChord, Washington. We launched the program in 2014 and saw 15 service members. We had about seven companies.

[00:03:59] So, really strong, well-known company players in that first cohort. And we just saw instant success with the program. The companies that started with us are still with us and we've added gosh, over 500 companies to the program since, but a little grassroots effort, you know, blossomed into this wonderful opportunity. 

[00:04:19] Hiring Our Heroes was an organization that I connected with early in the process of business development to try to help us bring businesses to the table, to engage with the program. And I always joke like, you know, who knows who Rob, you know, at this workforce development agency is? Who is this guy, what is he asking us to do? Cause it was a tall order. You know, we were asking companies to open up the doors to management level opportunities.

[00:04:47] You know, the companies that would normally pipeline talent through, you know, internally or reach out to the civilian market. We're now asking them to reach out to the military market and say, why don't you take a look at some of these transitioning leaders who have a degree, you know, leadership experience, great problem solving experience and abilities and, and doing challenging things and challenging environments?  And take a shot at and take a look at this talent.

[00:05:11] You know, where there's engineers look at engineering roles, you know, where there's IT professionals in the military, look at those roles, but bringing them in at that level. And then we're asking them, this is not just work experience folks. This is what we call in workforce development, a jobs program.

[00:05:26] We want these opportunities to connect to an employment opportunity. So don't just bring them in thinking you know, "Hey, we got an intern, you know, from the military for 12 weeks." We're asking you to please look at open requisitions and projected requisitions and earmark opportunities and see if there's a role there that you could bring a fellow into and then hire them or offer them a job after the fellowship.

[00:05:49] And it blew me away after that first cohort; the response and the success of the program we immediately saw. It was 87% placement as we measured it up to three months post-graduation 

[00:06:02] And since then, you know, you fast forward to 2020 where we are today, sustaining this 95% job placement rate in this market. It's about 92% nationally as measured three months post-graduation and average salaries are off the charts too. And that's one thing that scared employers at first as well.

[00:06:22] So you can imagine kind of the difficulty that we have launching and getting program buy-in. So Hiring Our Heroes, US Chamber Foundation was so instrumental in helping us with business development. And then they saw the success of the program and offered to help us launch it nationally, go to other military bases, launch it from there.

[00:06:41] We expanded to Fort Hood, Texas in 2015 at the end of the year. And then it just grew from there. And then eventually Hiring Our Heroes said, "Hey, Rob, would you like to join our team?" As the grant was ending on the base, I saw an opportunity, opportunity knocked and I said, "Absolutely, I'll join your team."

[00:07:00] And then I was essentially the lead national trainer to help launch the program. I was training program managers at each location. Because each cohort, as we call them, it's a 12-week program, you know, we run in cohort models. So we'll have a number of people in each cohort at each location and all different companies, across the United States.

[00:07:18] But each program manager had to be trained how to do that. So that was initially my job with them. And then I was still leading the program here. 

[00:07:25] Lenora:  Yeah, you've been kind of busy. I mean, what this is, is you're taking service members that are transitioning out of the military and because they're still in the military, they're still getting paid their salary.

[00:07:37] Rob: Right. 

[00:07:38] Lenora: And yet there is a government funded program that any company can get engaged with that has a position potentially to offer and they can have a current veteran work at their company, basically four days a week at no cost to the business where they can gain the skills on the job and the veterans and the companies go through a process course prior to the start of the 12 weeks to see, is this a mutual fit for both of us?

[00:08:05] Are we both interested in this potential opportunity? But then you have 12 weeks where they are being paid and a company can have an incredible potential need met and find someone, but they had no idea the type of skills that they've gained when they were in the military. 

[00:08:22] Rob: Yeah. That's true and all good points. And thank you for being, very direct  with unpacking the program. And in a kind of course, correct, it's a 40-hour work week. That's what we've done. Department of Defense has said you can have a service member that's transitioning out of the military in their last 180 days of paid transition by the military to participate in a program like this. It's called DOD Skill Bridge. It is the overarching policy that governs these types of programs.

[00:08:54] And the fellowship is unique in that it takes a 40-hour work week, gives the businesses, just about every week, 36, hours of that week. To do an internship with the business. We call it a fellowship because we felt like the, the demographic that we were catering towards and trying to assist, which had the biggest challenge, were military leaders seeking management level or higher roles.

[00:09:18] Right. So we thought that an internship more seemed like a term for college students getting work experience. And these certainly aren't just college graduates. They're college graduates that have gone in the military and leadership roles. Right. So, we say junior, military officers, mid-grade to senior noncommissioned officers, that level of talent pool.

[00:09:40] So we decided to call it a fellowship, so a kind of a side note there, but that's why we call it fellowship instead of internship. 

[00:09:46] Lenora: Yeah that good. 

[00:09:47] Rob: But on that note, what's interesting about the model is the reason you only get them for 36 hours of the 40, is that for three to four hours a week, we're engaging with these service members in a, what we call it corporate huddle.

[00:10:00] Where we invite business leaders and community leaders, we've even partnered with Deloitte Consulting to provide training for our service members going through the program. And what we do is we cover three key topic areas, as I say. Career Transition which kind of lumps in your, you know, your high-level interview, high-level resume training, all the job seeker skills, I guess if you will.

[00:10:23] But you know, more for management level and higher roles. We do Corporate Integration, which is sort of what we call the emotional intelligence type. These we call the transformation from the military to civilian culture. So that type of training, so Leading Without Authority is a great topic that we discuss, salary negotiations and things like that.

[00:10:42] And then we talk about, topics like Business Leadership.  When I built the program, I connected with a local university, and partnered with them to, to bring business leadership, education to the program for our fellows. So what they did was take their MBA program off the shelf, pull some courses from it and they delivered that during the fellowship. But we've kept somewhat of that model, by incorporating that into our inner huddles every Friday morning, by having business leaders come in and talk about business operations and manufacturing, Lean Six Sigma and all these types of topics. So they're doing corporate training, business leadership training, along with that corporate huddle.

[00:11:20] And then we also provide the service members an opportunity to get certified. And any one of a whole host of industry professional credentials, through our partners simply learn, who provides scholarships for a service member so they can get their PMP or the Lean Six Sigma certifications, green belt, black belt, a whole host of IT certification CISSP, CCNA, all the Comptia certifications, all of that stuff.

[00:11:46] Along with big data, marketing certifications, they can do a whole host of them, at no cost to them as well. So that's what we're doing with the extra three hours, four hours a week, bringing them back into, into kind of a training and education and development model during the first year. 

[00:12:02] Lenora: Yeah, that's amazing. I think if any veteran is listening the value of applying to this program, which I do know they have to apply and go through a process themselves to be a part of it  that, what they may gain is amazing. And I know because of various programs I'm aware of, this one being one of the most impressive clearly out there, is that you're providing support along the way during this fellowship program.

[00:12:27] Do you find, cause you mentioned it earlier. I'm wondering when you started this out, when, when this really kind of began, you mentioned that, you wondered how the reception by businesses would, be, did you find that they had only one,  perspective on what the veteran  may have done  when there's such a different range of what your career may have been while you were in the military?

[00:12:49] Rob: Yeah. And that is so key.  The process for matching fellows with the company. Because, I think to be quite candid, people in the military have a hard enough time sometimes explaining it to their friends and family, what they do in the military, you know. Which can also, and I say, well, think about that, to a civilian recruiter or talent acquisition professional that maybe has no connection to the military at all.

[00:13:13] And how would they understand, you know, what an artillery officer is, or, you know, an armor officer, or an engineering officer or what they do in the military? And does it really translate to what, you know, the IT professional in the military does it really translate to what they do in the civilian world?

[00:13:29] Lenora: I think what's interesting is I think every industry ends up having its own language over time. You don't realize how many things you say that you think everybody now knows, but it really fits your sector. It fits your type of technology, whatever. 

[00:13:42] I want to compare it to, it's not the same, but compare it to, many years ago I worked in the nonprofit sector. And the way you term things and say things, is different than what you said in the business environment. When I made the transition, a friend of mine, thankfully, who was somewhat of an expert at helping people with transition, thank God we were friends.

[00:14:01] Cause she helped me with, pushing me and working through how do you communicate this?  it's just shifting the language to understand here's what I did. But here's in a way that you, you can hear it.

[00:14:11] And that's a process. It's a lot of work, but it really helps both sides connect better , for the business person to go, "Wow, what you've accomplished, what you've done, the skills you have are so much broader and actually can be a bullseye fit for what you're needing" in whatever your sector is. But you gotta be able to communicate it.

[00:14:31] Rob: Yeah, no, and that's exactly it. And I, I think, some of the value of getting involved in the transition process with one of the programs like ours, is that when they apply to the program, they do an initial phone consult with us, and then we connect with them, you know, after that, to share resources, to help them translate their experiences and things like that.

[00:14:50] We also recommend that they connect with a mentor. There are a number of great organizations out there and, American Corporate Partners is one of the ones that we highlight, that are Arati (?). And what that is, is really neat because I think sometimes in the military, we get stuck, you know, inside we say "inside the fence" or "inside the gates", and we're communicating with our colleagues and our peers, and we're talking about transition with them.

[00:15:14] But what we don't do is see the value, or maybe not even know how to connect with people outside the gates to get this type of education. So what American Corporate Partners has done is, they connect you with business leaders, and real-world, you know, corporate America who are volunteering their time.

[00:15:30] Some of them are prior military. Some of them aren't. In my opinion, I think the ones that aren't sometimes could be of the most value. Right? And they help you connect with the right people in roles and industries that you are seeking or that you feel like, you know, you want to pursue when you get out of the military. And, you know, through that informal kind of connection, that mentor mentee relationship, they start to build that skill and that acumen and translating their skills.

[00:15:55] Some of it becomes a lot easier. To others, I think it depends on how long you've been in and, and how often, you know, you're engaging in conversations with the various populations in the military. And like, and I used to joke that I didn't use to talk like I do now for, I was in the military 29 years, in the U S Army.

[00:16:15] I transitioned out as a Senior Noncommissioned Officer, the second highest rank in the military, for the enlisted side. I was a First Sergeant in the Army. That's one of those kind of hard assignments in a leadership role, where you're indirectly engaging with leadership with the, you know, with the troops, as they say on a day-to-day basis and, and kind of in their lives and involved in the training and development of the service member. So I used to talk a lot differently than I do now. 

[00:16:42] Lenora: It's the same work though, a lot of the same work, but you use totally different terms and that's extremely common. And like you said, long-term, and by the way, thank you so much for your service. Yeah, thank you seriously for that. 

[00:16:53] I have learned, I've said this to people in other situations, my father is a veteran. He served in the Korean War. He was a crew chief for Saber Jets in Korea in 1953. And he did, I believe it was a total, Oh, bummer if I get this wrong, I'm going to say at least six years, but he hardly talked about it.

[00:17:11] Of course, as kids, you're also not thinking about asking your dad cause you were pretty unaware and it was prior to my being born. But, I've learned so much about veterans from the veterans at the company I'm at. Those that have helped lead some efforts to reach out to veteran programs is how I became aware of Hiring Our Heroes in the Corporate Fellowship program.

[00:17:32] And so, as I've learned and met more veterans within our company and others that have maybe gone on to other companies. I've been so impressed at the qualities, at the type of growth, the type of things people have to adapt to. The leadership skills, the way they sometimes have to be tossed at things.

[00:17:50] And they are so dang smart that it's been a beautiful thing for me. I've loved learning, I'm terribly impressed. So can you say a little bit about the veteran fit for the leadership needs in business, and why sometimes they can come in and hit the ground running so fast and they may have some of the exact skills, different language, than a business may need?

[00:18:12] Rob: Yeah, no. And I think that's interesting and just you having this opportunity and, and passion around, you know, opportunity to speak and share through this platform and, and your passing around doing this, speaks volumes about the service members at your company that you've interacted with.

[00:18:29] Lenora: Yeah. 

[00:18:29] Rob: You know, and that right there, when you get a good hire, a good match with the company, that's that's prior service, you know, as we call it or, or veteran, you'll start to see that. And I think with the fellowship program, what's unique is that we go a long way to helping companies match with the talent. And we, we do this like a job application process where we open up our clients or candidate database, to the company. So they can go in and can see a snapshot, you know, all the demographic information, the college education level, what their degree is in, if they have a clearance or not, and all this kind of great information. 

[00:19:03] And then they can drill down and download the resume. Look at their LinkedIn profile to get a picture of the candidate on paper and online and then they can reach out and just to, you know, set up a prescreen call or, you know, we call initial consult or whatever with the candidate, and then set up an interview for the roles that you feel like they're aligned with, that you have available to host them as a fellow.

[00:19:28] And through that process, you can interview multiple candidates, just like you would for any job that you have available. And at the end of the process, which is about a five-week process, sometimes six weeks depends on the cohort. And, at the end of that process, you essentially will let the program manager know that's responsible for that area, which candidates you felt like were best fit for the role.

[00:19:49] And you can sort of rank order them if you want on a preference list, order of merit list, or just send us the candidate that you really have a desire to host as a fellow. Now the flip side of that, the candidates are doing the same thing. So they may interview for multiple companies and multiple roles and not have the same opportunity to rank and do an order of merit list, but here's the deal, we're ending up with the fellow that says, "Hey, I want to be with company, you know, company X in this role, with this team, this is my preferred role." And if the company is saying the same thing on the other side, it's a match.

[00:20:21] Right. So right off the bat, when you get matched with a fellow that wants to be there on a team that wants you there, right? So that's, that's extremely important. Because when they go through the integration process with the company and become a fellow, that are doing their work with your team, that's where you really begin to see the value of your decision.

[00:20:40] And, that's where we're seeing the biggest wins, you know, because once they get there, they start doing this work. They're like, “Oh my gosh, how can we get more of this? How can we engage more?” I just did a call with one of our company partners that did a pilot with this, in the last, cohort, this current cohort that's about to graduate in November, the three-month program. We just did a national call, "Robert, how can we expand this nationally?" is what they were asking. So, okay. 

[00:21:03] Lenora: That's pretty. That speaks volumes. Because again, you're saying you got a 92% job placement rate,  meaning the people that go into this 12 week, for a business it's 12 weeks of free testing out your, each of you are testing each other. That's a no brainer to look at. You've got to look at this program and then 92% job placement. I'm sorry. 

[00:21:26] Rob: We are a nonprofit, you know, to be clear. So we don't, there's no acquisition fee. There's no placement fee. There's no percentage of salary we take, like a lot of recruiting firms have and things like that.

[00:21:35] That's not our goal. Our goal is to help companies match with the right talent coming out of the military. To increase and maximize their outcomes of landing a job that's commensurate with their education and experience right out of the gates. Right. And that's what we're trying to do. And we're meeting our marks.

[00:21:49] I mean, our average salaries are off the charts. They're the right where we want them to be. But the percentages that we're seeing are crazy, and this is the thing, you know, we we've measured this up to three months post-graduation. So understanding that 92% are service members that are getting a job offer within three months, you know, after they graduate. So it's perfect. I mean, it's working out great.  

[00:22:10] Lenora: That fits really beautifully into another question I would tend to want to ask when I first heard about it going, okay. Wow. You're getting 12 weeks free, as a business, but the veteran is being paid by the government. You want to go wait a minute, why would they do this? But I know I've heard, and I'd like you to say a little bit more about this, that it's actually a really smart investment because transitioning and the different benefits can be costly and doing it this way is actually a cost savings. So it's a mutual win and I am a fan of things that are wins in multiple directions. 

[00:22:40] Rob: This is true. And this is the, you know, the kind of the challenge that I have is I don't like to come off as a salesman. Yeah. 

[00:22:49] Lenora: Yeah, no, I get it. 

[00:22:50] Rob: I think the ROI for the business and the fellowship is exponential and it's off the charts.

[00:22:57] I mean, if you're getting three months of, you know, labor it is essentially, and I hate to use that word, but it's true, at no cost to you. You can even bill, when you give them the offer, you can even build that into the salary benefit as you're seeing, well, we had three months of no cost. But now not only that, and now they're trained up in the role ready to hit the gates running, you know, right out of the service when they go into the job, because they're already doing the job.

[00:23:22] So there's no like train up period onboarding costs and all of these different things. There’re no acquisition fees, like I had mentioned before and all of that type of thing. So there's a lot of ways that businesses can build the structure out. You know, and so the platinum result obviously is your host a fellow when you hire them out of the program, that's where the most benefit for the company will be.

[00:23:42] Now the other thing is that I, that I always kind of like, ah, you know, "Is this the elephant in the room?", it is. It's like, I can't guarantee that you can give the fellow an offer. And we can't, you know, we're not saying to participate in this program, you have to give them a job offer. The only mandate from the Department of Defense to continue to see value in this opportunity is to have the ability to interview at the end of the program. 

[00:24:07] So I can't give you no guarantee that you can give them an offer. The flip side of that, which is a challenge too, is I can't guarantee that the fellow would accept the offer. 

[00:24:15] Lenora: Right. 

[00:24:15] Rob: So, you know, we're kind of trading in that, in that space, in that water. You know, we understand that, but I think that gives the company a little bit less of a burden.

[00:24:24] You know, knowing that this could go either way, but let's just step into and let's try this. And if we get the platinum result, it's, it's going to be, everybody's going to be happy. And it's going to be a great day when that fellow starts working, because the value is right out the gates, like I said, they're already three months trained up in the role.

[00:24:39] They already know how to do it. They've been working in it. Now you're just going to start paying them for it. And this is in full-time employment is what we're looking for the service member at the end of the day. But there's still the intrinsic values of having that work experience that the fellow gets.

[00:24:55] So don't just think it's all for not if they don't accept the offer because they can take that experience at your company and all the training and things that they got, the projects that they did and that information, the success around that translated onto their resume. And if they go to apply for other opportunities, they'll have that work experience, just like a traditional college internship.

[00:25:15] You know where that intern would now have real-world experience, the service member would now have other than military experience on their resume to add as they go and compete for other opportunities. So there's still a lot of value there as well from the company. 

[00:25:28] Lenora: Yeah. It's what in my world, in what I've done a lot of in, in certain programs is called shared value.

[00:25:34] You really do have a minimal risk on both sides. There is some risks. There always is. Because you don't know, is this talent going to work out for me and is the talent going to want the role? All that piece. And do I even have one for sure to offer? I think I do. Your intentions are all good. That process is real, but the fact that you have the resumes that you look at, you are interviewing ahead of time.

[00:25:54] You guys are going through a normal process without the recruiting fees, sorry, recruiters, but there's, there's no recruiting fees on this because it truly is also one of those, just help, let's serve and help and support our veterans who have served us, in our country. 

[00:26:09] Rob: We can do it just about any location around the country, where the companies have an opportunity and the ability and desire to host a fellow.

[00:26:16] Where there's a candidate that wants to go to that location. We can work to see if they're a match for your opportunity. And that's, that's what the process really has become. It's great. I mean, we were initially started out with just a few hubs around the United States and we had only served the companies around those hubs.

[00:26:32] Now we can do it anywhere in the United States and we're doing that. We're having, service members are applying from all over the globe to the regions and the areas that were, you know, leading, with this program and managing the program. And then we're matching them with companies that can go into this process and search for candidates that are interested in those locations and those types of roles.

[00:26:52] And then interview them for the opportunities, right? So it's really right, you know, right company, a right candidate, a right position, in the right location is what we're, you know, is what we're doing and what we've been doing since the beginning of this year, essentially, where we used to call it the remote program. Now it's just the corporate fellowship program. 

[00:27:12] You can apply to whatever city, state, area that you're interested in going to, and we'll try to connect you with a company in that area. Or, they can bring the company to us. That's the flip side of that, if you know, so if you know, any company gets a call from a service member said, Hey, I can do this fellowship program, you know, with your company and all of that, you know, if they're just open to the opportunity, then they can come back and say, "Hey, Rob, you know, what is this?"

[00:27:36] And I can explain the program and the opportunity and see if we can set it up for you. You know? So that's another huge benefit to it as well. They can bring that to us. 

[00:27:44] Lenora: Yeah. So like, and you mentioned this may have been when we were talking prior to the, to our actual conversation here, is that there's at least 18 different location physically, where there is somebody representing this program, but really because of the ability to do quite a few things, and even with some other additional benefits, the veteran may apply from anywhere and have that ability to meet a need in really any city.

[00:28:05] So to me, this is something any business should be aware of and at least take a look at and consider. And I'm so impressed too. Cause I hadn't been at the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation site for a while. I looked up on Hiring our Heroes, doing my due diligence and catching up again before we did this conversation or had this conversation and there's a whole lot more resources.

[00:28:28] I was very impressed because I tend to think of all the different things that people need in transition.  And I thought you guys have quite a list and pieces of information, ways to support the veteran in that transition, tools for the things we talked about and more, and then also a nice, clear pathway for the business. So, go on that website. 

[00:28:48] Rob: Yeah. 

[00:28:49] So it is hiring our heroes, plural, H E R O E S.org, is the website. But I am so proud of the work that we're doing. Let me just say that first and foremost. I mean, as a veteran, I would not be doing anything if the juice wasn't worth the squeeze. Right. I would not be involved with an organization that had maybe the wrong goals or the wrong direction or whatever.

[00:29:13] I mean, to me, it just speaks volumes, to see this organization and using their strength and their leverage and, and all of their funding and, and the tools that we have and the people that we have working for us, for the good of the service member. And as I often say, I don't do any of the stuff for myself.

[00:29:30] I am here, you know, for the sake of helping people get plugged into opportunities and find the right roles. And, essentially I'm a workforce development manager. I mean, essentially that's, that's the field that I stepped into when I transitioned from the military and I want to see people landing right, and getting the right careers and matching them with the companies and the companies getting the right talent and seeing the value, by doing the program, by working with service members and what they can bring to the table.

[00:29:57] And, and I think, you know, as I mentioned before, all of the companies that started with us here are still running with us. It just, it says, "Hey, something's working." Right? And we're continuing to grow. Or, you know, the, the companies that are coming in to the program and working with us. But what you mentioned earlier too, you know, when this, in, you know, it's not played, I mean the whole pandemic thing, if we could just mention that, you know, a lot of companies had to shift to virtual.

[00:30:23] And the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation, which Hiring Our Heroes falls under. Being the educational arm of the U S Chamber of Commerce stepped up to provide numerous resources, but just like they did, we did the same thing for service members with Hiring Our Heroes. So all of the virtual resources that are available now through our company relationships and our partners in different programs and different workforce development programs, different nonprofit agencies that we're working with and partnering with, we're doing all of this great work and presenting these opportunities online in a virtual setting, as well as doing virtual career fairs. 

[00:30:59] And some of them hybrid some of them in-person and virtual, coordination with the military bases that we work with and things like that. All of that great work. And just recently we've developed a partnership with another company to build another fellowship program, but this one is focused on veterans. So we're taking a piece of our grant funding and providing a paycheck to those veterans that are going through that program. Right? 

[00:31:23] So they'll have just like our corporate fellows who are getting paid by the military still, our veterans are getting a paycheck to go through these programs. And then we decided to offer this to military spouses as well, recognizing that that is a highly sought-after demographic, but a highly underserved demographic and a highly underemployed demographic in our society. I think the unemployment rates are somewhere in the twenties, right, for military spouses, which is just crazy when you think about that. 

[00:31:50] So we've been launching that program. Well, we launched it back five years ago and it's been, it's been moving and thriving throughout the United States and it's just now rebooted here in the Northwest. but it's available also to companies and very similar to the corporate fellowship program model, you interview and screen and match talent with opportunities.

[00:32:07] You rank them, and then you bring them over on board for it in this case, a six week fellowship, because they are still, you know, out there working or they're unemployed currently. And we're just trying to fast track them to an opportunity by connecting through the fellowship. So when that one is six weeks, but it runs very similar to the fellowship.

[00:32:24] So all of these things that we're doing. I just continued to be impressed and I, and I'm humbled. but you know, have a lot of pride in what we're doing and super proud of our team. 

[00:32:33] Lenora: No kidding. And again, I thank you for bringing up those additions, because if this particular fellowship program may or may not fit for you, you really need to see on the site, the other options that are out there.

[00:32:45] I know there's a lot of jobs in the trades that there are great jobs, great paying jobs, great careers. And yet there's not necessarily enough talent there.

[00:32:53] We have a lot of veterans who've done a lot of physical work that have a lot of skills. And could even say, Hey, let's reach out to you guys and see if you can create your own type of fellowship program, but really any business could engage with this if it's a fit. Whether it's technology mechanics, I saw several things.

[00:33:09] So obviously I've become a fan. What I get out of this is trying to just promote the work, which, which makes me very happy. I'm proud of it. I know you have typically three cohorts per year. I did want to say that because the timing of this podcast episode, although it can be rereleased or listened to it, anytime, you actually are officially launching your newest cohort on really November the third, correct? So it is possible for someone to potentially still get involved if they don't know about it? Or is that putting more pressure on you and already a busy team?

[00:33:41] Rob:  No, please. That's fine. If you're interested in the January cohort. The screening for that cohort, where I talk about the matching process starts November 2nd, we released the resumes.

[00:33:51] It runs through December 10th. So you would need to interview candidates and screen candidates and get engaged with the program by then. And, to Lenora's point,22 corporate fellowship, like I stated from the beginning is strictly focused on management level roles. But hiring our heroes has gone to extra things to provide trades programs, for entry-level roles, individual contributor, roles, technician programs, and a bunch of different things that we do.

[00:34:14] So feel free. You know, check out hiringourheroes.org and, take a look at the website and look what's out there. And Leanora will provide my contact information, I'm sure, at the end of the podcast, if you want. We have three regional managers. We cover the entire United States between the three of us.

[00:34:30] So one of us will be able to help you where you want to serve. If you connect with me and you're looking for East coast, all connected to Alex, if you're looking for me and connecting to the Midwest, I'll connect you with Sierra, but between the three of us, we'd be happy to work with you and talk with you and, and talk about how you can get involved with our programs.

[00:34:47] Lenora: Thank you so much, Robert. I know again, the retention, the conversion rate speaks for itself.  It's such a mutual win. Again, thank you for your service. Thank you for the work. I know you work very hard and so does the entire team that I've ever met.

[00:35:01] I'm proud to be able to help share the message. And I really hope businesses take a look. So I'll make sure that in the notes, the links are there. If they can dive into a cohort, it's going to come around again three times a year, and then there's additional programs besides, so you simply have to check it out.

[00:35:17]Rob: And you're so welcome, Lenora and it's been such a pleasure working with you, and it's been a pleasure of being connected with you throughout the years and seeing the support that you provided. And, and the efforts that you've gone through to highlight opportunities for service members in general, not just Hiring Our Heroes.

[00:35:31] So thank you for the work that you do and going the extra mile and providing opportunities like this, for us to engage and, and share what we're doing, the great work that we're doing. So I appreciate that as well.

[00:35:43] Lenora:  Absolutely. My pleasure. Thank you. 

[00:35:45] Rob: You got it.