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OREM — The Utah Department of Workforce Services launched a program on Monday to help our military veterans find work quickly when they get home from deployment.
Through the program, veterans will be able to get credit for their military work when they apply for a state license or a college education.
Too many of America's fighting men and women can't find the jobs they want when they come home from war. Job fairs are a good start, but retired Army Colonel Bart Davis says the military and potential employers need to eliminate confusion about how a veteran's credentials translate into civilian work.
"The men and women who come home have a certain set of knowledge, skills, and abilities that are really proven, but they're not necessarily understood," Davis said.
That's one reason unemployment among veterans is 3% higher than the civilian population nationwide, and about 1% higher here in Utah. Among those 19 to 26 years old, it is significantly higher.
Workforce Services formally launched its Accelerated Credentialing Program for Veterans — or ACE — at Utah Valley University.
The men and women who come home have a certain set of knowledge, skills, and abilities that are really proven, but they're not necessarily understood,
–Col. Bart Davis, Ret.
"The program is designed to help these men and women crosswalk their military occupational specialties into the civilian world," said DWS ACE Outreach Specialist Jerry Culwell.
That understanding of the skills that the military people bring is going to be a great boon to the military folks that come back and start putting the applications in," Davis said.
Here's the idea: If you drove a truck over in Iraq or Afghanistan, for example, those are skills that translate into a job here at home. The ACE program makes sure that all of those skills do not go to waste.
"It would fast-track him getting that credential on the outside, in order to be a truck driver in the commercial or civilian world," said Culwell.
The state even helps financially with course work the veteran may need.
"These are skills that are hard to teach," Davis said. "Accepting responsibility, leadership, and all of those kinds of things."
The department is also working on a similar plan for higher education credits. More information on the ACE program can be found on the Utah Department of Workforce Services website.
