In order to meet the demand for new collar jobs, IBM kicks off effort to hire U.S. veterans
As part of IBM’s—along with other corporate partners—veterans employment initiative, the largest U.S. technology employer announced it will hire 2,000 U.S. veterans over the course of the following four years.
“The men and women who have served in our country’s armed forces have unique talents and skill sets that make them a natural fit for some of the technology industry’s most exciting fields. Many of the positions IBM is eager to fill are new collar jobs. What’s most important in these roles is having the right mix of skills and experience that our clients need in fast-growing areas like cloud computing, cybersecurity, network management, and digital design. Veterans bring a disciplined work ethic as well as strong collaboration and communications skills acquired through their military service, all capabilities that IBM values highly,” Diane Gherson, IBM’s Senior Vice President of Human Resources, said in a press release.
This initiative is part of a broader effort to hire 25,000 U.S. workers through 2020 and includes the expansion of a national program to train U.S. veterans in software widely used in the defense industry and law enforcement.
U.S. Veterans Employment Initiative
According to the official IBM Veterans Employment Initiative website, data analytics is among the fastest growing career fields, with a shortage of 200,000 analysts expected in the United States by 2018.
It offers software training, certification, and job placement assistance to U.S. veterans seeking careers as data analysts. Each year, IBM experts lead five-day training sessions at dozens of locations, working with Corporate America Supports You (CASY) and Military Spouse Corporate Career Network (MSCNN) to host sessions and recruit qualified participants.
There have already been training sessions in Pittsburgh, Tampa, and Las Vegas where over 500 U.S. veterans have been trained since the program kicked off last year, and hundreds more are expected to be trained in upcoming sessions are planned in Philadelphia, Fort Drum, and Houston.
IBM reports that their program has certified hundreds of veterans in the United States, United Kingdom, and Canada, and helped to place many into jobs.
“As a big part of our Train to Hire program, corporate partners like IBM help us focus on elevating our veterans’ skills with training in real, high-growth career opportunities like i2. We are very fortunate to draw from IBM’s deep understanding of the military and strong support for veterans—including many they employ and others who benefit from our deep-rooted partnership.” –CASY founder and CEO Daniel Koeppel
IBM is Not Alone
Companies and government agencies alike are paying more and more attention to the importance of training and hiring a veteran workforce in tech. According to Intel Security and the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ global cybersecurity workforce report, 80 percent of IT professionals reported dealing with a shortage of cybersecurity skills at their workplace.
CIO Dive’s Justine Brown wrote, “It’s one way to help fill the talent gap while also providing new employment opportunities for vets. Now IBM is adding vets to its ‘new collar’ jobs initiative, which includes training employees with diverse and unique backgrounds.”
New collar jobs are popping up in cybersecurity, data science, artificial intelligence, and cognitive business sectors.
Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe recently shared that her state currently has 17,000 open cybersecurity job openings and announced that a new initiative will offer complimentary cyber training for Virginia’s veterans looking to work in cybersecurity.
We’ve covered just why hiring a veteran is a win for your business, and veterans interested in learning how their skills and experience may fit at IBM can use the Find Your Fit tool, which matches credentials from your resume to open IBM positions here: https://ibm-veterans.jobs/.
