NEW YORK — Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, was joined by a group of New York City veterans on Sunday to push for the Hiring Heros Act of 2011 (S.951). As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Gillibrand is sponsoring the Hiring Heroes Act of 2011 which would help veterans through training, personal employment assessments and workshops on how to write resumes and conduct interviews. 

The bill would modify the Transition Assistance Program (TAP) requiring a joint effort between the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Labor to conduct a study to "identify an equivalence between the skills developed by members of the Armed Forces through various military occupational specialties (MOS) and the qualifications required for various positions of civilian employement in the private sector" (S.951). This is intended to ensure that each service member would be provided with an individualized assessment of the various positions of civilian employment he or she may be qualified for as a result of the skills developed in their MOS.

In addition to the proposed changes to transition training the bill will also change federal hiring practice in order to make better use of existing skills. For instance, veterans who operated military vehicles would not be required to repeat their training as civilians when doing similar work. This change in federal hiring practices would also allow servicemen and women to begin the government employment process before the end of active service. In the private sector, a competitive grant program for nonprofits, like HonorVet, who provide mentorship and job training programs to boost placements with companies would aid in the efforts to ensure that unemployment rates among veterans are reduced.

HonorVet.org is dedicated to helping veterans transition into the workforce, through employment services and provision of “warm services”, including counseling and matching vets with “vet-friendly” employers.

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