Veterans Employment Initiative June 19, 2013

2. Veterans Employment InitiativeJune 19, 2013

3. President Obama Launches the Veterans Employment Initiative November 9, 2009 “Honoring our sacred trust with America’s veterans means doing all we can to help them find work when they come home so they never feel as if the American Dream they fought to defend is out of reach for them and their families.” President Obama signing Executive Order 13518

4. Veterans Employment Initiative The Initiative outlines the most comprehensive approach to improving employment opportunities for Veterans the Federal Executive Branch has ever undertaken. It seizes on four central themes: • honor our sacred obligation and trust to our Nation’s Veterans; • utilize the talents of Veterans to help the Government meet today’s dynamic challenges; • leverage the capacity of the departments and agencies to achieve more than what one agency could do; and • build a program worthy of emulation by the private sector.

5. Barriers to Veterans Employment • Lack of clear leadership regarding the value and importance of hiring veterans • Infrastructure that does not support advocacy of veterans employment within Federal agencies • Insufficient understanding of veterans’ preference and utilization of special hiring authorities by our HR professionals and hiring officials • Inadequate understanding veterans’ preference and the Federal hiring process by our veterans and transitioning service members • Absence of systems to match veterans skills and education to positions within the Government

6. Veterans Employment Initiative There are Four Strategic Elements to the President’s Initiative: • Leadership Commitment and Advocacy • Council on Veterans Employment • Veterans Employment Program Offices • Skills Development and Employment • Marketing Veterans Employment • Information Gateway (Fedshirevets.gov)

7. Strategic Elements • Leadership Commitment – establishes a governance structure and infrastructure dedicated solely to the employment of Veterans in the Federal Government • Skills Development and Employment – focuses on providing employment counseling and aligning the talents and aspirations of veterans and transitioning service members with the civil service career opportunities

8. Strategic Elements • Marketing Veterans Employment – creates a marketing campaign targeted to veterans and transitioning service members on the benefits of continuing their careers with the Federal civil service as well as targeted to hiring official on how veterans can meet skills demands in their organizations • Information Gateway – creates a single-source website for disseminating accurate and consistent veteran employment information and resources for veterans, HR professionals, and hiring officials.

9. Performance – New Hires In the first full year of the Initiative, Fiscal Year (FY) 2011, the Executive Branch hired the highest percentage of veterans in over 20 years • The Government hired approximately 230,000 new employees in FY 2011 compared to approximately 282,000 new employees in FY 2010 - a reduction of over 50,000 total hires • Approximately 65,000 were veterans, equaling 28.3 percent of total hires • A 4.3 percentage point increase over the FY 2009 baseline of 24.0 percent

10. Performance – On Board • In FY 2011, the number of veterans onboard was approximately 567,000 of the 2,079,000 total employees • Veterans represented 27.3 percent of the workforce • In 2009, approximately 512,000 out of the 1,983,000 employees, or 25.8 percent of the workforce, were veterans

11. Veterans Employment Hiring Percentage Model

12. FY-11 Veteran Employee Profile

13. Major Milestones • Created Government-wide Veteran marketing campaign: December 2009 • Published Government-wide Veterans’ Recruitment and Employment Strategic Plan for FY 2010-2012: January 2010 • Launched Feds Hire Vets Website: January 2010 • Established Veteran Employment Program Offices March 2010 • Created the Vets to Feds Career Development Program July 2011

14. Major Milestones (Cont.) • Adopted Hiring Percentage Model to measure success September 2010 • Developed mandatory, annual web-based veteran employment training modules for hiring managers and HR practitioners July 2011 • Created a pilot program to employ Formerly Homeless Veterans January 2012 • In FY 2011, the Government hired the highest percentage of Veterans in over 20 years; 28.3% of all new hires were veterans

15. What’s Ahead • Continue being the Model for Veteran Employment • Announce FY 2012 Results • Launch agency V2F Programs for other High Demand Occupations • Modify Feds Hire Vets Website to include current Federal employees who are veterans • Publish next iteration of the Government-wide Strategic Plan for FY 2013 -2015

16. What’s Ahead (Cont.) • Ongoing support to homeless and women veterans in finding Federal careers • Ongoing assistance to transitioning military service members and their spouses with Federal employment • Maximize outreach to student veterans utilizing their GI Bill educational benefits • Expand use of social media to target veterans for employment • Reintegration and retention of veterans • Alignment with other Federal Initiatives

17. Questions? Hakeem Basheerud-Deen Deputy Director, Veterans Services U.S. Office of Personnel Management Washington, D.C. (202) 606-3602 hakeem.basheerud-deen@opm.gov