Caterpillar Heavy Equipment and Employment for Veterans

Young war veterans are among those greatly affected by the unemployment woes in the country. Aside from the fact that there aren’t too many job openings these days, young war veterans have reported having difficulty seeking posts that are appropriate for their skills. Finding employers that would be willing to hire veterans seems to be a great challenge too.

According to the New York-based support group Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, while there are those who currently work part-time, a great number long to be employed in full-time jobs. Furthermore, at least 17% of said demographic is out of work as of January 2012. This represents more than a million unemployed war veterans. Assuming each individual has a family of four, there are then more than four million Americans struggling to cope due to joblessness!

Amid all these economic problems, it’s then truly heartwarming and reassuring to know that there are still American companies out there that are striving to provide gainful jobs to hardworking Americans, particularly to our war heroes.

Caterpillar Inc., the maker of famed Caterpillar heavy equipment, is one of them. The company recognizes the immense contribution of our war veterans. So it’s no surprise that it currently provides employment to more than 2,500 individuals who are U.S. armed forces veterans.

The company is witness to the discipline, professionalism, and maturity our war heroes bring to the workplace. And it wants other employers to take advantage of this benefit as well. To further demonstrate its commitment to providing gainful jobs to war vets, the company has invested a whopping $100,000 in the Hiring our Heroes program of the United States Chamber of Commerce.

The program was launched back in March 2011 and aims to organize 400 hiring fairs across the United States. So far, it has hosted over 200 hiring fairs in the country. More than 10,000 war veterans and spouses have found job placements with the help of the program.

Caterpillar’s contribution will fund at least 10 employment placement fairs across the country. This will give the company, the dealers of its earth moving machinery and power generation equipment, as well as other employers the chance to meet with and recruit talented individuals from the war veteran lot.        

It may take some time for the economy to truly improve. And with the country gearing for the return of almost 124,000 troops by the year 2017, employment generation efforts like these will play an even more crucial role. But with continued commitment from the business sector, as well as job seekers taking a proactive role by taking trainings to improve their skills, hopefully we’ll all come out from this standing even prouder and even more resilient than before.