Local Organization Helps Veterans Find Work
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Jobs are hard to find for many Americans, but it can be even more difficult for veterans coming home from war. That's why one local organization, Resource, is committed to training and placing veterans in green jobs.
Resource is helping veterans find their niche during these tough economic times. They are doing it with skills training, employment services, case management and in some cases housing.
Within the last year, Resource, with the help of the department of labor, has been pushing to help recent vets get re-trained so they can get green jobs.
"I was an inspector general for the 34th Infantry Division -- also known as the Red Bulls, "said Jim Doten.
Doten knows war all too well. He spent one year in Basra with the Red Bulls.
"I was working as a geologist for a consulting firm when I got laid off shortly before deployment," Doten said.
During his time in Iraq, Doten couldn't help but fight the war in his mind of how he was going find a job once he got back home.
It was during a re-integration event for the Red Bulls that he was introduced to Resource.
"I ran into an individual, Tom Carrol, and he explained Green Jobs for Veterans, so I set up an appointment with him and came on down here," Doten said.
"We're seeing a lot of veterans that are coming saying okay I need to get back in the civilian job world and how do I do it, " said Kim Feller.
Kim Feller is a Resource Center Director and helps veterans get on track to get a job.
"The project is set up to have veterans come to the door, assess where their skills are, assess what their capabilities are, what they learned in the service. Can they bring that back into the civilian work place?" said Feller.
For Jim Doten, it took additional training, working with Resource counselors and 111 days for him to get a new job.
"Luckily, (I) ended up having several offers and decided to take the job with the city as an environmental inspector. It's been working great. I love my job," Doten said.
Doten says all it took was letting someone help him help himself. And the results were life changing.
"You got that laser focus and getting a job -- not time to milk the system -- got to move forward and make it happen," said Doten.
Resource is committed to helping veterans in whatever their needs are.
If you are not a fit for the Green Jobs for Veterans there are other projects that Resource has to get Veterans back in the workforce.
