Veterans' Employment Services Newsletter
IN THIS ISSUE:
Welcome to the Veterans’ Employment Services (VES) Newsletter. Our mission is to assist you and your family secure meaningful careers in Michigan.
The concept of veterans helping veterans is a trademark of the VES team and one of the keys to its success. Veterans face many challenges when transitioning out of the military – finding meaningful employment should not be one of them.
- Veterans in need of employment assistance should contact the nearest Michigan Works! One-Stop Service Center by calling 800-285-WORKS (9675) or visiting MichiganWorks.org.
- More information about Veterans’ Employment Services is available at Michigan.gov/VES.
- Register today and start your job search at Pure Michigan Talent Connect at MiTalent.org.
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Juneteenth (short for “June Nineteenth”) marks the day when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas in 1865 to take control of the state and ensure that all enslaved people were freed. The troops’ arrival came a full two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Confederate General Robert E. Lee had surrendered at Appomattox Court House two months earlier in Virginia, but slavery had remained relatively unaffected in Texas—until U.S. General Gordon Granger stood on Texas soil and read General Orders No. 3: “The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.”
Juneteenth honors the end to slavery in the U.S. and is considered the longest-running African American holiday. On June 17, 2021, it officially became a federal holiday.
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Join the VES team on July 5 from 11 a.m. to noon for the next installment of the Employment Readiness Series. The team will explore what a soldier or family member can expect when visiting one of the many Michigan Works! Service Centers.
In addition to our Veterans’ Employment Service Staff, Michigan Works! has computer workstations available at no cost, and can help you fax or scan resumes or other necessary documents, resume and other informative workshops, and unique training resources.
A Michigan Works! Is truly a “One Stop Shop” for all your employment and training needs for the soldier, veteran, spouse and family members.
Register for the virtual event here.
The Michigan Veterans' Employment Services and the Michigan National Guard Family Programs teams have partnered to ignite the potential of our stakeholders through weekly tips and monthly presentations.
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Scholarships for the new Google Career Certificates are now available, and the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity’s Office of Employment and Training is excited to help bring these scholarships to our state.
The Google Career Certificate program can help you get on the fast track to a competitively paid job in a high-growth field. You don’t need relevant experience or a degree to complete this flexible, online job training. Just put the skills, passion, and ambition you already have to work.
- Explore what the program has to offer at grow.google/certificates. Learn more about how the Google Career Certificates work to put you on the path to in-demand jobs.
- Learn how you can earn a Google Career Certificate for free by contacting your local Michigan Works! office at MichiganWorks.org.
Designed by Google, this self-paced, online training program can prepare you for careers in the high-growth fields of project management, user experience (UX) design, data analytics, and IT support. And with under 10 hours spent studying a week, you can be prepped for a new career in under six months. Once you graduate from the Google Career Certificate program, you can connect directly with over 150 top U.S. employers to jump-start your job search.
There are over 1.27 million job openings across Certificate fields and the demand is growing. Earn a credential and stand out to employers with a Google Career Certificate.
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The entire Veterans' Employment Services team would like to welcome Michael “Mikie” Kelley as the Jackson Veterans’ Career Advisor.
Mikie is an Army/Navy veteran with a background in case management from Samaritas.
Beyond a personal commitment to serve fellow veterans, Mikie, has a passion for playing blues harmonica and writing original music.
If you’re in the Jackson area, stop by and say hello!
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Macomb/St. Clair Michigan Works! is offering a new and innovative Job Seeker training session for veterans and their spouses.
The Veteran Employability Boot Camp is designed to build resumes, build an online presence, cover and thank you letters, and Interview skills. This is a by-product of Michigan Works! Macomb/St. Clair's week-long sessions that develop relationships, camaraderie, basic computer skills, confidence, determination to find suitable employment……and most of all HOPE.
For more information, go to Macomb-stclairworks.com.
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 The Veterans’ Employment Services team met for the Annual Veterans Services Conference last week to conduct training and to share best practices in the service of Michigan’s veterans. In attendance was Maarla Milligan, Director-State of Michigan for Veterans’ Employment and Training Service.
We look forward to implementing some these best practices to help our veterans. For more information about how we can help, go to Michigan.gov/VES.
Dana Ruottinen is a U.S. Navy veteran who had been successfully working for several years as a traveling Certified Nurse Assistant in Alaska, California and New Mexico. However, he returned to Calumet, Michigan in April 2019 to care for an elderly family member.
In February 2022, with his family homecare situation improving, Dana decided to resume his nursing assistant career, but only if he could remain in the Calumet area so he could continue to help his family. He began his job search at Upper Peninsula Michigan Works!, where he connected with Veterans' Career Advisors (VCA) Paul Burke and Aaron Lindholm.
VCA Lindholm helped Dana connect with his county Veteran Service Officer (VSO) and e-Benefits. VCA Lindholm also helped Dana update his resume before referring him to Local Veterans' Employment Representative (LVER) Kendal Kettle.
LVER Kettle worked with Dana to explore local opportunities and contacted Savannah Dougherty, UPMW Business Service Specialist for the area. Together, Kendal and Savannah found Dana the perfect opportunity and advocated on his behalf.
Dana interviewed with and was hired in March in an assisted living facility that is within walking distance of his home.
This collaboration between UPMW and VES helped another veteran find the position they wanted. Reach out to us at Michigan.gov/VES to see how we can help you!
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After nearly 30 years of trying to prove a theory – that an environmental toxin was responsible for sickening roughly 250,000 U.S. troops who served in the 1990-91 Persian Gulf War – Dr. Robert Haley says new research confirms that sarin nerve gas caused Gulf War illness.
Following the Gulf War, nearly one-third of all who deployed reported unexplained chronic symptoms such as rashes, fatigue, gastrointestinal and digestive issues, brain fog, neuropathy, and muscle and joint pain. Federal agencies spent years broadly dismissing the idea that troops may have been suffering from exposure to chemical agents, with many veterans experiencing symptoms sent to mental health providers.
But a new study in the Environmental Health Perspectives journal used genetic research and survey data to determine that U.S. service members exposed to sarin were more likely to develop the Gulf War illness, and those who were exposed and had a weaker variant of a gene that helps digest pesticides were nine times more likely to have symptoms.
"Quite simply, our findings prove that Gulf War illness was caused by sarin, which was released when we bombed Iraqi chemical weapons storage and production facilities," said Haley, Director of the Division of Epidemiology in the Internal Medicine Department at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
"There are still more than 100,000 Gulf War veterans who are not getting help for this illness and our hope is that these findings will accelerate the search for better treatment," Haley said.
Read the full story on Military.com.
After four attempts to play college basketball games outdoors on Navy ships, where three of them were either postponed or outright canceled, and all of them ran into financial complications, the prevailing winds indicated - for lack of a better pun - that ship had sailed.
Or maybe not.
A decade after the last attempt to play basketball on a flight deck, there are multiple reports Gonzaga and Michigan State are revisiting the concept in San Diego on Veterans Day. No agreement has been finalized, but ESPN is believed to be involved.
Read more here.
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An up-to-date list of upcoming job and career events is available on Pure Michigan Talent Connect’s Career Events Calendar.
SEMCA Michigan Works! Virtual Job Fair
June 29, 1 p.m. - 4 p.m.
Event Link: Register using this link
Chat with representatives from around 35 different employers looking to fill more than 100 job openings.
VeteranWorks Virtual Job Fair
July 1, 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Event Link: Register using this link
Join the free virtual career event and connect with employers looking to hire across a variety of fields. This event is conducted the first Friday of each month.
Veteran Career Expo: Friday Workshops
July 8, 10 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Event Address: Michigan Works! Monroe - 1531 N. Telegraph Rd., Monroe, MI 48162
This event is intended to prepare veterans meet with employers during Monday's Veterans Career Expo. Workshops include resume writing, interview skills and perfecting your pitch.
Veteran Warren Virtual Job Fair
July 11, 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Event Link: Register using this link
All you have to do is sign up, show up, chat with key decision makers, and get hired.
Veteran Career Expo: Hiring Event
July 12, 1 p.m. - 4 p.m.
Event Address: Michigan Works! Monroe - 1531 N. Telegraph Rd., Monroe, MI 48162
Meet with employers in person and check out the resource fair taking place in the courtyard outside the office.
Virtual Job Fairs Count as Work Search Activity in Michigan
Registering for and attending Virtual Job Fair events supported by the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity count as official work search activities required by the Unemployment Insurance Agency. Check out upcoming Virtual Job Fairs by visiting Pure Michigan Talent Connect’s Career Events website.
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Be Prepared: Charge your phone and practice your elevator pitch.
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Keep an Open Mind: You never know which company has the perfect job for you.
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Work the Room: Stop by every booth and share your QR code with every organization.
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Rule of 3: Get at least three company follow-ups.
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Apply as You Network: Apply to open positions while you network with recruiters.
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Smile: Be confident. You've got this!
MORE VETERANS' RESOURCES
If you are a veteran looking for information concerning education, health care, benefits or quality of life programs, please visit the Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency for more information, or call the Michigan Veteran Resource Service Center at 800-MICH-VET.
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Veterans' Employment Services is part of Workforce Development, within the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity's Office of Employment and Training. Michigan.gov/VES |
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