Honoring the U.S. Commitment to Veterans by Dianna Tafazoli
Honoring the U.S. Commitment to Veterans
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) announced an increase in Veteran hiring in FY 2014. The President’s Council on Veteran Employment has been pushing with great effort to move the Veteran hiring initiative since President Obama established the Council more than five years ago. Data shows that there has been a consistent increase each year in the percentage of veterans hired into the Federal civilian service. FY 2014 showed a record increase of 33.2 percent surpassing the 31 percent reported in FY 2013.
Remarkably the Executive Branch showed an increase in hiring Veterans which coincided with an overall increase in new employees hired in the Federal service. Katherine Archuleta, Director of the Office of Personnel Management also serves as the Vice-Chair of the President’s Council on Veteran Employment. Katherine Archuleta asserts her confidence in the Council moving in the right direction to the achieve the President’s goal to increase veteran hiring in the Federal civilian service.
Katherine Archuleta is joined on the Council by 24 Cabinet level agencies and other independent agencies. Secretaries of Labor and Veterans Affairs, Thomas Perez and Robert McDonald respectively also serve as co-Chairs of the Council. To ensure Women veterans are represented in the hiring initiative, Director Archuleta has called on Catherine Emerson, Chief Human Capital Officer for the Department of Homeland Security, to lead the effort.
The Council is also pushing forward an addendum to the Veterans Recruitment and Employment Strategic Plan FY-2014-2017, a government-wide initiative, to include women veterans and diversity goals to expand the current goals of Leadership, Commitment, Employment, marketing and the Information Gateway.
Veterans are some of the most highly qualified leaders in the nation with exceptional skills and a superior acumen to work in teams and build teams. Hiring qualified Veterans in the Federal civilian workforce is America’s commitment to honoring the brave men and women who put their lives on the line everyday to keep America safe and secure.
Dianna Tafazoli
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know.
