Hiring Our Heroes Career Summit is the local hiring event of the year
JBCMFR sat down with Alice Massimi, Director of Strategic Communications for Hiring Our Heroes, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation to talk about what exactly is going on June 15th on base, how you can be successful, & some inside information you can’t find anywhere else!
June 15th 2022 will be the date for the long-awaited large-scale event- the Hiring Our Heroes Career Summit, an occasion that hasn’t happened in five years on Joint Base Charleston. The event itself will be two-fold with the morning being focused on a variety of speakers who will be getting job seekers better prepared for the afternoon. The second part of the day will be more of a traditional job fair with many employers ready to hire on the spot. Although the second part of the day may be what most attendees will be excited about, Mrs. Massimi says to not overlook the morning as the two are directly related; “The morning is what can give you added advice and guidance for the later in the day. Anything and everything from getting your LinkedIn profile tuned up, preparing for interviews, professional headshots, and just going over some of the differences in transitioning out of the military can all make you more successful for the afternoon.”
With over 40 employers attending, a 40% expected offer rate, and more than 2,500 jobs up for grabs, this is the premier local event for anyone looking to start or change their career. An important aspect of the career summit, is that it is not just for active duty. Any valid ID cardholder who has access to Joint Base Charleston is welcome to attend. Military spouses, Guard & Reserve, Veterans, DOD Civilians, and Active Duty are all eligible to walk through the Charleston Club doors on June 15th from 0800-1600 “We have job opportunities for anybody in the military connected community” Mrs. Massimi remarks.
If you want to be successful at this event, Massimi’s advice is simple but bears repeating; “Dress for success. Definitely don’t show up in PT gear. Pretend you are going for a job interview! If you have your resume; bring some copies. If you have business cards, bring those too.”
In its eleventh year of doing these Career Summits, Joint Base Charleston is not the only place Hiring Our Heroes will be stopping in 2022. They are a very busy organization traveling outside of the continental United States, customizing their event wherever they may go. This means they will match up with the installation’s mission to ensure transferable job skills and success for on base personnel. Massimi adds, “If we are going to an Air Force base that has a lot of pilots, we will work to have lots of employers from the Airline industry. Likewise, if there is a large mission focus on IT/Cybersecurity, we will ensure those companies are represented.”
Hiring our Heroes was created in 2011, in response to the unemployment rate of veterans, which was “sky-high” at the time. The organization is a partnership that builds off the largest business organization in the world, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce which aims to find Veterans meaningful employment. Hiring Our Heroes, along with other initiatives have certainly helped get the numbers in a more positive direction with Veteran unemployment being less than 3% now. However, there is another military connected population that is in need of attention in today’s world: “Military Spouse unemployment is at an all-time high at 22%, and we are really now focusing on that population which is why we encourage them to come out and take advantage of our services and events as well!” Massimi emphasized.
Hiring Our Heroes Career Summit will take place at Joint Base Charleston’s Charleston Club from 0800-1600 on June 15th 2022 and any and all valid ID cardholders who can gain access independently to the installation are welcome to attend. Participants can register at https://events.hiringourheroes.org/event/5e3d9b00-3620-49a0-b472-2ba4cab997a8/summary Job Seeker Programming will be from 0800-1pm and the Career Fair will be from 1-4pm.