Fluor gains skilled employees by recruiting former military men and women
Military veterans often have the skills that Fluor looks for in employees – leadership, knowledge of engineering and logistics, ability to work with a diverse group of people, a strong work ethic and the ability to think on their feet.
As far as Fluor’s big objectives go, “the military population is beneficial. They have the experience in logistics that we need,” said Steve Lamb, director of human resources of Fluor Government Group.
The company, a member of the Veterans Employment Advisory Council, is ranked among the top military-friendly employers in several listings.
But many veterans separating from the military have difficulty finding employment, according to “Veterans Employment Challenges,” a report released last year by Prudential. Tens of thousands of young people are searching for new careers, many after returning from multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. In addition, employment has not yet picked up to the level it was before the 2007 recession.
About one in five of the veterans surveyed for the report were unemployed but seeking employment. However, the unemployment rate for veterans as a whole has dropped below the general unemployment rate, although younger military veterans and those with less education face higher unemployment rates.
In May, the unemployment rate for veterans who enlisted after 9/11 was 7.3 percent, down from 7.5 percent in April and 9.2 percent in March. That’s better than the 7.6 percent unemployment rate for the general population.
One reason for the drop, experts said, is the big push over the past several years by the government and private industry to encourage the hiring of veterans. Another help is the general improvement in the employment sector. But they warn that an influx of younger, perhaps less-educated veterans will be seeking work as the force is drawn down in Afghanistan.
“Veterans offer a unique set of skills, experiences and leadership abilities developed and honed during their years in the military and in the crucible of combat, yet unemployment rates highlight the difficulties returning veterans are facing in their search for new careers,” according to the report.
One major challenge, the report said, is that veterans may have trouble explaining how their military job skills can translate to the civilian workforce. They also are searching for jobs that are meaningful to them.
Fluor’s affinity with veterans is historic, but over the past five years, Fluor has hired more than 3,000 veterans, most of them in the corporation’s Government Division, said Luke Hardaway, a veteran himself and a military recruiter with that group. The company actively seeks veterans in fields such as engineering, logistics, project control, contracts, craft jobs, procurement and safety.
About 9 percent of Fluor’s total workforce is made up of veterans, said Fluor spokesman Brian Mershon, with about 200 veterans employed in the Greenville operations.
Hardaway said that the majority of employees with a military history have served overseas prior to joining Fluor, “most in a leadership position.” Also, they’ve worked with a diverse group of people, including fellow military, contractors and in-country natives.
Many Fluor employees do the same, most of it in support of Department of Defense projects, particularly with the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force, Lamb said. The military experience adds value to customer satisfaction.
Despite the fact that some veterans face a difficult time finding employment, Hardaway said many companies actively search for them as employees. He left the military around 2006 and thinks the Department of Defense now “has improved tools needed to aid the transition from the military to the workforce.” Plenty of resources are available to help any veteran who needs help, but sometimes that can be a problem itself – too much choice can create difficulty in figuring out where to go.
Fluor and other companies often work with potential employees during the last year they are serving in the military. Recruiters attend military-oriented job fairs and work with veterans on skills like resume writing and interviewing. They may also help direct them to other resources.
For the past seven years, GI Jobs has listed Fluor as among the top 100 military-friendly companies in the United States. CivilianJobs.com considers Fluor a most-valued employer.
The company finds its veteran employees in many ways. Some find their way to Fluor through traditional job fairs or through knowing someone at the company. Fluor holds job fairs on military bases throughout the year. It works through jobs groups such as Military.com and Monster.com with the joint Hiring Our Heroes program. Other smaller programs may also link up with Fluor or other companies seeking veteran employees.
“We use a lot of different tools,” Hardaway said.
