Solving the Veteran Employment Transition Problem

Updated: March 23, 2021
In this Article

    Choose to serve those who chose to serve you.

    Estimates are that 200,000 U.S. veterans leave military service each year and rejoin civilian life. However, veterans face significant difficulty in pursuing civilian jobs. This is not a new problem, but it is time for a solution. As the Chairman of the Foundation for VETS, I have a vision for how to solve this problem and it involves research.

    Honor Veterans

    Our Nation values and honors veterans. We applaud veterans’ courage, we are proud of their willingness to serve, we respect them as people, but we as a Nation, fall short when it comes to treating these brave men and women with the same selflessness they have provided to us. We are willing to shake their hands and thank them with our words, but are we willing to honor them with our actions? I believe we are failing to prepare veterans for a part of life we think is easy for them, because it is easy for us. In a way, we respect veterans so much that we believe they do not need our help.

    Systematic Problems Deserve Systematic Solutions

    The solution to the veteran employment transition problem does not rest with any of us alone, it rests with the system. It is the system we are trusting, it is the system veterans are using, and it is the system that is failing our brave Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen. It is the system we need to fix.

    You can see evidence of a systematic problem when you see a large amount of people facing the same problems, time and time again. With veteran unemployment and veteran underemployment, these are problems that seem to exist in multiple locations, at multiple paygrades, from multiple military branches, with the only common denominator being military service. Somehow, military service does not prepare our Nation’s best to immediately play a role in our Nation’s future. That hurts us all, and we all need to take action.

    Solving this Problem

    At the Foundation for VETS (Veteran Employment Transition Support) we have a plan to solve 80% of the veteran employment transition problem within the next 5 to 10 years, but we need your help.
    Like all major breakthroughs in world history, this problem needs research. We need to measure, document, and study the patterns of the symptoms before we can find the root cause. Once we find the root cause, we will need to study possible solutions. This will take time, research always does, but the Nation has been dealing with the veteran employment transition problem since 1776, and now is the time for a solution.

    Be Part of the Solution: Join the Fight

    You can help by participating in our research. Simply go to this website: FoundationForVETS.org/survey and complete the Foundation for VETS Veteran Survey. This survey is open to everyone: active-duty, former active-duty, and non-veterans – we need everyone involved. Your participation will be a giant leap forward in the fight to level the playing field for transitioning veterans.

    Join the fight, take the survey, send it to others, and together we will solve this problem for our Nation, for the economy, for businesses, and for our Nation’s bravest!

    Dr. Joshua D. Cotton is the creator of the Elite Performance Indicator personality and competency assessment, a Management Consultant, a Lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania, a former Navy Personnel Research Psychologist, and the Co-Founder and Chairman of the Foundation for VETS (FoundationForVETS.org).

    Written by Veteran.com Team