Veterans aim to parlay military skills into civilian jobs during job fair at the Grand Valley Armory

by Jacob Carpenter

WYOMING — Four and a half years ago, Steven Perry was a U.S. Army team leader in Iraq when his infantry division found and captured deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Now, Perry is on a new mission: find and capture a new job. "I’m hoping to find a sales position," said Perry, 25, who owns a struggling marketing company in Detroit and is looking to move to Grand Rapids. "The biggest thing is being patient and learning all of your options."Perry was among more than 3,000 job-seekers Thursday at the Grand Valley Armory, 1200 44th St. SW, for the fourth annual West Michigan Veteran Job Fair. About 80 businesses and organizations, including Meijer Inc., the Michigan Department of Corrections and Fed Ex, accepted applications and resumes.

The job market last year was particularly harsh for young veterans, with 14 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds with military experience unemployed. That was 2.5 percentage points more than 18- to 24-year-old non-veterans, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

 That reality has struck Army National Guard veteran Josh Pelham, 21, of Lake Odessa. He has been employed three months total since returning from Iraq in September 2007.

"The advantage of being a veteran is some people look upon you as having that military experience, but some see you as having a mental illness or worrying that you’ll have a flashback to the war," Pelham said while applying with DuHadway, Kendall & Associates, a Grand Rapids-based security company.

Although Pelham is seeking a long-term career, he said, at least for now, he would settle for a few days of employment with the security group at the Rothbury music festival in July.

A common struggle for newly discharged veterans is not having a college degree and lacking on-the-job experience.Finding a veteran with work training and a college degree is "almost impossible," said Chris Penley, a project manager for Kalamazoo-based construction firm CSM Group.

"You might have somebody straight out of college, but they might not have a lot of experience," said Penley, a Navy veteran who manned a table at the fair. "But you get a more well-rounded person that’s a veteran, and they might not have a construction management degree."

After being discharged in May 2006, Perry attended Baker College to augment correspondence courses taken while in the Army.

But he said he has struggled adjusting from Army culture to the business market.

"There’s different attitudes toward civilians and systems of success," Perry said. "It takes a lot of patience."

Veterans are more likely to find jobs at companies that typically employ people with military experience, said Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Levandoski, the Grand Valley Armory recruiting station’s commander.

"There’s a lot of companies that like to hire veterans, and there’s also companies that look for certain skilled training that veterans have that the population doesn’t so, in some sense, they’re better off," he said.

"With such high unemployment, not a ton of companies are hiring. So, it’s tough."

While the job fair was targeting veterans, others attended.

Kitty Hillian, 51, of Battle Creek, was learning about her employment options after retiring last month from General Motors’ Wyoming stamping plant, where production will halt May 29.

"I hear a lot of people saying they don’t want to hire the older people, but we’re the best workers," said Hillian, a 30-year millwright at the plant.

"The young kids, they don’t really want to work hard, I don’t think."

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