There are three things that a soldier basically looks for. He looks for a job, he looks for
education, and he looks for a home. And those are the three things that drive us, of which
the 100,000 Jobs Mission is the core piece for the jobs function.
We’re really thrilled to be on the ground floor of this effort. The JPMorgan Chase 100,000
Jobs initiative is obviously very exciting.
One thing we hear over and over again from JPMorgan Chase is that this isn’t a career
fair, this is a hiring event, and so we are quite confident that we are going to walk
away with great candidates that we can make offers to.
We’re in a position to be able to bring jobs to this hiring event with hiring managers
with an opportunity to interview and actually get the job.
We have 800 people plus pre-registered for this event and with walk-in traffic we’re
expecting over a thousand.
There’s a lot of troops coming home from the war now that the wars are wrapping up.
It’s great that people are looking out for us.
Their mission is to hire 100,000 veterans so I figured, “Hey I want to be one of those
100,000.”
We made a commitment at the beginning that we were going to honor these soldiers the
way that they have honored us with their service and their duty. It’s not just a good thing
to do, but it’s good for our business. When you look at the attributes of a soldier, sailor,
marine you begin to see that as an employer that’s what’s in it for us.
We’re non-traditional candidates with hard work backgrounds. We don’t just see a job
as a 9 to 5 we see it as more of a task.
Transitioning military veterans, it’s a natural fit for Lockheed Martin. They understand
our customer. They have a great work ethic.
Why a coalition? We know that our success is going to be a function of partnerships.
We have jobs all across the board from finance to legal to networking and technology. And
also our partner companies, so it’s not only I’m working with Cisco, but it’s
also JPMorgan Chase and 711 and these other companies.
In a normal job fair, we’re competitors. But in this space, we’re collaborators.
I’ve spoken with about 6 or 7 companies. As a matter of fact, I spoke with JPMorgan
Chase and so far it’s looking pretty good.
It’s been a fantastic day, a lot of people here, and we have 13 confirmed hires for J.P.
Morgan which is a great, great precedent for us.
Each company here is hiring thousands of people, so 100,000 is doable. It just takes the commitment
of these companies, the coalition members, JPMorgan Chase. And we can do it.