On Thurs. Feb 8, Mercedes Benz Stadium hosted the joint Atlanta Veterans Job Fair in partnership with RecruitMilitary and Disabled American Veterans (DAV).
The event had 640 veteran registrants and featured nearly 50 exhibitors. The mission, according to RecruitMilitary, was to empower veterans and help them find meaningful work in their next stage of life.
RecruitMilitary’s Event Director Raul Torres, a Marine Corps veteran himself, said the event is a great opportunity for veterans or soon-to-be veterans looking for their next career move but are unsure how their skills may translate into the job market.
“One of the biggest difficulties that transitioning service members encounter is translating that military experience and putting it onto a civilian resume,” Torres said. “All the intangibles that they bring — teamwork, leadership, everything from training — it can be tough to put that all in words so that a company can understand everything that you bring to the table.”
Torres added this is where RecruitMilitary and other organizations like it can step up and fill a need for the service members.
The organization has been doing job fairs for veterans since 2006, and this event marks the 57th held in Atlanta. Beyond these events, RecruitMilitary also offers one-on-one career counseling, networking events and a job board. To date, the organization says it has connected over 2 million veterans, transitioning service members and military spouses with employers.
The job fair is the organizations flagship service, though, because nothing can replace face-to-face interaction, Torres said. Especially given that many of these recruiters were transitioning service members themselves once.
“Some of [the recruiters] have even been on the other side of our own job fairs being jobseekers as well,” Torres said. “So that just gives you an idea of the kind of conversations that are happening between these veterans.”
On a personal note, Torres said he still has friends in service who ask him for advice on transitioning out, so it’s especially gratifying to be able to help and provide some guidance.
