RICHMOND, Va. – Members of the Virginia Department of Military Affairs Human Resources Office were recognized for their success and commitment to the hiring and retention of women veterans during the 2020 Virginia Women Veterans Virtual Summit hosted June 17-19 by the Virginia Department of Veterans Services in collaboration with the Virginia Employment Commission.
“The DMA State Human Resources team set a goal last year of growing our efforts to hire veterans into our DMA staff,” explain Walt Mercer, DMA Chief of Operations. “We have been a part of the Virginia Values Veterans program since it began, and we are proud to say that we have met or exceeded our hiring goal for veterans each year. In order to do this, the HR team has worked hard to ensure that our hiring process, advertisements, and interaction with candidates was more veteran friendly and relevant to the veteran community. While our entire HR section served in the military, we also know that we can always improve and learn, and we have.”
At the Summit, VDVS recognized four V3 employers who reported hiring the largest number of women veterans over the past twelve months. As with all V3 recognitions, the employers were divided into categories depending on the size of their workforce. DMA was in the “Large” category and recognized for hiring three women veterans. The complete list is below with their hiring statistics is copied below:
Enterprise (1000+ Employees):
Sentara Health 260 hires
Large (301-1000 Employees):
Department of Military Affairs 3 hires
Medium (51-300 Employees):
FITT Scientific LLC 4 hires
Small (1-51 Employees):
IntellecTechs 4 hires
According to VDVS, Virginia has the largest percentage of women veterans per population of any state in the U.S. with more than 107,000.
“Even when we think we know it ‘all,’ we continue to progress in our knowledge of hiring veterans,” said LaCora Hurte, a DMA human resources analyst. “Recently I brushed up on my Military Cultural Competency skills by attending a virtual class that DVS offered.”
The training was helpful for DMA efforts to connect with veterans and help them find a good fit with the agency.
“We’ve committed to providing meaningful, long-term careers after military service has ended and understanding the challenges that veterans face when entering the civilian workforce, as well as learning how to address those challenges and how to help our veterans succeed,” Hurte said. “We do this through utilizing different recruitment strategies and platforms, encouraging small teams within departments, and relating military skill sets into civilian workforce skills.”
Michelle Claiborne, DMA Human Resources Manager, expressed pride in her team and said, “This team rocks!” She also noted how much the various departments of DMA support our efforts to hire veterans, and also that she appreciates the partnership and excellent teamwork between DMA and DVS.