Bringing Veterans to Microsoft

Posted by Scott Pitasky
Corporate Vice President, Human Resources Talent & Organization Capability Group

(Cross-posted from Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential blog)

Today, on Veterans Day, we take some time to celebrate, honor and remember our United States military veterans. At Microsoft, we are especially proud to recognize and thank our colleagues who have selflessly served our country and continue to do so through the National Guard and Reserves.

As greater numbers of men and women return from active duty, we know that these individuals and their families need our support, expertise and resources to help them transition successfully back to civilian life.
From a Microsoft perspective there are two elements to this.

As we announced yesterday our Elevate America veterans initiative is focused on working with a coalition of public, private and nonprofit organizations around the country to contribute expertise, cash and in-kind resources to give US veterans and their spouses the skills and resources they need such as career counseling, technology skills training, job placement and additional support services like childcare, transportation, and housing.

As an employer, Microsoft has a long history of supporting the military and veteran community as evidenced by the growing veterans community at Microsoft. We recognize the qualities that veterans bring and this was one of the driving forces behind the creation of our Military2Microsoft program.

The program has been created in association with our veterans and has been designed to assist people transitioning from the U.S. military and those serving in the National Guard and Reserve to find job opportunities within Microsoft.

We Still Serve Screenshot

Military2Microsoft includes a range of resources to help make the job search experience easier for veterans such as our new site: WeStillServe.com, which connects transitioning military members to Microsoft’s employee-initiated group of veterans and helps match candidates to job opportunities within the company. The site includes a range of resources including:
• A unique Microsoft Military Job Decoder Tool to directly map military occupations to available Microsoft positions;
• A calendar of events to help service members meet and network with Microsoft employees who have transitioned from military service;
• First-person testimonials from current and ex-military Microsoft employees explaining what they do and how they transitioned;
• Integration with social-media communities Microsoft has established on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to help candidates connect with other veterans and service members, and to learn more about targeting their job search and developing their skills;
• Live chats with Microsoft employees who have a shared military experience and can serve as advisors and advocates, discuss what it’s like to work at Microsoft and help candidates think through next steps in their job application.

Today is a great moment to recognize the selfless contribution of our veterans. We hope, in a small way that we’re making a positive contribution to helping them make the transition to civilian life.

More veterans resources:
• Find out how veterans can win an Xbox 360 Elite and a Kinect in our sweepstakes
• Follow Veterans Week on Microsoft’s Citizenship Site
• Read all our blog posts from Veterans Week
• Find out more about Elevate America veterans initiative

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