CompTIA was honored to take part in two White House events this week aimed at spotlighting the need for industries – IT included – to heighten their efforts to recruit and employ the nation’s veterans.
Yesterday, as part of the Joining Forces initiative, President Obama, Vice President Biden, First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden, reported that the program has already hired or trained 290,000 vets or military spouses – well ahead of the goal and the end of 2013. Businesses involved in Joining Forces have already pledged to hire or train another 435,000 vets or military spouses.
It’s a great start, but much more needs to be done, especially considering that one million service members will be transitioning to the private sector in the next few years as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan come to a close.
Mrs. Obama challenged American businesses to get even more bold and innovative in how they can hire or train our veterans for the private sector.
CompTIA has committed to support the White House’s new initiative, the IT Training and Certification Program, unveiled by the First Lady on Monday The program enables thousands of service members to receive training and earn industry-recognized IT certifications before they transition from military service to civilian life.
There is ample data that shows private sector employers highly value individuals who have industry recognized certifications along with on-the-job experience. Whether a core IT function or an emerging area, employers need trained and certified IT staff to maximize their return on technology investments and achieve business success. By getting more of these soon-to-be veterans trained and certified, we expect this will lead to higher than average paying jobs in the private sector. We also expect this will help fill the IT skills gap that currently exists – an estimated 250,000 open it positions across the country right now.
CompTIA’s commitment to the IT Training and Certification Program builds on the success of our Troops to Tech Careers program, which works through the public workforce system to ensure that returning veterans with the aptitude and interest in a technical IT career will receive the education, credentialing and job placement assistance needed to join the nation’s IT workforce. More than 12,000 veterans have earned more 15,500 CompTIA certifications since the launch of the Troops to Tech Careers program
We encourage CompTIA members and all companies in the IT industry to thoughtfully consider training and hiring veterans to fill their IT staff needs.
