
Jeb Hockman
Communications Manager
Virginia Department of Veterans Services
Virginia is home to more than 780,000 military veterans. In fact, one in every ten Virginians is a veteran and the regions of the Commonwealth that have the highest percentage of veterans are Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia, including here in Loudoun County.
With their job training, educational achievements, leadership skills and self-discipline, military veterans are a valuable resource for all private employers when they leave active duty and transition to the civilian workplace.
Recognizing this, in 2012, Virginia was the first state to create an official program dedicated to improving the employment of veterans by working with employers to help them learn the best way to recruit, hire, train, and retain veterans, transitioning service members and their spouses. The program is called Virginia Values Veterans or V3 and it is administered through the Virginia Department of Veterans Services.
In the past eight years, more than 2,500 employers have committed to hiring veterans and partnered with the Commonwealth as V3 Certified Employers. These V3 employers range from small to medium to many of the largest in every region of the state. They include private and public companies, state and local governments, colleges and universities.
V3 employers cover virtually every occupation from construction and manufacturing to skilled trades to medical services to energy and communications to high-tech to retail to law enforcement and public administration and more. Since its inception, more than 64,000 veterans have been hired as a direct result of the V3 program.
There are no costs or fees to become a V3 employer and onsite and online training is provided to earn the V3 certification. What’s more, many V3 employers can qualify for grants for participating in the program and hiring veterans and their spouses.
The motto of the V3 program is “Hiring Virginia Veterans Just Makes Good Business Sense.” If you are an employer in Loudoun County, you owe it to yourself and your company to find out more about the Virginia Values Veterans program. For more information, go to www.dvsV3.com or contact Nancy Evanko, Workforce Development Analyst at Loudoun Economic Development.