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WASHINGTON, D.C. (January 7, 2009) - The
Department of Veterans Affairs will be increasing the number of
disabled veterans positions in its workforce in 2009.
Thirty percent of VA employees are veterans and nearly eight
percent of those employees are service-connected disabled
veterans.
"I am proud of this effort," said Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Dr. James B. Peake. "VA knows the true quality of our men and
women, and we should be a leader in employing them."
Peake said all severely injured veterans of the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan will be contacted by VA's Veterans Employment
Coordination Service to determine their interest in and
qualifications for VA jobs. So far, that office has identified
2,300 severely injured veterans of those wars, of whom 600 have
expressed interest in VA employment.
The coordination service was established a year ago to recruit
veterans into VA, especially those seriously injured in the current
wars. It has nine regional coordinators working with local facility
human resources offices across the country not only to reach out to
potential job candidates but to ensure that local managers know
about special authorities available to hire veterans.
For example, qualified disabled veterans rated by the DOD or VA
as having a 30 percent or more service-connected disability can be
hired non-competitively.
"Our team is spreading the message that VA is hiring, and we
want to hire disabled veterans," said Dennis O. May, director of
VA's Veterans Employment Coordination Service.
VA coordinators participate in military career fairs and
transition briefings, and partner with veterans organizations, the
Department of Labor's Veterans Employment and Training Service, as
well as VA's Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Service, the
Army's Warrior Transition Units and the Marine Corps' Wounded
Warrior Regiment.
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