Hiring Our Heroes with Mike Kelly from USAA and Liz O’Brien

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Mike Kelly and Liz O’Brien talk with listeners about how to support veterans through small and large acts.  Mike, assistant vice president of military advocacy for USAA, and his team focus on national dialogues and collaborative relationships surrounding key veteran and spouse issues such as navigating transitions into the civilian workforce, entrepreneurship, financial readiness, and more. Liz O’Brien, senior director of Hiring Our Heroes’ military spouse program will join Mike on this podcast. Hiring Our Heroes is part of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. Together Mike and Elizabeth will talk about the following:

* the “V for Veterans” social movement

* the importance of hiring veterans, training them, and helping them with their transition

* the history of Veterans Day and why we celebrate it and the 100th anniversary of World War I

Liz O’Brien- Hiring Our Heroes

Hiring our Heroes is an organization that is working around the world to make sure our transitioning service members, veterans and spouses have the opportunity to seek meaningful employment.  Go to www.Hiringourheroes.com for immediate access.  It is a matter of national security when our service members make a choice to no longer serve to satisfy dual income for their family.

“We have to make sure that we address all issues facing unemployment under the military family..” – Liz O’Brien

Mike Kelly – Commitment to our Military

USAA tries to inspire other companies to do what USAA has committed to do.  Our goal at USAA is to have 30% of all new employees be veterans or military spouses.  They work with coalition partners like Hiring our Heroes to spread that message across the United States.

“Creating that conversation, showing the value, translating those skills and then letting them take off.” – Mike Kelly

Sustaining Military Family Support

USAA has VetNet which includes veterans as well as spouses.  Additionally, USAA has set up a Gold Star Family support group and a monthly deployment working group.  USAA has made the commitment to sustain that culture. It is very important due to who they serve and they want to offer support.

“Keeping that cultural fire alive.” – Mike Kelly

Avoid this Mistake

Liz encourages those in transition to be an active participant in your own transition.  Therefore, you must reach out and create your own path, hon your resume, be engaged and relay your skills to show your best self.

“Own your path to your future.” –Liz O’Brien

“This is not a single event it is a process.” – Mike Kelly

To hear more strategies for your business from Mike Kelly and Liz O’Brien, download this episode today.

Don’t forget to leave us a 5-star rating and review if you enjoyed the show. We would love to hear from you!

Check out these links Hiring Our Heroes:

• Website

Download Joe Crane’s Top 7 Paths to Freedom or get it on your mobile device. Text VETERAN to 38470.  

Join the Veteran on the Move on Facebook!

Check out Veteran on the Move on Facebook to connect with our guests! It’s a great place where you can stay in touch with other veterans who are transitioning to entrepreneurship.  Get updates and free gouge on the people, programs and resources to help you in your transition to entrepreneurship.

Veteran On the Move podcast has published over 200 episodes. Our listeners have the opportunity to hear in-depth interviews conducted by host Joe Crane . The podcast features people, programs and resources to assist veterans in their transition to entrepreneurship.  As a result, Veteran On the Move has over 1,000,000 verified downloads through Stitcher Radio, Sound Cloud, itunes and RSS Feed Syndication making it one of the most popular Military Entrepreneur Shows on the Internet Today.