Veteran Jobs Mission Honors United States Senator John McCain for his Commitment to Veterans

The Veteran Jobs Mission, a coalition of largely Fortune 500 companies committed to hiring one million veterans and representing nearly every sector in the U.S. economy presented The Honorable Senator John McCain with the 2017 Veteran Jobs Mission Service Award for his decades of commitment to the nation’s veterans.

The award presentation took place at the kickoff reception for the Veteran Jobs Mission coalition summit at JPMorgan Chase’s Washington D.C. office last evening and included representation from companies including JPMorgan Chase, Starbucks, Amazon, AT&T, Deloitte, Drexel Hamilton, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, among many others.

“I’m honored to accept the 2017 Veteran Jobs Mission Service Award, and I thank JPMorgan Chase and the entire coalition for this distinction,” said Senator McCain. “The Veterans Job Mission is the embodiment of the motto: don’t just thank a vet, hire one. Thanks to the commitment of some of our nation’s most respected businesses, transitioning service members and veterans now have valuable opportunities for workforce success. I have always believed that a company could make no better workforce investment than to hire a veteran, and I look forward to continuing our work together to support all those who have served.”

The Veteran Jobs Mission, created in 2011 with the initial goal of hiring 100,000 veterans, has expanded to include 235 companies committed to hiring one million veterans with 385,000 already hired. Today, the coalition will convene at Nationals Park in D.C. to share best practices and strategize the year ahead. Topics addressed will include not only how to increase the number of veteran hires, but how to improve the acclimation and retention rates of veteran employees to ensure job longevity and fulfillment, as well as topics like service disabled veteran recruiting and employee resource groups.

“I can’t think of a more deserving individual than Senator John McCain to receive the 2017 Veteran Jobs Mission Service Award,” said JPMorgan Chase Head of Military and Veterans Affairs Ross A. Brown. “On behalf of the organizations representing the Veteran Jobs Mission, we will continue to carry on the commitment to veterans that the Senator embodies and to help returning service members find meaningful employment and a path to success.” “We’re proud to honor Senator McCain for his deep commitment to our nation’s service members and are pleased to be a part of this coalition dedicated to hiring veterans,” said Deloitte’s Military & Veteran Acquisition Lead Kevin Whirity. “The skills and experience that veterans bring to the workforce are highly valued. We know that hiring veterans isn’t just the right thing to do – it’s good for business.” As the plaque reads, Senator McCain was honored for his, “more than forty years of unflagging dedication to our nation’s service members and veterans and an incomparable commitment and contribution to ensuring they are supported and adequately resourced, reflecting great credit upon him, the State of Arizona, and the United States of America.” One million service members are expected to leave the military over the next five years. While overall unemployment rates for veterans have dropped to below the national average at just 4.7 percent, post-911 veterans suffer from higher rates of unemployment and the conversation is shifting to other challenges that veterans face in the workplace such as acclimation and retention. Recent reports show that nearly half of all veterans hired leave their jobs within the first year. Initiatives including manager and employee training programs, networking and affinity groups all aid in increasing retention rates and veteran employment longevity. The eleven founding members of the Veteran Jobs Mission include AT&T, Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc., Cisco Systems, Inc., Cushman & Wakefield, Inc., Dell EMC Corporation, Iron Mountain Incorporated, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Modis, NCR Corporation, Universal Health Services, Inc. and Verizon Communications, Inc.