Veterans: Make the Transition from Barracks to Business

At Northwell Health, we’re committed to empowering veterans to succeed in their professional careers. That’s why, since 2013, we’ve been growing our Barracks to Business program, which addresses the need for practical tools to prepare veterans for the civilian workforce.

The Barracks to Business program started as a guidebook to help veterans prepare other veterans for civilian life. But we knew we could do more. We’ve since created in-person seminars that eventually led to Webinars so we could reach veterans no matter their location or situation. Now, veterans don’t have to wait to move to New York to get started on the next step in their civilian careers.

As we expanded the program’s offerings, we extended our reach by partnering with the Department of Labor and various N.Y. organizations and universities. Then the program expanded even further, adding valuable education to Northwell Health employees by creating an internal Barrack to Business program for our recruiters, which armed them with the knowledge and tools necessary to understand the value of hiring veterans.

After five years, Barracks to Business continues to grow and set the precedent for veteran outreach. The network has expanded to over 200 veteran-focused points of contact in the N.Y. region including colleges, organizations and nonprofits. Barracks to Business is offered at college sites and when students are about to graduate, we invite them to our annual student graduation event for veterans. The program and our outreach has grown across the state of New York and, most astounding of all, the number of overall hires since the beginning of the program has grown by 110%!

“Northwelll Health has shown support for my career by holding special events and recruitment sessions for veterans. (Because of one of those programs), I am now in a year-long Operating Room Fellowship which trains nurses new to the OR.” – Anthony Holdorf, RN

We’re constantly developing our own internal programs to better support veterans once they join Northwell Health, focusing on mentorship and networking from within. In the words of Veteran Inclusion Specialist and U.S. Air Force Veteran Lyndon Chichester, “It is an honor and a privilege to work with our Veterans. My goal is to help all of our Veteran applicants gain successful employment with Northwell Health. Veterans bring an unmatched array of strengths and experiences to the workforce including leadership training, integrity, teamwork, working among diversified groups in high pressure environments and more.”