Skip to footer

Veterans Day 2013: Why energy jobs are good fit for vets

The job skill parallels between the military and the civilian energy industry allow veterans to translate their experience into a rewarding career with great opportunities for advancement, Rencheck writes. Our military veterans have the training and leadership skills necessary to tackle the needs of a society with a growing demand for energy.

|
Richard Drew/AP
A large American flag frames Veterans Day marchers on New York's Fifth Avenue, Monday. Members of the business community can show our gratitude to US military veterans by hiring them, Rencheck writes.

On Monday, among the parades, waving flags and memorial services that commemorate Veterans Day, it is important to remember that the members of our military often come home and face a new challenge — civilian life. Fortunately, there are ways that we, as residents and members of the business community, can show our gratitude to these American heroes. We can hire veterans.

At AREVA, a nuclear energy supplier headquartered in Charlotte, we are dedicated to hiring military veterans. In fact, about 10 percent of our Lynchburg-based workforce of almost 2,000 people is comprised of veterans and we have similar hiring practices in Charlotte, Richland, Wash., and Columbia, Md., our other larger locations. We’ve found that the job skill parallels between the military and the civilian energy industry allow veterans to translate their experience into a rewarding career with great opportunities for advancement. Our military veterans have the training and leadership skills necessary to tackle the needs of a society with a growing demand for energy.

Across the United States, nuclear and other clean energy is an important part of our lives. Nationwide, nuclear energy accounts for about 20 percent of the electricity that powers every computer, electric car and light bulb. This clean, safe and reliable energy depends on a strong and talented workforce, and we need to ensure that we are developing and attracting top talent, particularly as new nuclear plants are built and we continue to service our existing fleet. Nuclear energy already employs thousands of Americans in well-paid careers. Careers in business, communications, human resources, legal, engineering, information systems and building trades, just to name a few.

At AREVA, we have been very successful in our efforts to recruit military veterans, who represent a growing part of our team across the country. In fact, military veterans comprise nearly 10 percent of our U.S. workforce. To encourage and continue this trend, we support the Troops to Energy program, as well as many other military recruiting events, and even launched a webpage in 2012 specifically dedicated to opportunities for veterans. These valuable resources help retiring military personnel find careers that are a good fit for them.

As we celebrate this Veterans Day, I believe we should honor our veterans by helping them in their transition to successful careers in their civilian lives. At AREVA we pledge to thank those who have protected our great nation year-round by hiring veterans whenever possible.

Mike Rencheck is CEO of AREVA Inc. North America

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Veterans Day 2013: Why energy jobs are good fit for vets
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/Energy-Voices/2013/1111/Veterans-Day-2013-Why-energy-jobs-are-good-fit-for-vets
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe