By Mark Hansel
NKyTribune managing editor
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) employers need workers and many of the region’s veterans returning from active duty need jobs.
Next week, CVG will host an event designed to bring the groups together in an effort to help resolve the workforce issue for both.
The Strategic Workforce Collaborative will bring airport employers and veterans together in a mentoring environment to help them market their skills in the civilian workforce.
CVG has been working with Edge4Vets and the Tristate Veterans Community Alliance (TVCA) in preparation for a career workshop for local veterans that will take place on Friday, Nov. 2 at CVG Centre in Erlanger.
Tom Murphy is the founder of Edge4Vets, a program run out of the Human Resiliency Institute at Fordham University in New York.
“We do the program around the country in partnership with Airports Council International – North America, which is the association for airports in the United States and Canada,” Murphy said.
Airports Council International (ACI) is the global trade representative of the world’s airports. It represents airports interests with governments and international organizations, develops standards, policies and recommended practices for airports, and provides information and training opportunities to raise standards around the world.
Murphy said they currently are on a mission to help provide the workforce of the future.
“The baby-boomer generation is retiring in what’s being called a silver tsunami, in all industries,” Murphy said. “Recognizing that is the case, airports are leading the effort to provide for the workforce of the future by bringing in fresh, new talent.”
Murphy sees the country’s veterans as an ideal pool of young talent.
“The issue is that because the veterans are moving from a military culture back into civilian life, and all transitions come with challenges, the need is to make them job ready,” Murphy said. “We teach them how to translate their military strengths, including their values and their skills, into tools to succeed in the civilian work force.”
Edge4Vets has two components, prep (preparation) and connect. Prep is done in a workshop environment.
“We bring in the human resources representatives from partner companies to sit with veterans in the workshop as the program teaches them to create a personal Plan4Success,” Murphy said. “This helps them create statements in four key areas – vision, values, skills and an action statement.”
The workshop mentors provide feedback as the veterans articulate answers in their own language.
“They are creating statements in these four areas, which then becomes their plan for success and accomplishes the transition goal,” Murphy said.That’s what they need the most.”
The next step is to help them transition away from speaking in the military jargon that has become second-nature.
“They need to be able to express their strengths, including their values and their skills in civilian language, in a way that a civilian HR person can understand,” Murphy said. “That’s the critical need. Potentially they could figure it out on their own, but they gain tremendously when they get support.”
CVG Chief Executive Officer Candace McGraw is chair of the ACI and Murphy said her support has been critical to the launch of this project.
“She is playing a leadership role by bringing the program to CVG as a step to bringing it to the rest of the country,” Murphy said. “We’ve got six airports doing it in this country and three in Canada will begin next year. The idea is that if we can get this system of prep and connect going throughout North America then the airports can move beyond the verbiage of thank you for your service into action, that’s the key.”
Edge4Vets is making its Midwest debut after partnering with some airports in major markets, including LAX, Houston airports, JFK in New York, and Miami.
Edge4Vets has developed the system to prepare the veterans and connect them to eligible employers at the same time.
“The beauty is that the human resources reps who attend the workshops become the hiring agents once we get them job-ready,” Murphy said. “We bring the HR reps right into the training.”
Earlier this month Edge4Vets offered an orientation to the employers, inviting them to come to the November workshop, which will be a pilot. TVCA is working as the sourcing agent that brings the veterans into the room.
Murphy will facilitate the workshop with veterans that are expected to be recruited through schools and community groups. The objective is to get 20 vets and 20 mentors for the pilot and establish a platform for broader expansion in 2019.
“The airport workforce includes not just CVG, but also all the stakeholders, including the airlines, the service companies and all of the partners that are experiencing a drain as baby boomers retire,” Murphy said. “All of these companies need to replenish their workforce with talent and veterans are a great resource, but they need to be made job ready and we do that.”
The companies that are helping to spur the growth at CVG, including Amazon and DHL are also expanding and need additional employees,as do many of the region’s other employers.
“From an economic development standpoint, if this region is going to recruit companies, you also have to be focused on supporting them with quality employees,” Murphy said. “This program will provide a pool of them to all of the companies in the region.”
At the workshop participants will also sit with other veterans and mentors to create a draft of a plan for success, they can then go online within the next 30 days to refine the plan and submit it.
They are then connected with resources in the community for wraparound support.
For more information about the program, email Murphy directly at tom@tommurphy.org.
Veterans interested in registering for the event can click here.
Contact Mark Hansel at mark.hansel@nkytrib.com