Columbia Veterans Job Fair

This event took place on September 19, 2019 at USC Alumni Center in Columbia, SC.

The Hire More Heroes Act is misguided. There is no veterans’ unemployment crisis.

“Americans may be shocked to learn that there is no veterans’ unemployment crisis. The unemployment rate in 2014 for post-9/11 veterans was 7.2 percent, the lowest level in seven years of tracking these veterans. ”

What Government Should Actually Do To Support Veterans' Employment

“The latest crisis at the Department of Veterans Affairs has called into question again the proper role of government in the care of our veterans. Whereas healthcare is clearly in shambles, veterans’ employment is another realm in which well-meaning government involvement has been inefficient at best and ineffective or counterproductive at worst. ”

Employment and Returning Veterans

“Peter Gudmundsson talked about the availability of jobs for returning service members.”

Beyond Altruism

“Among the fondest memories Peter Gudmundsson ’85 has of his three years as an active-duty U.S. Marine officer was the time in 1987 when, off the coast of Vietnam, he stood on the deck of a U.S. Navy ship looking up at the Soviet planes flying overhead. What was particularly memorable, he says, was not the plane flying overhead, but the reaction of the men in his platoon”

Money For Lunch

“Money for Lunch host Bert Martinez interviewed Peter Gudmundsson. Discussed veteran hiring.”

Helping veterans overcome job search challenges

“Mike Rollins is featured on America Now. Recently, America Now visited a RecruitMilitary job fair held at the Hurst Conference Center in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. ”

TN veterans face tough battle to find employment

“By Naomi Snyder Terry Pack was an aircraft mechanic serving in the Army in Iraq, spending two of the last six years in combat overseas. Now that he's done his service for the country, he can't even get a job doing oil changes at Sears. "It's tough,'' said the unemployed Clarksville veteran, who was honorably discharged in January. "I've been looking for any job." A congressional hea...”

Veterans and Jobs

“Matt Murphy, RecruitMilitary's Senior VP of Business Development and Sales is a guest on Washington Journal to talk about a recent report that shows the jobless rate for veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars is over eleven percent. He talks about connecting employers, educational institutions, and franchisors to veterans because of their character, skills and training, diversity, and securi...”

When attendees registered for the Columbia Veterans Job Fair, we asked them to let us know what fields they are interested in. The table below is a breakdown of those interests.

Interest Attendee Count Percentage
Government 188 36%
Management/Supervision 167 32%
Human Resources 125 23%
Administrative / Clerical 119 22%
Quality Assurance / Safety 108 20%
Logistics / Transportation / Warehouse 105 20%
Law Enforcement / Security 100 19%
Education / Training 99 19%
Customer Support / Client Care 96 18%
Business / Strategic Management 93 17%
Project / Program Management 86 16%
Manufacturing / Operations 71 13%
Medical / Health 64 12%
IT / Software Development 59 11%
Maintenance / Installation / Repair 56 10%
Accounting / Finance / Insurance 52 9%
Sales / Business Development 51 9%
Banking / Real Estate / Mortgage 50 9%
Field Service 50 9%
Marketing / Product Management 47 9%
Aviation / Aerospace 43 8%
Part-time 43 8%
Construction / Trades 38 7%
Other 37 7%
Electronics 37 7%
Legal 27 5%
Retail 27 5%
Engineering 26 4%
Biotech / R&D / Science 22 4%
Food Services / Hospitality 19 3%
Creative / Design 18 3%
Editorial / Writing 14 2%

Who Attended?

  • 521 Registered Attendees
  • 295 Soldiers
  • 64 Airmen
  • 53 Sailors
  • 42 Marines
  • 28 Spouses
  • 11 Others
  • 2 Coast Guardsmen
  • 1 DoD Civilian
Being a veteran myself, this is exact type of career fair that I attended to obtain my present job. Quite pleased and impressed.
Columbia Career Fair -- Education Recruiter
I love the event and the atmosphere. Very organized. It's a great way of getting information out to veterans and their families about career opportunities after the military.
Columbia Career Fair -- Government Recruiter
I'm very impressed -- nice facility, good kick-off, well marketed. I think the flow of this job fair was nice. It had professional staff and professional level candidates, and was also diverse. Therefore, I rank this event fairly high.
Columbia Career Fair -- Financial Services Recruiter
Very well organized. Started on time with a good briefing by a well-spoken, high-energy person who represents you well!
Columbia Career Fair -- Army E-9
I obtained more than 3 interviews from my visit to the job fair.
Columbia Career Fair -- Navy O-4
Good event, excellent return on investment. Attended by a diverse group of job seekers with wide range of skills and education, from entry level to executive.
Columbia -- Defense recruiter
Organized and informative. If you are looking for team players, motivated and ethical employees, this is the fair to attend.
Columbia -- Manufacturing recruiter
The job fair was really good. It was organized extremely well and there were a lot of companies.
Columbia -- Army E-4
Having an event that allows veterans to seek employment is the best. Everything was excellent.
Columbia -- Army E-9

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