Columbia Veterans Job Fair

This event took place on September 20, 2018 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 223 43%
Management/Supervision 186 36%
Administrative / Clerical 141 27%
Human Resources 136 26%
Logistics / Transportation / Warehouse 113 21%
Customer Support / Client Care 112 21%
Law Enforcement / Security 109 21%
Project / Program Management 105 20%
Education / Training 100 19%
Business / Strategic Management 94 18%
Quality Assurance / Safety 80 15%
Medical / Health 69 13%
IT / Software Development 68 13%
Manufacturing / Operations 68 13%
Field Service 61 11%
Construction / Trades 54 10%
Maintenance / Installation / Repair 53 10%
Banking / Real Estate / Mortgage 51 9%
Accounting / Finance / Insurance 50 9%
Part-time 49 9%
Other 43 8%
Sales / Business Development 43 8%
Electronics 42 8%
Aviation / Aerospace 38 7%
Marketing / Product Management 33 6%
Creative / Design 27 5%
Food Services / Hospitality 26 5%
Retail 24 4%
Engineering 23 4%
Biotech / R&D / Science 21 4%
Legal 20 3%
Editorial / Writing 18 3%

Who Attended?

  • 516 Registered Attendees
  • 290 Soldiers
  • 57 Airmen
  • 52 Sailors
  • 37 Marines
  • 18 Spouses
  • 8 Others
  • 4 DoD Civilians
  • 2 Coast Guardsmen
  • 1 Merchant Marine
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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