guard members have problems maintaining a continuum of service with a civilian employer. additionally, since the national guard component member belongs to the state and reports to the governor of a state, or a territory, the national guard personnel are used for local emergencies such as flooding and hurricanes, security, whatever. for example, the national guard in georgia, which is where we're headquartered, has had six one-year plus call-ups in the last ten years. now that makes it really hard to keep a job, even if you're only on three of them. many studies have found that due to the constant call-ups, employers shy away from hiring active members of the national guard and reserves. business law review, all have done studies that show upwards of 70% of employers will not now hire as a new employee an active member of the national guard. fortunately, many of the

government contractors are supporters of the national guard and reserve, and this is important since the national guard and reserve now represents over 50% of our total fighting force. it is important to understand why employers make hires. some department of labor officials like to out the how many unemployed people there are for each job opening the country and bemoan the fact that employers, those horrible profit-making companies, are not hiring the unemployed. other government officials who make these statements are displaying a gross misunderstanding of how our economy works and why employers hire candidates. employers do not hire someone just because they're standing and breathing or they're unemployed. employers hire candidates to fill a need within the company. the bottom line is employers look for qualified candidates to hire. if one were to ask how many qualified candidates exist for each job opening the company,

you would have huge very large negative numbers in disciplines like health care, engineering, maintenance, electricians, welders. right now they're paying $45 an hour with all the overtime you can get for welders in the upper midwest, and they can't find enough welders. it's probably going to go to $50 by the end of the summer. government contractors are major employers. many have discussed with me the problems of finding qualified candidates to hire. for that reason they like to hire veterans as generally they have excellent skill sets and they have the attributes they want. in my written testimony i use an example of a stellar government contractor being sf railroad. they are to be commended for their proactive hiring of veterans. also, my written testimony, i review the obstacles that hinder government contractors from hiring veterans. those obstacles include the vets' 100 report which in my personal opinion is kind of a waste of time because it's not relevant, it's not timely, it's not actionable.

the federal compliance program actually disincentivizes companies that want to hire veterans, and there is huge problems in the transition program. all need to be reviewed. and in the case of 100, i would recommend you get rid of it. thank you for your time. i trust the information presented will be of assistance. i'd be happy to answer any questions you have, ma'am. >> thank you very much. i welcome senator begich from alaska here. thank you, senator begich, for joining us. mr. kympton? >> madam chairman and members of the subcommittee, thank you for invite me to participate in these important hearing. based on my experience as a veteran and my service of the mission continues, i believe that this subcommittee is doing work that is critical to the success of today's generation of veterans. today i am testifying as a west point graduate and former army pilot and as a veteran who sought meaningful employment after service. a national nonprofit organization where we have

worked with over 350 veterans to pursue successful transitions to civilian life. based on these experiences with veteran recruitment and retention, i believe that there are several key lessons that federal contractors and corporate leaders can apply to successfully tap into the great skills of today's veteran. applying these lessons will strengthen their organizations while also building successful transitions for veterans. at the mission continues, we create successful transitions by engaging veterans in six-month community service fellowships. today a cavalry scout mentors hundreds of children at the boys and girls club. a marine corps sergeant help his community prepare for disasters and emergencies through the american red cross. an army communications specialist teaches english as a second language to immigrant

children and their parents. we introduce these fellows to a meaningful mission. we welcome them on to a distinct team, and we ask them to don a new uniform of service. as they serve, we provide them with living stipends and mentors. at the end of their fellowship, we will challenge them to mark their life-time commitment to service by executing a service project in their community. after their fellowship, they move on the realize their post-fellowship goal of full-time employment, continued education, with an ongoing role of service in their community. our experiences with these fellows and with more than a thousand veterans who applied for fellowships have shown us this. when you connect veterans to a meaningful mission, ask them to join a distinct team and challenge them with a set of goals that lead to definable impact, they excel. just as they excelled in their military service, they again excel in their citizen service. a primary factor in our selection and placement of fellows is the fashion they have for service. the cavalry scout serves 59 the girls and boys club because he is fulfilled by mentoring youth. the marine serves his community because he is passionate about

response. it has been critical to their service. our fellows are further enrich bade renewed connection to a team. as you know, all enlistees and officers take an oath to support and defend the constitution upon entering the military. they then join their military units, each of which possesses a distinct identity and strong traditions. recently, we gathered more than 100 veterans and awarded them mission continues fellowships. we asked these fellows to take a similar oath and join this distinct new team. in front of thousands of fans at a major league baseball game, wearing sharp royal blue mission continues polo shirt, standing at attention alongside their new

comrades in arms, these fellows proudly recited an oath of service. they walked off the field motivated and eager to serve. while they serve, we also require that our fellows set and achieve goals. they each identify at least three goals for the impact they will have in their community. they identify a post fellowship goal that will impact their own lives for years. we hold them accountable to those goals, and we partner in their success. roxley pratt grew up in war-torn sierra leone. he decided then he wanted to be a marine. years later, after escaping a siege of his city and emigrating to america, he enlisted in the united states marine corps. he honorably served for six years, and his service included deployments to iraq. upon his return, people thanked him for his service, but when it came to landing a job, he struggled to get interviews. unemployed and unable to translate his military skills at job fairs in southern california, roxley found the mission continues.

driven by his own experiences with homelessness and his personal responsibility to assist those less fortunate, he earned a fellowship with habitat for humanity. he has reconnected to a mission that is important to him. he is working on distinct teams. his team at the mission continues. his team at habitat for humanity, and the teams of volunteers he now organizes. he is translating military skills to civilian skills, and he is excelling. roxley's story can be the story of this generation of veterans. it's a story of service in war, and continued service at home. madam chairman, we are grateful for your support and the support of this subcommittee. i would welcome any questions that you or any other members may have. thank you. >> madam chairman, ranking member, distinguished members of the subcommittee, on behalf of more than 200,000 members and supporter of afghanistan veterans of america, i thank you

for the opportunity to share our views on this important issue. i've spent 14 years in the marine corps trying to execute the marine corps's two missions, winning battles and making marines. as an iava staff member, i don't make soldiers, sailors, airmen or marines, but i do try to make their lives better. the views expressed in this analysis reflect the views of iava and not the marine corps. unemployment is arguably the most pressing issue facing veteran today. while recent statistics may indicate the employment outlook might be getting better for veterans, the situation is still worse than it ought to be. for example, the unemployment rate for veterans nearly 18 to 24 years is nearly double the rate for 18 to 24-year-old civilians. helping veterans create their own jobs is touted as part of the solution. many wonder whether federal contracting laws and goals are being met. there are three main areas to consider. data, outreach, and implementable solutions. i will address outreach first.

iava believes that the logical place to begin is through the transition program, also known as t.a.p. because t.a.p. is now mandatory for all service members, it is a convenient touch point that will allow for the dissemination on federal contracting processes and opportunities and the most basic level of training to the widest possible audience. the small business administration is currently developing an entrepreneurship for t.a.p. and we believe this will be a key component in setting veterans up for success. we also believe allowing veterans and their spouses to retake t.a.p. after separating is a necessary step. allowing a veteran or a spouse who has completed one track of t.a.p., education, for instance, to retake a different t.a.p. based on new circumstances, in this case an entrepreneurship is a small investment on the front end which we believe will pay big dividends on the back end. on the question of data, we must

ask what do we know and what do we wish to know. there is a lot of data to be had. vets 100 and 100 a has some meaningful data, but only as a snapshot. it is also not easily accessible. the information is more akin to a head count and misses crucial information. because vets 100 and 100-a allows reporting of veterans deployed at any point during the fighting year, there is no guarantee that employment by a contractor or subcontractor is consistently reliable or accurate. a contractor may have 100 vets at the beginning of the year and 2 at the end and can report 100 vets employed. in addition, without the inclusion of other relevant information, the value of the 100 and 100 a forms is limited. some good examples would be the north american industry classification codes that allow the tracking -- that allow tracking the number of veteran contractors by industry type and the era from which the veteran hails. these pieces of information would held elucidate which

contractors are most heavily and lightly concentrated and whether that force is declining due to age. much of that information resides with sba. the certification process for a small -- for a service-disabled veteran-owned small business should also be easy and consistent. iava supports efforts to curb abuse by obtaining the veracity of veteran status, but we recognize that the certification process should not discourage small business was limited resources. we're concerned that the statutorily mandated certification process currently used by the veterans administration is too cumbersome. extending this system to all federal agencies as has been proposed would be unnecessarily burdensome on both government and small businesses. it is also worth noting that the va center for veterans enterprise site was down for approximately two weeks. it was up last thursday, and it with us now back down again for maintenance. and there is no information

posted as to when new veterans may expect to be able to reg center their businesses online. the small business administration has relied on self-certification and has experienced little fraud. iava believes maintaining this system will help ease the burden on veteran-owned small businesses while helping to guarantee that the consideration earned through service to country is not abused. we pursued many different leads on making the system more efficient and increasing the number of veteran contractors. many of the recommendations we heard often already exist in some form. for example, the idea of a searchable centralized database that could be used by federal contracting officers and federal contractors already exists as the central contractor registration ccr and dynamic small business search dss systems. the use of those resources to find veteran contractors even by

federal contracting officers appears to be less than optimal because many people use the path of least resistance. part of the assessment of the problem will require a view of the use of existing systems and processes. but without data that is substantial, accessible, and easy to understand, the implementing solutions is a little bit akin to shooting first and aiming later. some of the reviews of this data are already under way, and ideally will result in best practices so solutions can be found. we also believe they should be funnels to the small business administration. sb are the experts on small business and should be the prime actor in this area. iava welcomes congress in increasing the number of veteran contractors whether they are fulfilling government or veteran contracts. iava is willing to spread the word about available opportunities or training to our membership in through our

extensive media outreach. we're willing to partner with government agencies or private organizations in targeted efforts to help veteran employment through our program such as smart job fairs held with the u.s. chamber of commerce. we believe employment is the number one issue facing veterans of iraq and afghanistan and will only become more important as the war in afghanistan ends. iava appreciates the efforts of this subcommittee and other witnesses and look forward to working with them. thank you and i look forward to answering any questions. >> madam chairwoman and distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you for inviting me to testify here today. i testify as a senior manager in the diversity inclusion team at booz allen hamilton, where i am responsible for all aspects of our organizational efforts to build and maintain a diverse and inclusive culture for all employees at the firm. that includes making booz allen an employer of choice for

veterans. booz allen is based in mclane, virginia, and we have over 80 offices throughout the united states. for nearly a century, our work has helped u.s. agencies, defense components, and other business and institutional clients better execute the most challenging government missions around the world. "forbes" magazine recently reported that booz allen ranked as the top employer for veterans, siting the approximately one-third of our employees who have self-identified as having military backgrounds. we have also been recognized by the national guard and the reserve as well as by the disabled american veterans organization for outstanding practices that support veterans. and we are honored to have been named in the top 10 of the gi jobs list of top 100 military-friendly employers for six years running. booz allen leads in veterans employment because our commitment to veterans and wounded warriors is part of our

corporate culture, coordinated by our senior leadership and extending throughout the firm. we approach this commitment by involving multiple aspects and layers of our business, much like we integrate our various capabilities for our clients. we hire veterans because of this commitment, and because veterans bring a unique knowledge and experience base to their work. few can know the challenges that face our u.s. military and other government clients better than those who have served our country in uniform. for these reasons, booz allen supports the government's efforts to encourage the hiring of former military members, and we believe that the government -- that the current regulatory construct strikes the right balance in allowing contractors like booz allen to explore and develop programs that work best for their

particular organization. we approach military hiring, for instance, through a variety of creative recruitment programs. but we also leverage the wide range of expertise we provide to military clients such as knowledge of veterans health services to help us attract and support new hires. we support veteran-owned businesses through our contracting organization. we use members of our own veteran workforce to mentor and support other veteran employees through employee resource groups, mentoring circles, education, and leadership programs and other means. we focus on programs to support military families and spouses, and importantly, veterans and wounded warriors are a major focus and beneficiary of the firm's philanthropic efforts. in our prepared statement, we detailed several hiring and retention programs that have

made us so successful. in hiring we foster strategic recruitment partnerships with nonprofit organizations in the military community. we also run a junior military officers program to put recently separated junior officers directly in contact with our military recruiting team. and we participate in the u.s. army partnership for youth success program by pledging to provide future full-time employment positions for qualified army-trained veterans. we retain veterans through initiatives at our firm, and in the surrounding community we offer a employer resource group known as the armed services forum to give former members of the military a forum to interact with each other and navigate their transition into the civilian workplace. we have a proactive disability accommodations program, generous military leave and return policies for reservists, and we conduct targeted training and

development programs to help veterans convert skills they learned in the military into skills they can use and market at booz allen. we have also hosted several collaborative community summits across the country to better understand and improve service delivery to veterans across local government, advocacy, health care, and other community organizations. while we believe our firm is already effective in employing veterans, we recognize that there is more work we all need to do. collaboration among industry, veterans organizations, and the government is of paramount importance, and we particularly support the subcommittee's efforts to enhance this type of collaboration. madam chairwoman, thank you again for permitting me the opportunity to discuss this important issue with you today. i welcome any questions you may have. >> thank you very much. ms. sullivan? >> madam chairman, and distinguished members of the committee, i'm honored on behalf

of mantech international corporation to appear before you this morning to share our experiences in hiring and retaining our nation's veterans. mantech is a global employer to almost 10,000 people. that roughly 40% of our employees today proudly identify themselves as having served or are currently serving in the u.s. military is evidence of the sublg ses we enjoy as a company and the culture that successfully attracts those exiting the military and assimilates them into a civilian workforce on a sustained basis. mantech provides those leaving the military with the opportunity to join the civilian workforce, the opportunity to gain additional job skills and training, health care coverage, and the opportunity to continue to serve their country and support an important mission as a contractor. as the majority of our work today supports the u.s. military and intelligence community, a large number of the career opportunities available at mantech are for positions that directly support mission requirements and typically

require skills gained through military service and the possession of active security clearances. many of our recruiting activities are focused on engaging those who are in the military,\ or those who have process of exiting the military,\ or those who have recently exited. mantech is an active member of more than a dozen military employment partnerships such as the 100,000 jobs mission, the military spouse employment partnership, wounded warrior project, hiring our heroes, and va for vets. we also build and maintain relationships directly with colleges and universities that support the gi bill and offer programs developed especially for veterans. over the past year, we have participated in more than 125 hiring events spanning 72 cities nationwide. as a result, we connected with more than 5,000 veterans and hired more than 2,000 of them. as part of our outreach to recruits, we work closely with the transition assistance program, t.a.p., sponsored by the u.s. military.

through t.a.p. we offer onsite assistance to active duty soldiers who will be leaving the military, including practical device on how to develop and write a resume, how to interview for a job, and how the civilian job environment works. of the many things we do to retain our employees to include veterans, mantech offers educational skills, career development training as well as mentorship opportunities. our educational programs are offered through mantech university or mtu, a first-class, award-winning corporate university established to support the emerging training and educational needs of our employees. additionally, mtu has alliances with 13 different accredited universities offering certificates, bachelors and masters degrees and many mbas, both online and in traditional classroom settings. in 2011 a large percentage of our veteran employees took advantage of training opportunities through mantech university. more than 40,000 courses were successfully completed by our

veterans, roughly ten courses pervert ran employee. many of mantech's contracts require foreign deployments. so mantech offers two specific programs to assist family members of deployed individuals. one program called lifeworks provides employees and family members free confidential access to resources and counseling 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. this program offers expert guidance on health-related issues. addiction, grief and loss, financial ideas, how to parent a difficult child or teenager, and how to cope with stress. constant care, a second program offered by mantech, is an internally staffed program available to employees 24 hours a day 365 days a year by human resource professionals who have the knowledge and experience to assist deployed employees and their families. constant care is similar to the military ombudsman program and therefore is familiar and well received by veterans and their families. as a result of retention efforts

such as these, many of our new recruits come as referrals from existing employees, which accounts in part for mantech being named number 6 top military-friendly employers by "g.i. jobs" magazine, most valuable employer for the military by sinjobs.com, one of the country's most veteran-friendly employers by "usaa" magazine, and the top ten best employer for veterans by "military times edge" magazine. now, let me comment on mantech's experience with assembling and filing information regarding veterans in the department of labor. logistically the assembling and reporting information required by the department of labor for the vets 100a is an automated process by data base systems that capture employee information at the initial stage of hiring process. when information required for payroll, health benefits, taxes, et cetera, is input into our systems, when new hires join mantech. each employee, each new employee is asked to self-identify if they are a veteran, and this information is aggregated and

reviewed by human resource specialist as well as by our senior research management throughout the year. lastly you've asked for suggestions to facilitate the hiring of veterans by contractors. to answer this question thoughtfully, i engaged with several cognizant employees working in a variety of levels and roles. whether human resource specialist, recruiter, or line manager, their answers were very consistent. all felt strongly that the federal government already takes many bold and aggressive actions to ensure maximum outreach to this important segment of our population. further, we know that companies like mantech have embraced veterans outreach. after all, if we have not served ourselves, we each have family members and loved ones who have selflessly served our nation or are serving today. our recommendation is to stay the course with those efforts. we have in place today. madam chairman, that concludes my oral statement, and i am pleased to answer any further questions.

>> thank you all very much. it was interesting. i try to visit small businesses in my state from time to time, and i actually had a visit with a plumbing supply house in st. louis. and this is not a large employer. less than 50 employees. the people that work there, most of them have worked there many, many years. so they want to be careful when they hire someone because they assume when they hire someone, they're going to be with them for years. i didn't go there to talk about hiring veterans. but they brought it up with me. and the man that owns the company said it was incredibly difficult for them to find veterans, and he mentioned a couple of things. and i'd love your take on this, mr. daywalt. first, he said that the websites, that in their experience as they looked at the various listings on the websites, they were taken aback at how many people had put information on the website that

were not veterans. that people had been able to access various websites and put their employment, you know, that they were anxious to get employed, and then when they actually did the due diligence, they found out that people were signing up on these websites that weren't veterans at all. so they found that overwhelming because this is a small operation. they didn't really have -- they ended up working at this for a while. i mean, they spent a lot of time and energy. they finally found two applicants that they're in the final process of interviewing. the other thing he mentioned to me, and i'd like your take on both of these issues, is matching. he says at tans jobs fairs and the places they were going to access, there were employers there like banks and enterprise rental car, anheuser busch, and they needed people for their warehouse. they couldn't -- they were not able to hire someone who was disabled because they needed someone who was going to help

them load plumbing supplies into the warehouse and out of the warehouse and deliver these plumbing supplies. and he said it was clear to him how inefficient this was because you had all these employers that wanted a much different employee than he was looking for. and he said that once again took hours and hours of their time and effort to try to match up the right veteran with the right job opportunity. so if you could, if you would address those two issues that this particular employer in st. louis was struggling with. >> yes, madam chairman. excuse me, i'm suffering from allergies. your comments about not being vets doesn't surprise me. there's a number of sites out there that don't validate who the person is that's putting up the resume. you've got over 300,000 internet job boards out there. you've got about 30 left in the military space.