Coast Guard Joins Employer Partnership

The Employer Partnership of the Armed Forces' strategic alliance with the U.S. Coast Guard will enhance an already-successful program, Army Lt. Gen. Jack C. Stultz said today.           Stultz, chief of the Army Reserve, joined Coast Guard Rear Adm. L. Sandra Stosz, director of the Coast Guard Reserve, in signing an official memorandum of understanding at the Pentagon today. "The secret to success is the talent that resides in our force," Stultz said. "That's really what employers are interested in -- drug-free, physically fit, morally fit individuals with values and ethics who understand teamwork, who have skills ... that [the employers] can use in their businesses," the general added. The partnership combines structures, institutions and relationships in 54 states and territories with seven reserve components, Stosz noted. "I see this employee partnership initiative as a manifestation of the American Dream, quite frankly," she added.           Through the partnership "we're able to harness the value of our people and our employers and bring it all together in something that's much more than the sum of the individual parts," Stosz said. The new agreement is the partnership's first official inter-service strategic alliance, Army Lt. Col. Matt Leonard of the partnership told American Forces Press Service. "This means that the Coast Guard Reserve endorses the program and will market the employer partnership program to its reservists, family members and veterans," Leonard said. The two services also will explore ways to support Coast Guardsmen, he added.           "If a Coast Guardsmen needs a civilian job or would like to advance a civilian career, we can now be much more agile in assisting," Leonard said. The Army Reserve is the main source of funding, but the program has gone militarywide, he added. Members of any service branch or any of the seven reserve components may use its resources and services. The program, which offers employers military-trained and skilled potential applicants, has more than 1,500 employer partners. Its partners range from Fortune 500 companies to metropolitan police departments to small businesses. Large partners include General Electric, Boeing, Amazon, Microsoft, Wal-Mart and federal agencies. Many smaller firms, trade organizations, and local and state agencies also participate.           "The agreement signed today shows the employer partnership program's commitment to providing employment assistance to Coast Guard reservists and their families," Leonard said. In November, the partnership launched a powerful upgrade of its Web-based career portal at http://www.EmployerPartnership.org to make employment opportunities more easily accessible to reservists, National Guardsmen, their family members and veterans.           The portal accesses about 700,000 open positions at any given time, and more than 14,000 members of reserve components, their family members and veterans are registered to use the system.           "We strongly encourage job seekers to build their resumes in the portal so employer partners and job opportunities can find them," Leonard said. Building a resume in the system, he added, "harnesses the full power of the portal." By Cheryl Pellerin American Forces Press Service

Biographies: Army Lt. Gen. Jack C. Stultz Coast Guard Rear Adm. Sandra L. Stosz Related Sites: Employer Partnership of the Armed Forces Career Portal Related Articles: Website Links Unemployed Vets, Spouses to Jobs