Most veterans coming out of service leave the military highly skilled in hands-on work. Their military background of teamwork and leadership make them strong job candidates. Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, for many years, hired those veterans.
The Crane of today has evolved its mission and along with it, its workforce. Today most of its openings require a four-year degree, something many veterans don’t possess, leaving veterans to look elsewhere to use their skills.
With unemployment in some areas at near record lows, there is a need to attract employees from outside the local area to fill critical positions. An extensive study of workforce needs by sector identified a need for a skilled workforce in the National Security and Defense sector.
In 2019, Radius Indiana, a regional economic development organization, received funding from the state of Indiana to attract and retain
veterans from outside of the eight-county Radius region in southwest central Indiana to grow the available workforce with unique skills and talents.
Working with Crane and with the permission of job applicants, Radius collects resumes Crane receives and compares them to the available jobs. Those resumes are then sent to contractors for consideration.
Scott Johnson, who retired from Crane as an engineer and division manager, has worked with the Radius hiring program the past three years.
“Veterans can get lost in the large corporations. They don’t get lost in the weeds with this program,” Johnson said.
In the past three years, Radius has sent about 150 resumes of veterans that Crane received to other employers. Because the decision to hire falls on the employer, Radius can’t track how many of those veterans actually get hired, but employers have indicated the program has helped them fill jobs.
“The resumes sent (to us) are excellent, and I’ve inquired and talked to several of them,” said Jamie Bass, CEO of Gravicom, a cybersecurity firm based in Evansville.
“My needs are for cybersecurity personnel, so only a few have met the criteria, however, there are other positions that we need filled from time to time, so I find these resumes very valuable,” Bass said.
Jobs are available at more than 40 defense-related contractors that perform work for Crane, making Radius “the job matchmaker,” Johnson said.
“Being a veteran and working at Crane was very common at one time,” Johnson said. “Years ago, Crane was making explosives, bombs and bullets and the majority of the workforce performed hands-on jobs. After 2005, the mission of Crane began to change from hands-on to an engineering and laboratory environment.”
In 2005, the Base Realignment and Closure process considered closing Crane.
Crane emerged from the process with the goal of sharpening its focus to specific missions: electronic warfare, special missions and global defense and deterrents.
The majority of veterans seeking to work at Crane are from the Radius region and Indianapolis south.
“Many have 20 years experience. A lot of them were in logistics, electronic repair, security people, skilled in small arms and some were medical technicians,” Johnson said. “Veterans come out with good leadership skills and understand how to be part of a team. You’re not getting someone without those important soft skills or not being able to work with people. They’re familiar with defense work because that’s what they did. Because of that, they don’t need a lot of training.”
Crane expanding workforce
The demand for workers – both civil servants and contractors – is expected to grow.
The current Crane workforce, including contractors, is almost 7,000.
The goal is to increase that to 9,000 by 2025.
The hiring program has been a win-win, Johnson said, for the region, for defense contractors and above all, for veterans.
“Radius is happy with this because we’re bringing good talent to the region. Many veterans want to stay attached to the mission of supporting the country. They want to do defense work.”