Carol Johnson, Southern Indiana Business Report
When Andy Wood retired in 2013 with the rank of captain in the United States Army, he went to work as a recruiter for Amazon.
In 2023, Amazon reduced its workforce, eliminating 28,500 employees and leaving Wood looking for a new job.
With his 20-year background in the Army, a master’s degree in logistics management and executive development and eight years’ experience in local government, he applied for positions at Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane.
Originally from Owen County, Wood was familiar with Crane and its mission scope.
“I felt like I would be competitive, but I didn’t take anything for granted,” he said.
Wood landed a job, but not on the Crane base.
Through a Radius Indiana program that works with NSWC Crane, resumes of veterans are sent to defense contractors and other employers in the area. Wood’s resume was sent out and within a few weeks, he had an interview and was hired in May.
Wood is now working at TriStar, a service disabled veteran-owned company. He is a program manager in the electronic optics division.
From the beginning, Wood, who has a service-connected disability, said he recognized that TriStar values veterans like him.
Defense jobs attractive to veterans
In 2019, Radius Indiana, an eight-county regional economic development organization, initiated a program to connect veterans with the many job opportunities in the defense sector around NSWC Crane.
“We were convinced that the quality of life in our region and the types of jobs available in the defense sector are going to be very attractive to the veterans who were leaving military service, and so we wanted to devote special effort to giving them assistance in learning about local defense sector employment opportunities,” said Jeff Quyle, president and CEO of Radius. “We know that most companies are very interested in hiring veterans who bring skills and discipline to their new jobs.”
Tonjua Toon is program coordinator of the Radius Indiana veterans resume program.
Toon, who retired from NSWC Crane after 36 years, works with Crane to collect resumes submitted by veterans. She contacts the veterans and gets their permission to send their resumes to defense contractors.
On average, she sends about 29 resumes to employers each month.
“It depends on the positions that are needed with the contractors,” she said. “In June I sent 59 resumes.”
She also scans job listings posted on the WestGate Academy Jobs Board and then searches veteran resumes posted to the INvets website for military veterans looking to locate in southern Indiana.
After reviewing their qualifications, she can then match them up with potential employers.
“A lot of the resumes are veterans who did office or logistic work or served out in the field and don’t have a degree,” Toon said. “Crane has a lot of jobs that require an engineering degree. A lot of the veteran applicants don’t have the engineering requirement, but if local companies are hiring, they can do a great job. When you hire a veteran, you get a really hard worker.”
Indiana has several organizations whose mission is to support veterans returning to Indiana and with good reason.
Indiana has the 18th-highest veteran population. In 2022, 325,180 veterans lived in Indiana.
INvets is one of those organizations. The nonprofit partners with the state of Indiana to assist veterans as they transition out of the Armed Forces into civilian life. INvets works with veterans and their spouses to connect them with new careers. INvets also works with employers to promote the benefits of hiring veterans.
In fiscal year 2023, INVets assisted 404 veterans and their families to relocate to Indiana, a 21% increase from the previous fiscal year. This influx generated a $6.2 million economic impact statewide, a 45% rise from the previous fiscal year.
Benefits of hiring a veteran
According to the nonprofit VeteranAid, the benefits of hiring a veteran include:
- They have taken on responsibility at a young age and learned to master skills quickly
- They have respect for procedure and protocols
- They are accustomed to working with a diverse team
Wood, a married father of three who lives in Worthington, said he is grateful the veteran resume program connected him to TriStar.
“I had no idea about this program and wouldn’t have if (the Radius veteran resume program) hadn’t been proactive in reaching out and I’m thankful for that,” Wood said. “We had roots here and wanted to stay here. It’s a way I can still maintain a life in a rural region of Indiana and still be connected to a huge amount of economic activity that is in my backyard.”