Interview with Ann Randazzo
Ann Randazzo is Executive Director, Center for Energy Workforce Development.
PUF's Steve Mitnick: How did the Vets in Energy organization get started?
Ann Randazzo: CEWD has always focused on veterans as a key demographic for our energy jobs because they're a terrific fit, both in terms of experience and mindset. Our heightened focus on veterans began about five years ago with a charge from one of our members.
Tom Farrell, head of Dominion Resources, and Chair of the Edison Electric Institute at the time, challenged us to think about what we could do to move the needle on veteran hiring. A few months later, we introduced Troops to Energy Jobs, which began with a national template for companies to use in planning and implementing comprehensive hiring and retention strategies for veterans.
Fast forward to today, and we have an equally comprehensive resource guide for veterans themselves. It includes a veterans' roadmap, a job translation tool that helps them see how their experience matches up to our jobs, a job posting site that lists our members' jobs in real time, and even a virtual career coach who's available to answer questions and offer guidance. The career coach is a veteran himself.
We made excellent progress in terms of helping our members and the country's veterans find each other, but we began to think about support for veterans after they're hired. That's where Veterans in Energy (VIE) comes into play.