Technology Helps Reduce High Unemployment Among Post-9/11 Veterans

On March 8, NBCNews.com reported that the unemployment rate among post-9/11 U.S. military veterans was 9.4 percent in February, well above the national unemployment average of 7.7 percent.

Nearly 1 in 10 ex-service members who served in Iraq and Afghanistan is hunting for a job, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The NBCNews.com story mentioned how Cisco is partnering with software developer Futures, Inc. to connect the 200,000 members of the nonprofit Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America to civilian jobs through a free, online tool.

Career Pathfinder helps translate specialized military skills to civilian jobs. It contains thousands of active job listings, a résumé builder, and a career-mapping tool.

In the NBCNews.com story, Paul Rieckhoff, an Iraq War veteran and founder and CEO of IAVA, said of Career Pathfinder, “It’s definitely got tremendous potential.”

The idea behind Career Pathfinder, he added “is taking what normally happens at a career job fair and using technology to do all that at greater scale.”

Read more about other technology-driven resources that are supporting veterans.