Irresponsible reporting does more harm than good
Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 09:15AM A shameful piece of irresponsible journalism was published this morning, and I am saddenned to see all of the media outlets that picked up the story. The article does a disservice to all of the employers, educational institutions, and franchise companies that are making earnest and legitimate efforts to hire and engage with as many veterans as they can. Here is a link to it:
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20091110_No_medals_for_hiring_vets.html
And here is the comment we posted to it:
As a SVP with RecruitMilitary, one of the sites referenced by Mr.Fumento, I respectufly submit that this is irresponsible journalism. Had he taken the time to ask us, we could have clarified for him that our aim is not to simply serve the three purposes he mentions, and we could have told him about the many many organizations that are actively looking for all veterans. Our business is veteran owned and veteran operated, and our sole mission is to connect opportunities to veterans - not "mularkey" I asssure you. Our firm produces Opportunity Expos in 30+ cities around the US - we will produce 70 in 2009, and 72 in 2010. This year alone we will have had over 1,500 different organizations attend these events with the sole purpose of extending their opportunities to veterans. Mr. Fumento is simply wrong in his assertions that there isn't very real and meaningful work being done for veterans - just today, we will connect over 100 employers with over 1,000 veterans at Opportunity Expos in Seattle, Nashville, and Baltimore. Mr. Fumento, please attend one of our Opportunity Expos and you will see that at least RecruitMilitary's efforts are exactly as we claim. Not only are we the largest producer of these events in the U.S., we also publish a magazine with content aimed directly at job-seeking veterans and we employ search specialists that engage with clients every day looking for all veterans. Mr. Fumento, your claim that veterans receive little help from the private sector is simply not true - it is our passion and it is what all of us at RecruitMilitary work extremely hard at every day.
If you are a job-seeking veteran, please do not be dismayed by the unfounded claims in Mr. Fumento's article. If you are an organization that is actively seeking veterans to add as employees, students, or business owners, please know that your noble efforts are recognized by the veterans you bring on, and by so many of the rest of us that know you are doing the right thing for our veterans every day.