Part One
Unemployment has been a challenge that our country has been working to overcome over the last several years, but in the case of USA military veterans the challenge has been substantially harder. Although progress has been made in the last few years, the most recent figures from the US Labor Department report that veterans still face an unemployment rate of 9 percent, two full points above the civilian unemployment rate of 7 percent in the same time frame. The data is even more disheartening when you look at some of the details – the highest jobless rate is found among our country’s youngest veterans, 18-24 years old. These young men and women give years of services to their country and then return to a 21.4% unemployment rate in the civilian world.
This is unacceptable.
In an effort to correct this issue, great strides have been made. Fortunately, the government has taken many proactive steps to reverse these unemployment statistics. In fact, it’s partially through federal programs like the GI Bill and veteran training initiatives that we have witnessed such a major decrease in unemployment numbers that disproportionately affected our military veterans. This is great progress!
So where does veteran training and US Solar Institute fit in?
Veterans Training at US Solar Institute
Solar Photovoltaic installer is a relatively new job category in the list of vocational classifications that have been approved to receive VA benefits. In fact, USSI is the first provider for a VA benefits approved program of its kind in the whole world.
Besides improving the environment of this planet, one of the beauties of this field is the speed with which veterans can secure career-ready skills and join the professional workforce. Some of the traditional VA benefits approved career tracks such as nursing and most IT fields can take 24+ months to complete. A USSI Department of Education-licensed solar PV diploma can take under 1 month.
For those who want only the most very basic training, you can secure a certificate in around a week. This means that under the absolute best case scenario, you could hypothetically:
- Enroll on Sunday
- Graduate on Saturday
- Start your job on the next Sunday
Now obviously, it’s not that quick. You probably wouldn’t even have time to search for a job during the 40+ hours of intensive coursework.
But still – your prospects are pretty good. That’s because solar energy is one of the few industries that has actually been “adding jobs” during this depressed economy In some locations that ratio is a factor of 10:1 compared to the national average for most other sectors.
If you’re an unemployed veteran (or you know one), and you’re looking to get back into the workforce with advanced skills, solid pay, and minimal downtime – solar PV installation training is definitely worth considering. What else should you consider? Stay tuned for part two…