 WARWICK — On Friday April 21, Operation Stand Down RI (OSDRI) held its annual Veteran Job Fair in collaboration with the Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI) at their Knight Campus in Warwick. Military veterans, spouses, as well as members of the National Guard and the Army Reserves were welcome to come and speak with more than 60 local businesses and organizations looking to bring on new hires for both part and full-time positions throughout the state. "This is part of our employment program," said Operation Stand Down's Dee DeQuattro. "It's a really good time of year for employers because usually everybody gets a lot busier and they're usually hiring." Some of the many businesses in attendance and ready to take on new hires included larger companies and organizations like CVS, Lifespan, the U.S. Postal Service, AAA Northeast, Washington Trust, Neighborhood Health, the Rhode Island State Police, Home Depot, Lowes and amica Insurance. "Everybody here has a job opening," said DeQuattro. "They only come if they are actually looking to hire." This year is the first time the fair has been open to not only veterans but their spouses as well. She said this allows the organization to provide more overall support for veterans and their families. "We've expanded our whole employment program to include spouses." Throughout the day she said OSDRI expects more than 100 veterans and potential employees to pass through the fair. While she said the number of people who gain employment through their job fairs varies from year to year, the events are typically very successful in getting people hired. "We follow up every year with the employers to find out how many people were hired," she said. "We always see success after job fairs. It's great because they're looking to hire and the veterans are actively seeking work." Other employers included the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA), First Student Transportation, numerous insurance agencies as well as jobs that require physical labor such as cleaning and construction companies. Eddie Beltran, who works in Human Resources at the Twin River Casino in Lincoln, said he was looking forward to speaking with not only veterans, but also college students. "We do like to hire vets, and we also like to hire a lot of college students as well," said Beltran. "It's a huge portion of our employees." He said the day had been light so far, but at only 11 a.m. his booth still had plenty of time to be frequented by people seeking employment. "It's great to be here," he said. "Hopefully we'll get some information out and talk to some great people. This is my first time coming here but we've attended other job fairs and they're pretty successful." Erica McQuesten attended the fair with the Residence Inn by Marriott, and said while they don't typically look for potential employees at job fairs, they thought offering some opportunities to veterans would be worthwhile. "Honestly we're just trying to give back to the community in any way we can," she explained. "We can only offer part time positions right now but you never know, it might be what someone is looking for. We thought it would be great to get a veteran on board." Many of the businesses in attendance said that May is the start of a very busy season for them, a time when things tend to pick up as the weather improves and people are able to get out of the house more often. Another great element of the job fair is that not only are veterans given access to actively hiring employers in their area, but they also have the chance to connect with agencies like the Rhode Island Office of Veteran Affairs who can assist with other needs beyond employment. The non-profit holds a number of events throughout the year to support local veterans in the Kent County and surrounding area by providing opportunities for employment and connecting them with services like housing and medical assistance. Next month, OSDRI will host the Boots on the Ground for Heroes Memorial at the Temple of Music in Roger Williams Park in Cranston, and in June they will host the Run for the Veterans biking event. Follow Kendra Lolio on Twitter @kendralolio Let's block ads! (Why?)
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