Some local military veterans are finding it tough to get a job in Tucson, even with extra help.
Vets do have some advantages in the scramble for scarce jobs, at least on paper. All U.S. military veterans get a five-point preference - 10 points for disabled vets - when competing for many federal civil service jobs under the Preference Points and Veteran's Recruitment Appointment rule.
They also have access to special government and government-funded programs and job counselors who are dedicated to finding employment for veterans.
But, as 53-year-old U.S. Air Force vet Bob Young points out, it doesn't help to have a preference, a power résumé and your personal job specialist if there aren't any jobs. And with Arizona unemployment over 9 percent, there aren't a lot of jobs.
"Vet doesn't mean nothing nowadays," Young says. "These days they've got 15 million people they can pick from."
People are also reading…
Dishwashing and computers
Samuel Montoya is at Goodwill Industries of Southern Arizona Inc.'s job center, 1680 W. Valencia Road. The 39-year-old Marine veteran of Somalia says this is a good place.
And by "good," once you get to know Montoya a little, you know he means "a calm place."
After getting rocked by explosions a few times while driving a Humvee in Somalia in the early 1990s, he still doesn't like certain loud noises. No offense, Montoya says, but the rest of us probably can't quite understand how much he doesn't like those loud noises. It has, he says, caused problems in the past. It's cost him jobs.
So, it's hard to imagine how he could be happy working as a dishwasher in a restaurant kitchen, with the constant banging of pots and the occasional dropped plate. But he says he liked the last dishwashing job. Working turns down the flame, chills him out. He was handling the noise. But just last week, he got laid off.
This time it had nothing to do with him. Business had fallen off. Several other kitchen hands also were let go.
Even though he's trilingual - English, Spanish and Tohono O'odham - and a computer whiz, particularly on Microsoft Office, Montoya says he'd be happy washing dishes again.
But things aren't looking good. There are some kitchen jobs posted on the Goodwill job wall, but it's got to be a place he can commute to by bus from his parents' home on the San Xavier reservation.
Montoya, understandably, doesn't drive any more.
Mechanical background
Air Force vet Bob Young brings some baggage to his job search, too.
He was working a temp job as an electrician's helper in Sierra Vista until November, when the contract ended. Lately he's been staying with his younger sister, who is recovering from surgery, cooking for her, running errands and spending the rest of his time job-hunting.
"I haven't been able to get a job since then," Young says, sitting on the porch of his sister's midtown mobile home. "It's been horrible."
He's on the 12-step end of a two-year meth habit. Young says he's been clean for a year and isn't having a hard time staying that way. But the jobless situation is eating at him.
He thinks he's got a good shot at the automotive service writer job he'd like, whenever the local economy picks up and the two local dealerships where he's interviewed start selling some cars.
As a former Air Force and commercial jet engine mechanic who grew up "working on cars and airplanes," Young says he is qualified for the service writer job. Add to that, he says, his years in the towing and roadside service business and his ease with talking to strangers.
He also ran his own business as an owner-operator long-haul trucker for several years.
Young insists the meth is in the past, and that it's not getting in the way of employment. It's a combination of the economy and, maybe, he says, that he's too qualified. He thinks his wide and deep job history and age may be working against him, and that people don't see him as a line employee after all he's done.
On some interviews, Young says he can read what the interviewer is thinking: "If I hire this guy, he's going to take my job."
By the numbers
Local impact of U.S. Labor Department's Veterans Employment and Training Service programs: Homeless Veteran Reintegration Program (HVRP) and Green Veterans Workforce Investment Program (VWIP)
1,118
Number of local veterans placed in unsubsidized employment since 2003.
71
Number of homeless vets placed in jobs by HVRP in 2006-2007.
$10
Average hourly wage for workers placed by HVRP in 2006-2007.
34
Number of homeless vets placed in jobs by HRVP in 2009-2010.
$8.57
Average hourly wage for workers placed by HRVP in 2009-2010.
SOURCE: Pima County One-Stop Career Center
"Vet doesn't mean nothing nowadays. These days they've got 15 million people they can pick from."
Bob Young
Air Force veteran seeking work
Resources for Tucson-area veterans
• Sullivan-Jackson Employment Center: 400 E. 26th St.; 838-3300.
• Pima County One-Stop Career Center: Rio Nuevo Center, 340 N Commerce Park Loop.
• Project Hero: dk Advocates, 1502 E. Broadway; 790-7677 (appointment required.)
Contact reporter Dan Sorenson at 573-4185 or dsorenson@azstarnet.com