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Hundreds Of Employers Offer Thousands Of Jobs At Detroit Veteran Hiring Fair

DETROIT (WWJ) - If you're a veteran on the hunt for a job, a two-day event designed with you in mind is going on in Detroit this week.

It's called "The VA for Vets Hiring Fair and Open House" and it's taking place June 26-28 at the Cobo Center.

Michael Walcoff, Events Coordinator for VA Detroit, said over 24,000 positions are looking to be filled. Approximately 4,000 of those will be in the local area, with 3,000 in the private sector and 1,000 in the public sector.

"We have over 230 employers that are going to be there. About one-third of those are government agencies, two-thirds are from the private sector, and they range from large corporations like the big three automakers and Quicken Loans, down to a regional pizza company," he said.

Walcoff said the high unemployment rates for Detroit vet, makes a job fair like this a great opportunity.

"Unemployed veterans within the radius of Detroit, lets say a 300 or 400 mile radius, we find that a very large percentage of the total overall unemployed veterans in this country are in that radius. So, we felt that Detroit is a great place to center this event because of its proximity to so many veterans that are looking for jobs," he said.

The event is completely free for veterans to attend.

Not only will the fair provide veterans an opportunity to showcase their skills to potential employers, it will also assist Veterans with resume preparation, interview techniques and career coaching.

VA hosted a similar event Jan. 18 in Washington, D.C., which attracted over 4,100 Veterans and resulted in over 2,600 on-the-spot interviews and more than 500 tentative job offers.

The Open House gives Veterans and their families the chance to find out about the wide range of financial and health care benefits, services and resources that are available from federal, state and community agencies. Veterans can conveniently enroll in VA care, sign up for MyHealtheVet, and get their questions answered face to face.

More information and registration for the hiring fair is available at www.VAforVets.VA.Gov/Detroit.

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