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Rae Garcia served in the Air Force for six years as a staff sergeant and intelligence analyst, and had the opportunity to work on a variety of projects and programs ranging from cybersecurity to national defense.
That experience led her to explore a career in technology, and Amazon’s veterans hiring programs are helping her find her career path.
“Before joining the Air Force, I didn’t think about a future in technology, but with my hands-on experiences and the opportunity to participate in this Amazon rotation, I definitely see a future in this position,” Garcia said.
She is participating in the AWS Intelligence Initiative program, part of the Amazon Technical Training Program, or ATAP, which helps veterans transition into entry-level technology roles in cloud computing. She was matched with a cloud analyst trainee position through Amazon’s Military Skills Translator, or MST, program, which began in February 2022.
Beau Higgins, senior manager of military talent acquisition at Amazon, said the company improves the lives of military veterans and their families by offering a variety of programs to address critical challenges facing the military community with a focus on employment, employee development and engagement. For veterans in need – including ATAP, the SkillBridge program, the Diversity and Employment Program and more.
After exceeding our commitment to hire 25,000 by 2021, we are committed to hiring more than 100,000 U.S. veterans and military spouses by 2024 based on our commitment to military families.
As of early August 2022, Amazon has used the MST platform to hire 128 veterans and their spouses. The platform’s AI-capabilities will help translate military career specialists into readily available skills that match Amazon’s roles, Higgins said.
As a leader in technical recruiting solutions, OpLigne, whose mission is to “Make America Work,” was a natural partner to help Amazon achieve this goal. “They’ve developed a skills mapping platform unique to Amazon that matches qualified candidates to open roles within the company,” Higgins said.
Oplin CEO Michael Grow said, “Amazon recognizes the important role veterans play in their jobs, but due to the overwhelming number of applicants, their talent acquisition staff is overwhelmed every day. In our first conversation, senior manager of military affairs, Beau Higgins, asked to ‘put people in order’, and we think that’s what we’ve given AI-driven tools, which we’ll continue to optimize for Amazon.
Opline is a veteran-owned and operated company that works for everyone, whether they are a service member or not, Grow said. “However, veterans and transitioning service members face greater challenges than civilians because their skills, experiences and credentials are similar to those found in the civilian workforce, but are defined differently or not available on a technology scale. It exists in the civilian world.
“This is a big challenge for both companies and veterans to overcome, and it’s easy for companies to often ignore veterans,” he said. “All of the company’s founders have struggled with our military transition in one way or another, so we understand the stress it puts on veterans and their families.”
“The transition from an executive job to a civilian can be very difficult, but Amazon created a process that helped me go from job seeker to job offer in three weeks — that was very helpful for me. It’s part of a positive work environment where people look forward to going to work every day,” Garcia said. I’m proud to be a part of it. It makes me happy to be here, and I look forward to being an advocate for other veterans to join the program.”
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