Fort Riley hosts its Hiring Our Heroes Career Summit

FORT RILEY, Kan. (WIBW) - Fort Riley hosted its Hiring Our Heroes Career Summit today on base.

Hiring Our Heroes is sponsored by the U.S. Chamber Foundation and seeks to help veterans, transitioning service members, and military spouses find meaningful employment opportunities. The career summit is a specialized event designed to educate, inform, inspire, and connect service members, veterans, military spouses, and caregivers with military-ready employers.

The event opens with morning workshops ranging from career planning to using digital networking sites to resume writing and interviewing. The morning also included remarks from former Staff Sgt. Clint Romesha, a Medal of Honor recipient, and retired Command Sgt. Maj. John Wayne Troxell, who served as the Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

“One of the great benefits and importance of hiring our heroes and having this hiring summit is to show the next generation we’re going to take care of those that serve this nation for follow on meaningful employment to provide that after service is just so beneficial to not just the military community but to all our communities and the next generation of warfighters will see that and understand they will be taken care of,” said Romesha.

Romesha said being an ambassador is a great thing to help people go through the process he once navigated.

“I’ve been out of the army almost 2 years before I even knew I was receiving the medal of honor I went through the same transition process that a lot of our service members do having that last year of not knowing what was going to happen the fear of the unknown,” said Romesha.

The event helps soldiers preparing to leave the military and those who expect to stay in the military for many years to make connections and understand the opportunities that exist for them and their families.

“My goal is just to take care of those that are my fellow veterans and their families and my goal is to inspire them to take on transition and post-military life to do great things and reach their goals,” said Troxell.

Troxell said the nation owes those leaving the military continued support.

“These men and women have sworn an oath to defend their country and they have sworn that oath that they will give their life in the defense of this nation and so when they leave the military our nation owes them a debt of gratitude and opportunity to continue to reach further goals in post-military employment,” said Troxell.

Around 90 employers participated and many prepared to interview and hire potential employees. Companies participating in the event ranged from America’s largest employers to many smaller companies from across the region.