DES MOINES – Walmart today celebrated the 6th anniversary of its Veterans Welcome Home Commitment with the announcement of more than 226,000 veteran hires since its launch in 2013, including more than 2,500 in Iowa. TheVeterans Welcome Home Commitment guarantees a job offer to any eligible, honorably discharged U.S. veteran.
“Veterans bring their strong value systems and capable leadership to our business,” said Retired Brigadier General Gary Profit, senior director of military programs for Walmart. “Our military veteran associates are talented and dedicated, and they make us better. As a veteran myself, I am proud that Walmart offers career programs for veterans and military families: If you serve and sacrifice for your country, you shouldn’t have to fight for a job at home.”
“Several years ago, Walmart pledged to hire 250,000 veterans by the year 2020,” said Kyla Luckie, Walmart regional general manager. “Today’s news that during the past year, we’ve hired more than 2,500 right here in Iowa shows our continued commitment to that promise.
“Just as important, we recently prioritized hiring spouses of our service members, and it’s encouraging to see the numbers being reported today. It shows that when we set a goal and focus on achieving it, we can accomplish so much.”
Walmart and the Walmart Foundation have a long history of supporting service members, veterans and their families. In addition to the celebration of more than 226,000 veteran hires nationwide, Walmart is also celebrating the first milestone in its Military Spouse Career Connection, a new hiring initiative announced in 2018 aimed at military spouses. To date, Walmart has hired nearly 6,000 military spouses.
These milestones are underscored by the additional announcement by the Walmart Foundation of a $1 million grant to Hire Heroes USA to support their efforts to expand their own programs, improve data collection and reporting. Notably, a portion of the funding will support a Program Manager for Hire Heroes’ Serving Spouses Program, a career coaching program tailored specifically to military spouses who face unique barriers to employment such as frequent moves, child care challenges while a spouse is deployed and having to re-obtain certifications that don’t transfer from state to state.
For more information about Walmart's commitment to veterans, service members and military families, please visit:http://www.walmartcareerswithamission.com/ orhttp://corporate.walmart.com/global-responsibility/veterans-military-families/and follow on Twitter @WalmartToday.