Google this week joined the ranks of tech companies making an effort to help military veterans and spouses with their job searches or training.
Among the efforts announced at a rollout event in San Diego, California is a new $2.5 million grant to the USO that will help that organization offer Google's IT Support Professional Certificate into their military tradition program.
That certificate helps train users for IT fields, and "is designed to give learners the training and experience they need to get a job in this growing field," Google said in a release.
Officials noted that tech jobs can be especially friendly to spouses and veterans because they often don't require advanced degrees. But what they do require is prior experience, something that users can get by taking the highly interactive certificate course.
The USO provides transition help, including some job training, through its Pathfinder program at many of its USO centers on and near bases worldwide.
Google also announced a series of new veteran job search tools.
First among these is a tool designed to help veterans plug their current military occupational speciality, known as an MOS, into a civilian. Much like other search tools, like the Military.com skills translator, Google's new tool allows users to search jobs by MOS.
The tool then uses an algorithm to understand what kinds careers job hunters with that MOS might be interested in or qualified for.
The Google algorithm learns and gets better over time, officials said, as both job seekers and employers input more data. And since it uses Google's search tool interface, job seekers are likely already comfortable with the familiar platform.
All a user must do to access it is type, for example, "jobs for veterans MOS 11b," and the tool will produce an array of options near the searcher's location.
Employers will also be utilizing Google's new tool for their in-house job boards, Google said in a release.
A second new feature will help Google maps users see whether or not a business is led or owned by a veteran by adding the "veteran-led" designation to the business listing. That designation joins others already used by the service, such as "women-led."
