At The Wilburn Company, we’re honored to employ the men and women who serve our country’s military. Our pride in veterans has always been a core piece of who we are.
In fact, our founder, Jim Wilburn, was an Air Force veteran. Jim joined the Air Force in 1962, serving in Turkey, Okinawa, Fort Meade, and the Pentagon over a 20-year career before retiring in 1982. During his military career, he took a second job mopping floors on a night shift, and after retiring he went into janitorial work full time before founding The Wilburn Company in 1998.
We know firsthand the benefits that veterans can offer the workforce, and we understand the difficulties that come with moving between military and civilian life.
With that in mind, here are three reasons we’re honored to employ veterans.
1. Veterans benefit from better opportunities.
We employ veterans because we believe that they deserve better opportunities.
Navigating between military service and civilian life isn’t easy. Veterans have often made sacrifices in serving, and many find leaving the high-intensity, high-structure context of the military difficult. Some carry lingering physical or mental health effects from combat.
Factors like these contribute to problems like veteran homelessness. The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development estimates that more than 40,000 veterans are homeless on any given night, and that another 1.4 million veterans are at risk of homelessness primarily due to a lack of social support and employment opportunity.
Better employment opportunities can make a difference. The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans suggests that “all programs to assist homeless veterans must focus on helping them obtain and sustain employment.” And the bottom line is that veteran employment opportunities are needed: there are over 360,000 unemployed veterans in America based on data from the United States Department of Labor.
For all of these reasons, we’re honored to provide veterans with jobs here at The Wilburn Company.
2. Veterans can offer unique skills to the workforce.
While veterans certainly face unique challenges in entering the workforce, they also provide unique benefits thanks to their military experience.
They’re often highly disciplined and action-oriented. They’re great team players. They excel under pressure. And many have unique training or certifications in career-relevant skills: information technology, project management, and so on.
At our company, for example, we find veteran’s security clearances helpful – because we clean secure facilities, we benefit from bringing on employees who already hold clearances.
Whether based on skills, qualifications, or character traits, we’ve found that, at The Wilburn Company, veterans consistently bring value to our workforce.
3. Veterans are committed to protecting and serving.
Finally, we’re honored to employ veterans because we believe that their commitment to protection and service is echoed closely in the offerings we provide. Many people join the military with the purpose of protecting others; they value sacrifice and service. Outside of the military, those purposes can be more difficult to satisfy.
While cleaning work certainly differs on many fronts from military service, we believe that it echoes many of the same values. There’s consistency, dedication, and teamwork involved, to start. And, perhaps most obviously, cleaning plays a crucial role in protecting people’s health and wellbeing.
Without good cleaners (or, as we prefer to call them, environmental hygienists), unhealthy conditions flourish, and people get sick. We need good people to keep our buildings clean and our friends and families healthy.
We believe that veterans, who’ve served honorably in protecting our country, can offer great value by serving in this way.
Looking for Veteran and Military Employment in Maryland? Consider The Wilburn Company.
Veterans deserve better opportunities. They provide valuable skills. And they align with our company’s purpose. For these reasons and more, we’re proud to offer jobs to military personnel and veterans, and we’re honored to benefit from their service.
Based on our founder’s 20 years of service and strong values, our pride in our military has always been a crucial part of our company. As we continue pushing forward in these initiatives, we’re excited to continue that tradition and empower veterans in the workforce.
If you’re looking for veteran and military employment in Washington, D.C., and Maryland, get in touch with us today.