Honoring US Veterans: LinkedIn redesigns veterans website
Today is Veterans Day in the U.S., a day to appreciate and honor those who have bravely served and continue to serve our country. The talent, dedication, and courage of our service members is an ongoing inspiration to me. From my experience visiting the USS Lincoln in 2010 and launching our veterans initiative with the White House in 2011, it has become a personal journey for me to find ways LinkedIn can help veterans find new ways to create economic opportunity for themselves and their families.
The veteran community on LinkedIn has grown at over twice the rate of the total membership and we are hearing from veterans across the world about the mentorship and support they are exchanging with other members on LinkedIn. Take for instance, Darrell Brown, who decided to leave the Air Force and was exploring career opportunities when a colleague advised him to expand his network. Darrell turned to LinkedIn where he was able to build out his profile and share his professional story. He joined veterans groups including the US Air Force Officers group and industry groups such as Intelligence Professionals. Darrell also followed Booz Allen Hamilton, SAIC, and Lockheed Martin, among other companies, and searched for colleagues to help kickstart his next professional chapter. Fellow veterans group members reviewed Darrell's profile and introduced him to their networks, leading to multiple job offers, including Darrell's systems engineering role at SAIC, leading to his current position at the National Geospacial Intelligence Agency. We hear stories like this everyday and it is wonderful to be part of a company that has the power to enable these kinds of discussions and opportunities to be possible.
We believe that LinkedIn is in a unique position to help the job seekers among our veteran members and today have unveiled a brand new website dedicated to veteran job seekers with relevant and tailored tips and resources for those looking to get a head start on their next career opportunity. The goal of the website is to make it easy for veterans to leverage LinkedIn as they develop their professional identities, networks, and career opportunities. We also believe veterans have a unique and specialized set of skills and knowledge that they can contribute to the LinkedIn community and we look forward to empowering these discussions.
I am personally very grateful to be involved in serving veterans in our small way. Every day, we are humbled by and thankful for the service of our military and honored to help them take a step in their transition to civilian life.