Corporate America Accelerates Military Recruiting Efforts as Baby Boomer Retirements Cause Growing Nationwide Talent Shortage

PITTSBURGH , Nov. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- On Oct. 15, 2007 , Kathleen Casey- Kirschling -- America's first official baby boomer -- applied for social security. She is the first in a wave of 80 million baby boomers who are expected to retire at a rate of over 10,000 per day for the next two decades. This shrinking quantity and quality of the U.S. workforce, combined with even modest economic expansion, will make transitioning military personnel -- one of only two renewable talent pools in the U.S. -- even more coveted as companies compete for top talent.

"Hiring America's military veterans is a smart business decision for which all of the Top 50 companies should be commended," said Chris Hale , general manager of the publication. "Sure, it's patriotic to hire military, but that's not why corporate America does so. These companies understand how military knowledge, training and real-world experience positively affect their bottom line."

BNSF Railway unseated two-time repeat performer Union Pacific to capture the No. 1 position of America's Top 50 "Military Friendly-Employers" in the fifth annual list published by G.I. Jobs, the nation's premier career guide for military job-seekers. "We are humbled, and proud, to be selected the No. 1 of 2,500 companies," said Connie McLendon, military staffing manager for BNSF. "We have worked hard to increase our outreach to members in transition from the military to civilian work. Just to be among the Top 50 is an honor."

The annual list is a "who's who?" of FORTUNE(R) 1000 firms who have made the greatest effort and have had the greatest success in hiring military veterans. The list spans the entire industry spectrum of the U.S. economy.

The pool of eligible companies (minimum of $1 billion annual revenues) was approximately 2,500. Only 2 percent made the list. Seven firms -- American Electric Power, Brinks, GE, Merrill Lynch, Sprint Nextel, The Home Depot and USAA -- have earned a spot on the list in all five years of its existence. Johnson Controls, Lockheed Martin and Union Pacific have made the lists in four of five years.

Criteria for the rankings included assets dedicated to military hiring (40%), Reserve/Guard policies (25%), percentage of total new hires in the past two years who are veterans (20%), and veteran recruitment / training / promotional programs (15%).

ABOUT G.I. Jobs

G.I. Jobs is published by Victory Media, a veteran-owned business, headquartered in Pittsburgh , Pa. The company also publishes Military Spouse and Vetrepreneur magazines.

G.I. Jobs 2007 Top 50 Military-Friendly Employer List 1 BNSF Railway 26 Sprint Nextel 2 Union Pacific 27 Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold 3 ITT Systems 28 Constellation Energy 4 EG&G (Lear Siegler) 29 ENSCO International 5 USAA 30 Fluor 6 Schneider National 31 BearingPoint 7 Johnson Controls 32 Merrill Lynch 8 CSX Transportation 33 Brink's U.S. 9 ManTech International 34 State Farm 10 Applied Materials 35 Anheuser-Busch 11 Booz Allen Hamilton 36 Health Net 12 The Home Depot 37 Lowe's 13 Lockheed Martin 38 Xcel Energy 14 J.B. Hunt Transport 39 Progress Energy 15 CINTAS 40 FMC Technologies 16 DynCorp 41 U-Haul 17 EDS 42 Bank of America 18 General Electric 43 AT&T 19 Travelers 44 T-Mobile 20 GlobalSantaFe 45 NVR 21 Southern Company 46 American Electric Power 22 Werner Enterprises 47 Southern California Edison 23 Norfolk Southern 48 Westinghouse 24 Morgan Stanley 49 Wachovia 25 Sunbelt Rentals 50 Sears Holdings

SOURCE G.I. Jobs

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