Insights and Perspectives

Ask the Experts: Navigating Veteran Employment in North Carolina

Mon, 10 Nov 2025 20:43:00 GMT

Every year, hundreds of thousands of dedicated service members transition from military service to civilian life, bringing with them unparalleled discipline, leadership, and technical skills. However, the process of translating those achievements into a successful civilian career is often complex. Veterans frequently face challenges like deciphering their military experience for civilian resumes and navigating a new professional culture. This Veterans Day, we explore how government programs can address veterans' needs, such as skill transfer, job search assistance, and access to training programs, ensuring a smooth transition to civilian life.

This Q&A from a recent webinar hosted by Geographic Solutions focuses on the North Carolina Works Veteran Portal, which assists veterans transitioning to civilian jobs. Chris Silvers and Amy Pritchett from the North Carolina Department of Commerce discussed the portal's development, challenges, and features such as the military occupational code (MOC) job search, Veterans Crisis Line, and HIREvets Medallion program. They highlighted the portal's accessibility to veterans and their spouses, along with the importance of personalized resources and collaborative efforts.

SPEAKERS

Q: Among the key challenges in designing and launching the NC Works veterans portal, what are some of the main issues you’re encountering while working with veterans in North Carolina?

Chris Silvers:

One of our challenges was developing the overall concept. Initially, we started with a mobile app designed exclusively for veterans to provide support. This app was our initial approach before we transitioned to what is now known as our veterans portal. Creating and refining this concept was a key part of our process.

The other challenge was the content. We aimed to deliver all essential information to veterans without overwhelming them. Given the vast amount of information available today, we wanted to share it all, but in a manageable way. It took nearly 10 months from initial mock-up to go into production, giving us ample time to address many challenges. However, some issues persist, such as keeping resource links current. We provide numerous resources to veterans, but sometimes these links become inactive, their certificates expire, or the websites themselves go offline. We typically review them quarterly, but whenever our staff identifies issues, we aim to get them fixed as soon as possible.

Another challenge we sometimes mention, especially for anyone planning to do this in the future, is that we often have trouble agreeing on logos or colors. That was one of the hurdles we encountered, but we finally resolved those issues, and I think it looks good now. Those were our biggest challenges.

Q: We know that the NC Works general site is for all job seekers, but the veteran site is tailored to their specific needs. So how does the portal specifically address those unique needs compared to the general NC Works site?

Amy Pritchett:

Yes, as you mentioned, our NCWorks site covers all the needs of individuals and employers for workforce activities, including job connections, training, and Labor Market Information (LMI) data access. With the NC Works veterans portal, we've adapted this concept specifically for veterans and employers hiring veterans. Essentially, the veterans portal builds on our NCWorks platform, providing the same features but tailored to veterans' needs. When veterans visit the portal, they should feel it's designed for them. We've added a Military Occupational Code (MOC) search feature to the homepage for job searches. This MOC job search is also accessible under the Employment tab of the Veterans Portal.

To better serve veterans, we've also added the Veterans Crisis Line to the footer of every page on the portal. We believe it's important to provide a quick link or contact number for them, which is accessible on all pages. Additionally, veterans can view the portal without logging in, which includes access to all our resources and links. Overall, while it offers the same functionalities as NCWorks, we tailored it more specifically to meet veterans' needs and provide relevant resources.

Q: We understand the Florida Veterans Portal may have inspired the North Carolina version. Could you specify which features you adopted from Florida and outline the innovations North Carolina added to improve that model?

Chris Silvers:

Our initial inspiration came in 2017 when our Employment Services Director saw the Florida site and recognized its potential. We adopted the Geographic Solutions general portal structure and many of the default resources, such as employment links for job seekers and employers. Where we really focused our innovation was in creating specialized tools and localized content to better serve our specific veteran population.

One of our most significant additions is the feature sometimes called the MOC crosswalk, which Amy previously mentioned. This tool allows veterans to input their MOC and automatically translate those military skills into corresponding civilian job skills; this is essential during the transition phase. recognizing that many service members may be new to the civilian job market, we created direct, highly visible links to local and regional job fairs specific to where they are transitioning, alongside ensuring easy access to links for utilizing the GI Bill and other education/training programs.

In September 2021, we added a feature that integrates direct links and search capabilities for employers participating in the Department of Labor’s HIREVets Medallion Program, helping veterans specifically target demonstrably vet-friendly employers. Finally, to make the portal feel truly ours, we replaced the generic stock photos with high-quality, personalized images taken directly from the various military bases across North Carolina, creating a much more relatable and welcoming aesthetic compared to other representative portals.

Q: What do you think are some challenges veterans encounter when transitioning from military service to civilian employment? Additionally, how does the NC Works veterans portal assist in addressing these challenges?

Amy Pritchett:

Veterans encounter many challenges when transitioning from military to civilian employment. These include translating military skills into civilian language, navigating unfamiliar job markets, figuring out hiring processes, and understanding the differences between corporate culture and military culture. They may also have difficulty or face challenges in identifying career pathways that match their military experience, accessing training or certification programs, or building professional networks outside of their military community.

The NC Works veterans portal is designed to help address these challenges by providing a centralized platform specifically for veterans and their families. It offers tools like the MOC search to help transfer military skills to civilian roles, along with career counseling, job search support, resume translation, training resources, and connections to employers who value military experience. Additionally, it links veterans to supportive services such as education, employment workshops, and partner agencies, ensuring they receive the guidance and resources needed for a successful transition to meaningful civilian careers.

Q: What kind of incentives or benefits do employers receive, besides the exceptional employees they gain from participating in the medallions program?

Chris Silvers:

The program has been very successful, and our veterans portal specifically targets employers that qualify for the HIREVets Medallion program and their job listings. This program is the Department of Labor's only federal award recognizing a company's commitment to hiring, retaining, and supporting veterans in professional development. What's interesting is that employers participate primarily for visibility, as there are no direct monetary incentives offered. Their main benefit, besides gaining great employees, is the prominent recognition on our site.

The medallion structure itself is tiered based on employer size—small, medium, and large—with varying eligibility criteria for each. Employers can strive for either Platinum or Gold status, each requiring them to meet specific benchmarks regarding the number of veterans hired, retention rates, and the frequency and depth of professional development offered. In our system, we visually represent this by displaying the actual medallions directly next to the employer names and their job listings. This instantly signals to veterans, and frankly to any job seeker, that these employers are highly regarded and committed to a veteran-friendly workplace.

Final Thoughts:

We want to thank Amy and Chris again for taking the time to join us today, and a special thank you to all of our veterans. We truly appreciate your service and are excited to showcase your contributions. We're also proud to highlight our partner’s NC Works veteran portal, which offers vital resources to help individuals transition seamlessly to civilian life.

Follow the link here to listen to the full webinar

Our Response To The COVID-19 Outbreak

Wed, 18 Mar 2020 12:46:00 GMT

Here is an update from our president, Paul Toomey, about how we're responding to the COVID-19 outbreak.

At Geographic Solutions, our primary focus is on the health, safety, and well-being of our clients, users, and employees. We are closely monitoring the Coronavirus (COVID-19) situation as it unfolds and continue to direct our business decisions with this focus as we work together through these unprecedented times. During this time, I wanted to reach out and update you on how we are approaching the situation at Geographic Solutions:

Service to Our Clients and Users
It is critical that we continue supplying the same level of service and support upon which our clients and users depend. We are already seeing an increase in traffic on our websites, and we are adding hardware and network resources to ensure the continued performance of all the sites that we host.

For those sites where we process unemployment claims, there is already a significant increase in initial claims. For example, in Louisiana 291 initial claims for unemployment were submitted on March 10, 2020, while 11,304 initial claims were filed one week later on March 17, 2020. We are working with our Unemployment Insurance (UI) clients to take actions to accommodate the increased volume with actions that include:

• Waiving and modifying of work search requirements
• Waiving of waiting weeks
• Adding COVID-19 questions to claim forms
• Relief of employer charges

We are also ready to help enact any new Federal UI legislation, as it is passed. This includes all aspects of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.

We understand that several of our clients have transitioned their employees to work from home, and that several more are considering this move. Our software fully supports remote working and allows agency staff to operate anywhere there is an Internet connection. The only exception to this flexibility is the handling of physical documents such as verification forms or the scanning of incoming correspondence. We are here to help with any challenges. Please feel free to contact us if you need assistance in setting up your remote operations.

Our Operations
On March 11, 2020, we enacted our Infectious Disease Outbreak Response Plan. Most of our employees are now working from home with company-supplied laptops and remain connected to both our phone system and servers through our Virtual Private Network (VPN). Under this plan, we are able to operate business as usual. Some of our key Administration, Operations, and Systems team members are still onsite and adhering to best practices for social distancing.

Please note that our main office phone line, 727-786-7955, is operational in order to keep the lines of communication open between staff and our clients. Our Network Operation Center, Help Desk, and Technical Support staff are all available to support you 24/7.

Travel Restrictions
While under the current national emergency we are restricting all employee travel. Whenever possible, we will be conducting activities, meetings, and training via web conference, in lieu of on-site interactions.

Our employees permanently located at a client site will follow any business continuity guidelines provided by the client or state agency.

Workforce Technology Conference
At this point, we are moving forward with our annual Workforce Technology Conference, which begins on June 15, 2020. We will, however, be monitoring the ever-evolving situation and our conference planning team will notify attendees if there is any change in plans.

Moving Forward
As new developments emerge regarding COVID-19, we will keep you updated on our response.

I want to personally thank you for your support and understanding during this difficult time. Please feel free to contact me at PToomey@geosolinc.com if you have any questions or concerns.

Take care and stay safe,
Paul Toomey
President

North Carolina Launches New Tools To Help Veterans Find Jobs

Wed, 07 Nov 2018 15:42:00 GMT

Article written by Ford Porter, and first appeared in the newsroom at governor.nc.gov.

North Carolina veterans now have new tools available to help them find jobs, Governor Roy Cooper announced today just ahead of Veterans Day and Employ a Veteran Week. The North Carolina Department of Commerce has developed the NCWorks Veterans Portal – located at veterans.ncworks.gov – to help both job seekers and employers.

“We’re grateful for veterans’ service to our nation, and proud that so many veterans choose to call North Carolina home when they leave the military,” Gov. Cooper said. “This new portal gives veterans a direct way to connect critical skills and experience gained through military service to new careers in high-demand fields, and it will also connect North Carolina employers looking to hire these proven hard workers.”

The NCWorks Veterans Portal is part of Governor Cooper’s NC Job Ready strategy to prepare North Carolinians for the jobs of today and tomorrow. NC Job Ready has three core principles: skills and education attainment, employer leadership to remain relevant to evolving industry needs, and local innovation to take great ideas and apply them statewide.