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Jobs for Veterans Act

Employment and training services are provided to veterans of the United States Armed Forces through a nationwide network of approximately 3,000 One-Stop Career Centers.

The U.S. Department of Labor has implemented Priority of Service for veterans and eligible spouses in all qualified job training programs. This page offers resources for both the veteran job-seeker and employment and training program providers.

Resources for Veterans Seeking Employment and Training

The Key to Career Success campaign is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor through the Career One-Stop Pathways to Career Success Web site: http://www.careeronestop.org/MilitaryTransition/. The Key to Career Success campaign connects veterans and transitioning service members with high quality career planning, training, and job search resources available at local One-Stop Career Centers.

  • To access information on One-Stop Career Center locations in your state or throughout the nation, please visit America’s Service Locator Web site at www.servicelocator.org or call the following Toll Free Number: 1-877-US-2JOBS or 1-877-872-5627.
  • The Hire Vets First Web site: http://hirevetsfirst.dol.gov/ provides comprehensive career information for hiring veterans of the United States Armed Forces.
  • The Career One-Stop Portal brings together five on-line tools into a single site to assist veterans transitioning into civilian occupations.

    • From http://www.careeronestop.org/militarytransition/ veterans will find tools to:

    • Match Military Experience to Civilian Occupations Portal matches by MOC code, key word search or menu search
    • The Get Credentials, Certifications, and Licenses Portal helps veteran job-seekers with credentials that document and verify your workplace skills, knowledge, and experience and translate military skills and experience into credentials to obtain civilian skills
    • The Write a Resume Portal will help a veteran job-seeker format a resume
    • The Disabled/Injured Veterans Resources provides resources for veterans who are wounded or disabled, and
    • Find Local Services will help a veteran job-seeker locate additional services available to veterans.

Resources for Program and Service Providers

On November 7, 2002, the Jobs for Veterans Act (JVA) was signed into law. One provision of the JVA establishes a priority of service requirement for covered persons (i.e., veterans and eligible spouses, including widows and widowers) in qualified job training programs. Since the passage of the JVA, the Employment and Training Administration has provided policy guidance to the workforce system regarding implementation of priority of service.

The Office of Workforce Investment provides specific guidance established by Section 2(a) of the Jobs for Veterans Act, P.L. 107-288 (38 USC 4215 (a)) to:

  • State and local Workforce Investment Boards;
  • Private, national and/or pilot/demonstration operators of employment and training programs funded by the U.S. Department of Labor;
  • Those programs implemented by States or local service providers based on Federal block grants administered by the Department of Labor; and
  • Any such program or service that is a workforce development program targeted to specific groups.

The Final Rule (http://www.dol.gov/VETS/E8-30166.pdf) took effect on January 19, 2009. The Final Rule signals that those recipients of USDOL funds for qualified job training programs are subject to the priority of service regulations, and are required by law to provide priority of service to veterans and eligible spouses.

The Final Rule, and the priority of service it requires, is an important acknowledgement of the sacrifices of the men and women who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces. USDOL’s strategic vision for priority of service to covered persons honors veterans and eligible spouses of veterans as our "heroes at home" and envisions that DOL-funded employment and training programs, including the publicly-funded workforce investment system, will identify, inform, and deliver comprehensive services to covered persons as part of strategic workforce development activities across the country.

TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT GUIDANCE LETTER (TEGL) NO. 10-09, dated November 10, 2009, provides additional information and general instructions applicable to any of the DOL-funded employment and training programs affected by the Jobs for Veterans Act (JVA).