Local companies want to employ military vets

CLEVELAND - Carla Ruffin spent the morning applying for classes at Cleveland State University. She's making a career change.

"I'm being looked at like everybody else," said Ruffin. "My experience, the things I've been through, the things I've seen, my qualifications. I set myself apart from other people by being a veteran."

Ruffin, 21, spent the last three years in Iraq and all over the world in the armed forces where she worked in security. But back here in the states, life has changed.

"Being stable, having my job doing security, and not even being able to get a job at McDonald's," said Ruffin.

Ruffin can't find work. Neither can one in four veterans her age. On Thursday, a local manufacturing company, working with lawmakers and other local employers, announced a program to transition vets into manufacturing jobs.

"We find that military people have strong leadership skills," said Kim Smith with the Pipeline Development Company. "They're typically good communicators. Those are things that we're looking at to make a good employee."

Smith's company makes pipelines for oil and gas. She's excited to work with military vets. In fact, her company has many positions open with limited applicants.

"We have a hard time getting people who are qualified, or who want to come in and work," said Smith. "Half the job is showing up."

But Ruffin said, work ethic is not her problem. She's part of a group of vets headed home into economic turmoil.

"I think that everything that I've done and worked for, in serving my country," Ruffin said. "It serves no purpose out here in the civilian world."