Meat&Poultry - December 2011 - 25

tional human resources, accompanied David to Washington. As a recruiter for Tyson both domestically and internationally, Tooley, too, was asked to represent the company at the roundtable. He says it was a memorable experience that was highlighted by David representing both the company and the military so positively. “He is a great example of the talent that comes out of the military,” he says, and corporate America is realizing their value as team members. “There is a lot of momentum among companies throughout the country to really try to help these military men and women as they come out and join the work force,” he says. Realizing how military skills that appear on the resume of a reservist or a veteran can be applied and how they translate to civilian jobs isn’t always that obvious. Too often these attributes get lost in the hiring shuffle. Tooley points out that having resumes from military applicants reviewed by someone with a military background enables Tyson to hire candidates they might have otherwise overlooked. At Tyson, one of those reviewers is David. “For most companies, if they don’t have someone on staff that has been in the military reviewing those resumes, they may pass over it because they don’t understand their experience.” Designating a Business Resource Group (BRG) dedicated to Tyson’s veteran hiring efforts is one big part of its commitment to assisting in the recruitment and retention of candidates that are part of this growing pool. With more than 3,000 employees with military backgrounds already on its payroll, Tooley is well aware of the new tax incentives for employers hiring veterans, but says Tyson backs the plan “because it’s the right thing to do.” As participants in the new programs, Tooley anticipates a growing number of former enlistees to join Tyson’s ranks. And they will be relied on to fill positions at all levels of the company. “We’ve got them in operations,

HR, everywhere. And we think they fit everywhere,” Tooley says. The veterans program plays into the company’s new slogan: Making great food. Making a difference, he says. “These military people have already been making a difference,” and

as a major supplier to the commissaries of military bases around the country, “we’ve already been feeding them through these military commissaries, so it’s a great fit for us to go recruit military personnel and bring them into Tyson,” he says.

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Meat&Poultry - December 2011

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