Recruiting is everyone’s business.

You may wonder what VA in the news has to do with career advice and recruitment. To me, it is all connected. I firmly believe that “Recruiting is everyone’s business”.

Recently, I read several news articles that highlighted a concern about gun ownership among some Veterans. Anyone reading the article can clearly tell that the writer only included a small part of the letter, and that the actual VA Letter is taken out of context, which is a tool writers sometimes use to get good press coverage for themselves.  This bothers me because inflated stories serve no purpose toward helping our Veterans. If anything, they can harm our Veterans. How many Veterans who read the article and others like it, are possibly now hesitant to seek mental health care from VA or any healthcare provider? Like all Americans, Veterans are a diverse group with varying views and influencers and may be impressionable by official sources such as press, government officials and celebrities. Misinformation for the sake of “good press” isn’t the answer.  I feel Veterans deserve better.

All Americans want to honor and take care of our Veterans. I know this to be true. VA is passionate about honoring and taking care of our Veterans. This, too, I know to be true. All of us need to work together; writers, government workers, and citizens; united to help Veterans, and do something positive. Help VA rebuild the trust with ALL Veterans. VA receives excellent customer reviews in quality and service from many sources. While there are situations that we are working to improve upon and we can learn from, we all better serve our Veterans by demonstrating that VA is an employer of choice seeking to  hire the best qualified staff to provide the highest quality care to our Veterans. When Veterans know that America is on their side and promoting all the  good along with what could be improved, they will be more inclined to determine on their own the true quality of care at VA.

As for Recruitment…If you are a health care provider, I encourage you to visit www.VAcareers.va.gov. If you are a reporter/writer, I look forward to reading more about positive examples at VA and the tremendous job being done every day for our Veterans, or at least equal coverage. This is one area that all Americans are united on; let us demonstrate to the world how committed we all are to our nations Veterans.

“The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by our nation.” — George Washington