Army veterans Robert Wrinkle, of Cleveland, Tenn., and Pat Brown, of Harrison, along with Marine veteran Paul Walker, from left, line up to talk to Volkswagen representatives during a veterans hiring fair on Thursday at the Tennessee Career Center at Eastgate.
Twenty-three-year-old Jesse Kiser waited patiently in a long line to find work at the Chattanooga Career Center on Thursday.
The room set aside for the veterans career fair was buzzing with retired military and young men and women back from war. Some had their hair combed back and wore nicely fitted suits. Others were in a jeans and T-shirts.
They shook hands with recruiters from T-Mobile, Volkswagen, Parkridge Hospital and Dollar General.
Even though Kiser has been out of work since March — he couldn’t continue driving 45 minutes from Athens to Dayton every day for the job he had — he felt good about his prospects.
Kiser, who has been back from his tour in Iraq since 2010 when he worked as a U.S. Army intelligence analyst, said he was eager for a career job. For the past months he’s been relying on his girlfriend. He started the military right out of high school and said he feels like he is coming into the job market behind everyone. College graduates are even scraping to find work.