Chrysler among top 50 military-friendly employers

Posted on Tuesday, November 11th, 2008 at 2:48 PM EST.

Chrysler LLC has been named one of the “Top 50 Military-Friendly Employers” by G.I. Jobs magazine from a pool of 2,500 eligible companies (with a minimum of $1 billion in annual revenues).

Chrysler was the only automotive company to be included on the list.

The recognition from G.I. Jobs compliments the company’s recent acceptance of the Freedom Award. In September, Chrysler Chairman and CEO Bob Nardelli accepted the 2008 Secretary of Defense Freedom Award, the highest recognition given by the U.S. government to employers for outstanding support of their employees who serve in the National Guard and Reserve.

“Being recognized by G.I. Jobs as one of the ‘Top 50’ is truly an honor,” Nardelli said. “This distinction, together with the Freedom Award, underscores Chrysler’s commitment to honoring those who serve. We take great pride in providing programs and resources that help the men and women who have served our country so courageously. Those who have served in the armed services understand accountability and the importance of achieving objectives. They have faced tough situations before, so they are likely to be calm under fire.”

In particular, G.I. Jobs recognized Chrysler’s efforts to support soldiers, marines, sailors or airmen who decide to separate from active duty service by offering free training and direct job leads for employment opportunities at a corporate level and with its 3,500 dealers nationwide. Through its employment site: www.ChryslerHonoringThoseWhoServe.com, the company provides all the details and information to assist in the process.

“The UAW places a high priority on addressing issues that improve the quality of life for those that have worn the uniform of our country,” UAW Vice President General Holiefield, who directs the union’s Chrysler Department, said. “These men and women are mission-focused, highly skilled, motivated and possess unique experiences and technical knowledge. We’re very proud to work with Chrysler to provide training programs and employment opportunities as well as programs that improve their quality of life.”

In addition to job leads and training, the company, which ranked 43 on the list, continues to support the men and women in uniform by working with partners, such as Operation Gratitude, the Freedom Calls Foundation and the USO.

Chrysler and its dealers have donated vehicles to Operation Gratitude through which the keys to a brand-new Jeep® Patriot and Jeep Liberty were placed inside the 250,000th and 300,000th care packages respectively, and delivered to two randomly selected soldiers deployed in Iraq.

The company and the Freedom Calls Foundation partnered to use the videoconferencing capabilities in Chrysler’s world headquarters to allow family members and their soldiers to see and talk to each other via videoconferencing. The program is expanding to establish connection centers in Chrysler, Jeep and Dodge dealerships across the United States, enabling more military families the opportunity to communicate with their soldier, airman, sailor or marine.

Criteria for the G.I. Jobs rankings included assets dedicated to military hiring (28 percent), reserve/guard policies (18 percent), percentage of new hires who are veterans (14 percent), veteran training programs (10 percent) and previous three years’ rankings (30 percent).

G.I. Jobs (www.gijobs.com) is published by Victory Media, a veteran-owned business, headquartered in Pittsburgh. The company also publishes Military Spouse and Vetrepreneur magazines.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 11th, 2008 at 2:48 PM EST and is filed under Company. You can follow any comments to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Comments are currently closed.