Military veterans avoid job-seeking obstacle course, join tech boot camp

More than 30 participating veterans and their mentors participated in MassMVP kick-off event. Front row, center are Massachusetts Life Sciences Center President and CEO Susan Windham-Bannister, and MassMEDIC President Tom Sommer to her left.

After serving a year in Afghanistan, Massachusetts National Guardsman Mark Bastien wanted to hunker down in his hometown of Spencer, Mass. and find a job where he could put his mind to work and his bachelor?s degree to good use. A posting on Facebook inviting veterans to join a training boot camp sparked his interest, so he filled out the necessary paperwork and rushed it in just before the deadline. Bastien got word that he would be accepted into boot camp, but it wasn?t going to be like the one he experienced when he joined the U.S. Army.

Bastien and more than 30 other military veterans participated in a ?boot camp? Thursday to kick off the Massachusetts Technology Veterans Program (MassMVP). This boot camp didn?t include obstacle courses, abdominal crunches or push ups in flea-filled sandpits. Instead, the boot camp introduced the veterans to their year-long mentoring and internship program which focused on connecting them with mentors in the medical device technology industry.

Through the program, organized by the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center and Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council, veterans will get an inside look at careers in the med device industry, will receive career development coaching and will have an opportunity to network with those in the industry.

Veterans in the boot camp did not have to face screaming drill sergeants, but they were paired with industry mentors from a slew of companies, including Boston Scientific (NYSE:BSX), Haemonetics (Nasdaq:HAE), Medtronic, and Abiomed (Nasdaq:ABMD).

Bastien, 28, was paired up with Judith Merritt at Covidien, a Mansfield, Mass.-based med device company. Just like in basic training, Bastien got right to work. This time, however, it was to work on his resume. He also listened to the organizers who stressed that participants need to work as hard as they did in the military, only this time with finding a job.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bizj_boston/~3/D8Yk5O4a_Yw/military-veterans-avoid-job-seeking.html

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