BPITTSBURGH, Nov. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- On Oct. 15, 2007, Kathleen Casey- Kirschling -- America's first official baby boomer -- applied for social security. She is the first in a wave of 80 million baby boomers who are expected to retire at a rate of over 10,000 per day for the next two decades. This shrinking quantity and quality of the U.S. workforce, combined with even modest economic expansion, will make transitioning military personnel -- one of only two renewable talent pools in the U.S. -- even more coveted as companies compete for top talent.
"Hiring America's military veterans is a smart business decision for which all of the Top 50 companies should be commended," said Chris Hale, general manager of the publication. "Sure, it's patriotic to hire military, but that's not why corporate America does so. These companies understand how military knowledge, training and real-world experience positively affect their bottom line."
BNSF Railway unseated two-time repeat performer Union Pacific to capture the No. 1 position of America's Top 50 "Military Friendly-Employers" in the fifth annual list published by G.I. Jobs, the nation's premier career guide for military job-seekers. "We are humbled, and proud, to be selected the No. 1 of 2,500 companies," said Connie McLendon, military staffing manager for BNSF. "We have worked hard to increase our outreach to members in transition from the military to civilian work. Just to be among the Top 50 is an honor."
The annual list is a "who's who?" of FORTUNE® 1000 firms who have made the greatest effort and have had the greatest success in hiring military veterans. The list spans the entire industry spectrum of the U.S. economy.
The pool of eligible companies (minimum of $1 billion annual revenues) was approximately 2,500. Only 2 percent made the list. Seven firms -- American Electric Power, Brinks, GE, Merrill Lynch, Sprint Nextel, The Home Depot and USAA -- have earned a spot on the list in all five years of its existence. Johnson Controls, Lockheed Martin and Union Pacific have made the lists in four of five years.
Criteria for the rankings included assets dedicated to military hiring (40%), Reserve/Guard policies (25%), percentage of total new hires in the past two years who are veterans (20%), and veteran recruitment / training / promotional programs (15%).
ABOUT G.I. Jobs
G.I. Jobs is published by Victory Media, a veteran-owned business, headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pa. The company also publishes Military Spouse and Vetrepreneur magazines.
G.I. Jobs 2007 Top 50 Military-Friendly Employer List
1 BNSF Railway
2 Union Pacific
3 ITT Systems
4 EG&G (Lear Siegler)
5 USAA
6 Schneider National
7 Johnson Controls
8 CSX Transportation
9 ManTech International
10 Applied Materials
11 Booz Allen Hamilton
12 The Home Depot
13 Lockheed Martin
14 J.B. Hunt Transport
15 CINTAS
16 DynCorp
17 EDS
18 General Electric
19 Travelers
20 GlobalSantaFe
21 Southern Company
22 Werner Enterprises
23 Norfolk Southern
24 Morgan Stanley
25 Sunbelt Rentals
26 Sprint Nextel
27 Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold
28 Constellation Energy
29 ENSCO International
30 Fluor
31 BearingPoint
32 Merrill Lynch
33 Brink's U.S.
34 State Farm
35 Anheuser-Busch
36 Health Net
37 Lowe's
38 Xcel Energy
39 Progress Energy
40 FMC Technologies
41 U-Haul
42 Bank of America
43 AT&T
44 T-Mobile
45 NVR
46 American Electric Power
47 Southern California Edison
48 Westinghouse
49 Wachovia
50 Sears Holdings