VETS Fact Sheet 1

Employment Services for Veterans

The Department of Labor's Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS), through cooperative efforts with, and grants to, each state, offers employment and training services to eligible veterans through two principal programs:

• Disabled Veterans' Outreach Program.
• Local Veterans' Employment Representatives Program.

Disabled Veterans' Outreach Program

Disabled Veterans' Outreach Program (DVOP) specialists develop job and training opportunities for veterans, with special emphasis on veterans with service-connected disabilities. DVOP specialists provide direct services to veterans enabling them to be competitive in the labor market. They provide outreach and offer assistance to disabled and other veterans by promoting community and employer support for employment and training opportunities, including apprenticeship and on-the-job training.

DVOP specialists work with employers, veterans' organizations, the Department of Veterans' Affairs and Defense, and community-based organizations to link veterans with appropriate jobs and training opportunities.

DVOP specialists serve as case managers for veterans enrolled in federally-funded job training programs such as the Department of Veterans Affairs' Vocational Rehabilitation program, and other veterans with serious disadvantages in the job market. DVOP specialists are available to those veterans and their employers to help ensure that necessary follow up services are provided to promote job retention.

The Department of Labor provides grant funds to each state's employment service to maintain DVOP specialist positions in the state. The staffing formula and current appropriations level support about 1,400 DVOP specialists nationally. DVOP specialists are employees of the state and are generally located in state employment service offices. About one-quarter are stationed full- or part-time in locations other than employment service offices.

DVOP specialists may be stationed at regional offices and medical or veterans' outreach centers of the Department of Veterans' Affairs, state or county veterans' service offices, Job Training Partnership Act program offices, community-based organizations, and military installations.

To contact a DVOP specialist, call or visit the nearest State Employment Service (sometimes known as Job Service) agency listed in the State Government section of your phone book.

Local Veterans' Employment Representatives

Local Veterans' Employment Representatives (LVERs) are state employees located in state employment service local offices to provide assistance to veterans by:

• supervising the provision of all services to veterans furnished by employment service employees, including counseling, testing, and identifying training and employment opportunities;
• monitoring job listings from federal contractors to see that eligible veterans get priority in referrals to these jobs;
• monitoring federal department and agency vacancies listed at local state employment service offices and preliminary processing of complaints from veterans about the observance of veterans' preference by Federal employers;
• promoting and monitoring the participation of veterans in federally-funded employment and training programs;
• cooperating with the Department of Veterans' Affairs to identify and aid veterans who need work-specific prosthetic devices, sensory aids or other special equipment to improve their employability; and
• contacting community leaders, employers, unions, training programs and veterans' service organizations to be sure eligible veterans get the services to which they are entitled.

Usually, one full-time LVER is allocated to local employment service offices for each 1,100 or more veterans who registered for assistance in the preceding year. One half-time LVER is allocated to offices at which at least 350 veterans registered for help. This formula and the current appropriation level for the program support about 1,300 LVERs employed nationwide. State Employment Service Agency management may deviate from the allocation formula in the actual assignment of positions to specific locations.

For more information about Department of Labor employment and training programs for veterans, contact the VETS office nearest you, listed in the phone book in the United States Government under the Labor Department or visit our site: http://www.dol.gov/vets/aboutvets/contacts/main.htm.