Fort Huachuca, Arizona -- Hiring Our Heroes held an information briefing for the Arizona Corporate Fellowship Program Mar. 2 at the Education Center here. The program offers three-month fellowships to Soldiers transitioning off active duty.
Marady Leary, Hiring Our Heroes' director of the Corporate Fellowship Program, said her role is to "help to facilitate this program nationally." Leary said the corporate fellowship program started in 2015 at Joint Base Lewis-McChord as a program for active duty Soldiers transitioning into retirement to work in a fellowship in a corporate environment.
"We don't call it an internship because it's for more senior, more skilled people," Leary said. "They go into the company while they are still within 180 days of transition, and they work for the company for 12 weeks, and in those 12 weeks the company evaluates their performance. [The Soldier] also evaluates the company and at the end of 12 weeks, they decide if they want to work for the company and the company decides if [it] wants to hire [the Soldier]."
Leary said they do their best to match up the fellow with the company.
"It's usually a pretty thorough process in the beginning to get them matched with the company," she said. "We do a series of interviews, so the first thing that you would do is fill out an [online] application."
Leary said the Soldier wanting to participate in the fellowship will go through a thorough application process with Hiring Our Heroes staff helping applicants complete their resume and conducting an interview prep day.
"Then you would decide from a list of companies," Leary said. "Then you do an interview process of all the different employers that you are interested in and rate them. You find out what you will [earn] up front, in the beginning, if you accept the position. During the process, you're really just working on a project with the company to see if it's a good fit for you."
Leary said Soldiers can participate in the May 22 or July 14 scheduled cohorts.
"But we are also able to do individual fellowships for people who don't meet that timeline," she said. Soldiers interested in the program should contact the Education Center at 520.533.2390 to get their paperwork approved for an individual fellowship at a time that works for them this year.
The information briefing featured former Fort Huachuca Soldier, Alen Schultz, as the guest speaker. Schultz is now a systems consultant for Banner University Medical Group after participating in the Hiring Our Heroes fellowship during his transition.
"When I was accepted into the program I was a master sergeant working for the U.S. Army Garrison," Schultz said. "I was a noncommissioned officer-in-charge of the Operations Center and the Emergency Operation Center. When I was selected to participate in the fellowship program, I interviewed with about seven different companies."
Schultz explained some of his options were defense contractors in the Sierra Vista area, Northern Trust in Phoenix and Banner Health in Phoenix and Tucson.
"During that process, I was a number-one candidate for the majority of the companies to be a fellow, and I had to rate each one of the companies, and I chose Banner Health," he said. "I was looking for a new career. I've never worked in the health care industry. Having the opportunity to work at Banner, it's an opportunity to learn new things in a new industry. It's very interesting, and I learn something every day when I go to work."
Leary said Schultz "was in the very first cohort [conducted] at Fort Huachuca. He was a fellow with Banner Health, and he was hired. He's making a really great salary and he wants to help educate people about this program."
Leary said Hiring Our Heroes offers the program because "it's a really great opportunity for people to explore the corporate field and take advantage of this program. They have an 80 percent placement rate across the country, after almost three years and 18 cohorts. The average starting salary is around $70,000."
Schultz explained why he was advocating for others to sign up for the fellowship.
"This fellowship program was a life changer," said Schultz. "I didn't have any stress transitioning into my retirement because I knew where my next paycheck was going to be coming from. As soon as my fellowship was over, I got an offer letter."
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