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The president challenged the private sector to provide jobs and job training for 100,000 unemployed veterans or their spouses by the end of 2013, and several technology companies are responding to the effort in a number of ways, according to a White House blog post by Matt Flavin, director of the White House Veterans, Military Families, and Wounded Warrior Task Force.
Of the several technology companies Obama said are joining in the effort, HP was among the most proactive in its approach. The company is teaming with the White House in a program called Veterans Fast Launch, which is part of a program called "Joining Forces" launched in part by First Lady Michelle Obama in April.
Joining Forces is aimed at helping veterans build careers when their finished with their military service. To that end, HP is partnering with SCORE--an organization providing small-business advice for entrepreneurs--to provide mentoring, tools, and training support to military personnel and their families, according to the post.
HP is helping veterans and spouses take advantage of its Virtual Rooms technology, which allows people to collaborate and participate in training remotely through an online system. The technology is available for free for a 60-day trial period.
Multinational technology and infrastructure provider Siemens already has made progress toward achieving Obama's goal. The company said in April as part of Joining Forces that it would fill 10% of its 3,000 open positions with veterans, and last week officials said it exceeded this goal, according to the post. To continue this work, it plans to fill an additional 150 positions with veterans.
Federal contractor Lockheed Martin, systems integrator Accenture, AT&T, and Microsoft also said they would provide support for the initiative by recruiting and hiring veterans over the next two years to help the White House provide jobs for veterans.
Companies outside of the technology sector also agreed to hire and educate veterans as part of the strategy. They include Humana, Honeywell, and JP Morgan Chase.
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