The MedTech and BioTech Veterans Program (www.mvpvets.org) is announcing the fifth Veteran and Transitioning Military Recareering event for 2014. The program, which is free for veterans and those transitioning from the military, helps veterans find careers in life sciences companies, is partnering with Baxter Healthcare in Deerfield, Illinois to host 20 veterans in a daylong seminar which will provide insights into the Medical Device industry, partnering with mentors, a job skills workshop, and interaction with hiring managers and Human Resources professionals from the the company. The company and the industry have many positions in areas such as supply chain, supervision, management, human resources, and other functional areas that they are eager to fill with veterans and those transitioning from the military.
A press release about the event follows:
CARLSBAD, CA, September 4 2014 /PRNewswire/ — On September 26th 2014, MedTech and BioTech Veterans Program (www.mvpvets.org) will conduct a free re-careering event for transitioning military and veterans in Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin at the Baxter International Inc. campus in Deerfield, Ill.
Military personnel in transition from service and honorably discharged veterans are invited to apply for the opportunity to participate in this free one-day seminar that will include active one-on-one mentoring, resume building and personal engagement with hiring managers seeking to employ program participants.
The event brings veterans and transitioning military together with mentors from the medical technology industry while they participate in active sessions that include resume review and refinement, job interview training and rehearsals, creating a professional online presence in social media, and networking.
Space is limited and pre-registration is required to ensure that participants get a seat at the event.
Details:
Date September 26, 2014
Time 7:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Location Baxter International Inc.: One Baxter Parkway, Deerfield, Illinois
Cost There is no cost for veterans and transitioning military. All materials, breakfast, lunch, parking and pre-event overnight lodging will be provided free of charge.
Registration Transitioning military and veterans interested in participating in the program can register at the MedTech and BioTech Veterans Program website (http://www.mvpvets.org/mvpvets-event-interest-form). Pre-registration is required, and space is limited.
Baxter International Inc. recognizes the valuable skills, experience and dedication that veterans bring to the workplace and actively recruits transitioning military personnel into a vast array of rewarding careers in healthcare. In addition to hosting the re-careering event at its headquarters, Baxter employees, including many veterans, will serve as mentors during and after the event.
The MedTech and BioTech Veterans Program is a nonprofit organization with the mission to bring 5,000 veterans and transitioning military into the Life Sciences industry by 2018. A 501(c)(3) nonprofit entity, MVP brings active training and mentorship together with an integrated collaborative online portal and eLearning from the Life Collaborative in a concerted effort to help those who have served the country in uniform re-career into meaningful and impactful careers in the MedTech, BioTech, Pharmaceutical, BioFuels, and Wireless Medical Technology sectors.
Orders to Nowhere... 
Can you comment on the recent rumors about the The Wounded Warrior Project not being what it says it is? This has me very concerned.
The Wounded Warrior Project has become one of the largest veteran focused nonprofits out there, and as a result it draws fire for being so large and successful. Every nonprofit is scrutinized on how they use their resources (as I can attest from my experience running the MedTech and BioTech Veterans Program, which is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit), and the metric that is used is often related to how much money is spent on the target of the charity. For WWP the focus is wounded warriors, and I would argue that they have a tremendous amount of good. They can’t make everyone happy, and they are bound to make some people mad.
One of the issues that is often raised is the amount their executives are paid. WWP is a $300M business, and it takes talent (and a lot of it) to successfully run an organization of that magnitude. I personally don’t hold that against them, because if you want talented people to run your organization you have to pay them well, or they will get a job elsewhere.
As for the accusations that they are not doing as much as they could, well, I don’t know enough to say one way or another. They have done a tremendous job of raising awareness for Wounded Warriors, and they have also made a real difference in wounded veterans’ lives.
I think it is a good organization that has grown incredibly large in a very short amount of time, and as a result they are focusing in a lot of different areas other than their initial target set of directly helping wounded vets. They provide grants to other organizations that help veterans among other things.
The best thing you can do in regards to nonprofits is to see what good they are doing and to decide from there- not all reports are accurate. They are not always inaccurate either – it takes a little digging to find the real truth.