As the nation prepares to honor its military veterans on Veterans Day on Friday, Xcel Energy is thanking its employees who have served in the U.S. military and celebrating the achievement of 15% of new hires having a military background, exceeding the company’s goal of 10%, while doubling results from two years ago.
On Friday, Xcel Energy will honor its veterans at events throughout the company’s eight-state service area, including celebrations at service centers in Texas and New Mexico.
Xcel Energy is committed to hiring military veterans as part of its employment strategy, and on Friday will honor its veterans at Veterans Day events throughout the company’s eight-state service area, including celebrations at power plants and operations service centers in Texas and New Mexico.
“We appreciate the sacrifice that our veterans and their families have made to ensure the safety and security of our nation, and we are honored that so many of these women and men are part of our workforce,” said Ben Fowke, chairman, president and CEO, Xcel Energy. “Our military veterans bring leadership, teamwork, and dedication to the job, exactly the kind of skills we need to meet the energy needs of the future.
Robert S. Munoz, a second-year apprentice lineman in Carlsbad, N.M., is one of more than 1,000 military veterans currently working at Xcel Energy across the company’s eight-state service area that stretches from the Upper Midwest to New Mexico. Munoz served as a U.S Army Infantry Officer in the 4th Infantry Division and the 82nd Airborne Division. He has been deployed twice, once in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) Iraq, and second in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) Afghanistan.
“The military trained me to be an adaptive leader and instilled in me the moral values that I needed to be successful in life,” Munoz said.
As part of Xcel Energy’s efforts to hire veterans, it recently joined Veterans in Energy. This national organization is a recruiting network linking veterans to current job openings in the energy industry. Launched last month, Veterans in Energy is a partnership that includes energy companies nationwide along with the U.S. Departments of Energy, Defense, Labor, and Veterans Affairs.
Xcel Energy also employs a full-time recruiter who works with veterans on career coaching and resume assistance. Current employees who are veterans may join an employee resource group that volunteers at many veteran events in the community and also assists with recruiting veterans to work at Xcel Energy.
Information on careers for veterans at Xcel Energy can be found online at www.xcelenergy.com at the Veterans page in the careers section.
Filed Under: News
