Veterans Renovate Too: How Skilled Trades Can Create a Second Career After Military Service
Leaving military service does not mean leaving valuable skills behind.
Veterans often enter civilian life with experience in leadership, teamwork, logistics, problem-solving, accountability, equipment operation, project execution, and working effectively under pressure.
Those characteristics can translate exceptionally well into the construction and skilled trades industry.
The Opportunity in the Skilled Trades
Career paths can include:
- Carpentry
- Electrical work
- Plumbing
- HVAC
- Painting
- Drywall
- Flooring
- Roofing
- Property maintenance
- Construction management
- Residential rehabilitation
Military Skills Can Transfer
Military occupational specialties and construction trades are not identical, but veterans may already possess important characteristics employers value, including discipline, teamwork, accountability, and problem-solving.
Training Creates the Bridge
Depending on the occupation, pathways may include apprenticeships, vocational education, employer-sponsored training, certifications, community-college programs, and supervised on-the-job experience.
From Employment to Entrepreneurship
With experience, appropriate licensing where required, business knowledge, and access to capital, some tradespeople eventually become independent contractors or business owners.
Rebuilding Homes While Building Careers
Connecting workforce training with neighborhood revitalization creates the possibility of accomplishing two missions simultaneously.
Build people. Rebuild homes. Strengthen communities.
Veterans Renovate Too!
That philosophy is behind MDHS's Veterans Renovate Too! Workforce Development Initiative.
Our vision is to help create pathways connecting veterans with education, training, skilled-trade opportunities, industry professionals, and community revitalization.
Military service may be one chapter of a veteran's professional life. The next chapter could be building something new.
Interested in skilled-trades opportunities or supporting Veterans Renovate Too!? Connect with MDHS to learn more.
Metro Detroit Housing Service (MDHS) is an independent nonprofit organization. Participation in MDHS programs does not guarantee employment, licensing, government benefits, or program eligibility. Requirements for licenses, apprenticeships, benefits, and other programs are established by the applicable administering organizations.
Build your next career in the skilled trades
Connect with Veterans Renovate Too! to explore training, employment, and entrepreneurship pathways.