Magnolia native and 1980 Queen Anne High School graduate Whitney Mason has developed a passion for networking in her new job. She had to.
A major in the Marine Corps Reserves, Mason returned to Magnolia last summer as a "Hometown Link" for an ambitious new program that helps Marines find jobs when they return to civilian life. Called "Marine for Life," the program is Internet-based, and it touts military experience as a selling point for prospective employers, Mason said.
It's an important issue in a tight labor market. Nationwide, approximately 27,000 Marines leave the military every year, she said. "That is normal attrition for the Marine Corps, and these are Marines who have served three years right after high school ... to Marines who are retiring after 30 years, and everybody in between."
Marine for Life is less than 2 years old. It was developed because Marine top brass felt the Corps could do a better job helping veterans after they leave the military, Mason said.
"The idea," she explained, "was to create a transition- and networking-assistance program that would ease a fairly significant life change from active-duty military to civilian life."
And getting a new job is at the top of the priority list for most ex-Marines, Mason said. It's a given that former Marines will be willing to help other Marines find work after they've left the service, but Marine veterans also have a leg up with nonmilitary bosses, compared with at least some of the other job-seekers out there, according to Mason.
"We ... know employers value any skills and the work ethic Marines have to offer," she said. Getting that word out is another matter. "The key to this transitional system is tapping into local networks of veterans and retired Marines, and Marine-friendly individuals, businesses and organi-zations." So Mason - whose territory covers Western Washington - spends most of her days out in the field making connections. Among others, the connections include the Seattle Police Department, the King County Sheriff's Office, a Vietnam vet who heads up the IT department at PEMCO Insurance, a retired colonel who is a professor at the University of Washington, the human resources manager at Lowe's Hardware, Work Source, a King County employment-assistance program, the Transportation Security Agency, she said. On a local level, the contacts also include the Queen Anne High School Korean War Veterans group, Mason said.
In many ways, what the Major does is a khaki exercise in "six degrees of separation," the theory that everybody in the world can connect to everybody else by going through at most six people.
"I'm focusing on individual points of contact who might know somebody who knows somebody," she said. "Almost everybody I meet will say, 'Oh, I know someone you can call.'"
The number of prospective employers taking part in the program is growing exponentially, but the employers have to pass muster before they end up on the Marine for Life Web site (www.MarineForLife.com), Mason said.
"I want them to meet me, I want to meet them, I want to learn about what their organization or service or business is, [and] I want to see where they do business," she said.
"If they're not a federal, state government entity," Mason added, "then they have to sign a self-certification indicating they are a business in good standing or individual in good standing."
The certification includes - among other provisions - a promise that the business is not involved in any illegal, terrorist, cult or hate-group activities, and that the business has not been placed off limits to military personnel by the Armed Forces Disciplinary Control Board.
Marines in the formal transition period, one that covers six months before they leave the service to three months afterward, have to use a password to log on to the Web site, Mason explained.
The Web site includes job categories that vary from advertising and public relations to insurance to warehousing and distribution. The focus is primarily on job opportunities, but the site also includes links for educational opportunities and community information.
"We know there's a huge interest in university education," Mason said. "We also know Marines are typically active and looking to become involved with their communities."
The Marine for Life program is currently active in 70 cities nationwide. "We know there are success stories," Mason said, stressing that she is not an employment counselor or a headhunter. It's up to the Marines to use the resource, said Mason, who e-mails everyone who logs on in Western Washington.
The program is in its infancy in Seattle, she said, but Mason is opti-mistic that the program will be a success here.
"I would say the response to date had been very, very positive."
Employers looking for more information about the Marine for Life program can call Mason at 281-7917.
