Expert: NMI veterans’ participation in trainings decreasing

A visiting expert who trains and holds workshops for military veterans is dismayed at the consistently low number of participants in the free seminars they hold in the Commonwealth.

Jackie L. Nguyen, the coordinator for the disabled veterans’ outreach program, told Saipan Tribune in an interview Thursday that the July 2010 training and a follow-up visit in November last year yielded unsatisfying results in terms of veterans’ participation. Those events were specifically designed for veterans and were free of charge.

Nguyen assured, however, that she’s not losing hope and vowed to better promote future trainings to attract more attendees.

Her weeklong visit on Saipan, Rota, and Tinian this month marks Nguyen’s third and last trip to the islands this fiscal year 2011.

Trained by the U.S. Department of Labor under the Veterans’ Labor Employment And Training program, Nguyen conducts three regular visits to the Commonwealth each fiscal year. The objective is to provide assistance to veterans in improving their lives by instilling in them knowledge, skills, and information vital to their development.

Nguyen identified “people’s complacency” and the island culture as among the factors for the consistently poor attendance result.

She estimated that the Commonwealth has roughly 5,000 veterans, of which only very few have shown interest in the program’s workshops and seminars during regular visits. She defined a veteran as anyone who had served the military within 180 days and who either retired or was discharged from the service.

On her first day on island Wednesday, Nguyen spent time promoting this week’s events, which will focus on helping veterans prepare resumes, interview techniques, and how to do job searches.

On Thursday, she conducted the first workshop for case managers and employers of some government agencies. Only a few people were in attendance.

On Friday, Nguyen held a whole-day training at the Workforce Investment Agency office on Capital Hill, not only for veterans but for community members as well.

From Sunday through Tuesday, she is expected to do the same on Tinian and Rota before flying back to Guam.

Nguyen said many people on the islands are “complacent” and lack the motivation to change. The bad economy, for example, has always been blamed for not landing a job. For Nguyen, people who have the sincere desire to get a job—especially veterans—can make it happen.

It is where her trainings can help. Nguyen underscored the importance of “properly marketing yourselves” through application papers and interview process.

“This is the problem I’ve seen here on CNMI. If they don’t get a job, they blame the economy. You have to network and market yourself properly to land a job,” she said.

Nguyen said she wanted to change some belief of community members that “it’s not what you know, but who you know in the CNMI.”

Nguyen was born and raised in Vietnam and is herself a military veteran. She joined the ROTC in 1986 and got out of the Army in 1992. As a disabled veteran, she said she can truly relate to the experiences and life of fellow service members, wherever they are.

For her weeklong visit, she expressed gratitude to WIA executive director Edith Deleon Guerrero and military veterans’ affairs officer Bernie Dela Cruz for all their help and assistance in coordinating the events.