Comcast making push to hire 10,000 with military ties

Comcast Corp. plans to hire 10,000 military veterans, reservists, and their spouses and domestic partners over the next three years - roughly 15 percent to 20 percent of all new employees, a Comcast human resources executive said Thursday.

The hiring pledge more than doubles a prior military-hire plan at Comcast, under which the company has hired 4,200 veterans since 2012.

To hit its target, the cable and Internet giant will appoint a vice president of military and veteran initiatives, who will report to Dave Watson, the cable division's chief operating officer, and John Wallace, president of operational and technical services at NBCUniversal.

Comcast employs 139,000, with some job functions such as theme-park employees and call-center representatives experiencing high turnover.

William Strahan, executive vice president of human resources at the Comcast cable division, said most veterans would be hired for sales, technician, and call-center positions. He added that Comcast would like to hire more veterans for supervisory positions.

Strahan said the company was interviewing internal candidates for the military and veteran vice president position and expects to announce the appointment in several weeks.

Comcast has several top-ranking military veterans, among them Neil Smit, the head of the cable division and a former Navy SEAL.