Job fair for veterans Tuesday in Center City

Transit agencies and other entities will be looking to hire military veterans and their spouses at a Philadelphia job fair Tuesday.

SEPTA assistant conductor Jordan Ranalli, an Army and Marine Corps veteran who hopes to become a locomotive engineer, said veterans make good hires for transit authorities.

"You know pretty much what you're going to get . . . someone who's had intense training and has thick skin, who is trainable and teachable and able to rise to management," said Ranalli, 31, of Wilmington.

He served in Iraq as an electrician in the Marine Corps Reserve and is a military policeman in the Army National Guard in Delaware.

For all veterans, the unemployment rate is lower than for that of the general population, but for veterans like Ranalli who have served since Sept. 11, 2001, the unemployment rate has long been higher than that of the general population.

In March, the unemployment rate for post-9/11 veterans was 9.2 percent, compared with 7.6 percent for the workforce in general.

The "Hiring our Heroes" job fair will run from 3 to 5 p.m. Tuesday at the Marriott Downtown Philadelphia Hotel, 1201 Market St. Held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the American Public Transportation Association, the job fair is exclusively for active-duty service members, Guard and Reserve members, veterans, and military spouses.

Twenty-eight employers, all with immediate job openings, will have representatives at the fair, said Karen Harvey, director of human resources for the transportation association. The organizations include SEPTA, NJ Transit, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the Pennsylvania State Police, and engineering and financial firms, among others.

Ranalli, who has been with SEPTA for two years, said transit jobs can be a good fit for veterans.

"It's a fast-paced, challenging environment," he said.

"It changes every day, but there's a little bit of regularity to it."

More information is available at hiringourheroes@uschamber.com or by calling 202-463-5807.