Nonprofit helping military service members acclimate to civilian life

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, around 200,000 service members leave the military every year. Entering into the civilian workforce can be challenging — but one program in Atlanta aims to help.

Hire Heroes USA is a national nonprofit that helps servicemembers, veterans and their spouses gain the tools they need to enter the workforce. Since Norfolk Southern teamed up with them two years ago, they’ve helped another 6,200 service members, like Tradd Stevens, who was a chief petty officer in the Navy for almost 22 years.

“Change is hard,” said Stevens.

This past year has been full of changes for Stevens and his family.

“I was changing careers. I was moving cities, I was going through a lot of life situations, buying and selling houses, my kids were moving my wife was moving,” said Stevens.

That move brought them to Atlanta. But finding a job after decades in the military has its challenges.

“You knew exactly what the day was going to hold. It was very structured. You don’t have that in the civilian world,” said Stevens.

Stevens reached out to Hire Heroes USA for help.

“Support writing their resumes, one-on-one coaching, and even mock interviews,” said Kristin Wong, director of the Norfolk Southern Foundation, which teamed up with Hire Heroes USA in 2024.

Wong said military experience brings a great set of skills into the civilian workforce.

“The ability to perform in a fast-paced, high-pressure, environment and make quick decisions and how to lead a team,” said Wong.

Steven said there’s a benefit to having a plan in place moving forward.

“Being able to say there’s a plan especially for someone in the military very used to plans vs you’re just going to go do it,” said Stevens.

Stevens worked with Hire Heroes USA for months, learning to translate his military skills into marketable job skills, and even learning to take partial credit for prior success.

“Being able to sit back and go to an employer, a potential employer and say, ‘These are the things that I did,’ was very challenging because I wanted to say, ‘(Yeah,) we did a great job.’ But when you say we, there’s no one else in that interview with you. So I had to be coached through that,” said Stevens.

Stevens is now a project estimator for Taylor Controls. He said he’s still adjusting to life out of uniform, but is grateful to Hire Heroes USA for this next chapter.

“You miss it some days and some days, you’re glad I did my part and now the people behind me are doing a wonderful job, and just be happy about it,” said Stevens.

Stevens said it’s best to start the program six months to a year before leaving the military.

For more information on Hire Heroes USA just, click here.