Parkland ramps up hiring of veterans

DALLAS – Parkland Health & Hospital System is honoring veterans in an especially meaningful way this Memorial Day – by offering them jobs. Veterans, their spouses and reserve members are invited to attend Parkland’s veteran-focused hiring fair on May 21, themed “Heroes Hired Here.” The event takes place from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Crown Plaza – Market Center, 7050 Stemmons Freeway, Dallas. 

Parkland’s Human Resources department has announced a targeted effort to recruit and hire at least 500 military veterans, spouses or reservists over the next two years as they prepare for opening the new Parkland Hospital in 2015.

Veterans don’t need health care experience to apply.

“Many people think that you must have a background in health care to work at a hospital and that is not true at all,” stated Cathy Henesey, Parkland’s Director of Talent Acquisition. “We have many career opportunities available for veterans in accounting, information technology, finance, legal and other non-clinical areas, as well as nursing and clinical positions. Current openings range from entry-level jobs such as patient care assistants or customer service roles, to mid-management and executive positions.”

Although hospital job titles may sound unfamiliar, Henesey emphasized that veterans possess skills that translate well to the health care setting.

“The key message to veterans is that their unique skills, experience and leadership abilities will be valued on Parkland’s team, and we appreciate their desire to serve and help others like they did in the military. If they read our job descriptions, they will find commonalities with duties they performed in the military.”

Parkland Human Resources staff will meet one-on-one with veterans at the hiring fair to help them find a good match with job openings at the health system. Henesey recommends that veterans bring a resume, but no other special documents are required to attend.

Veterans can visit the newly-created Parkland web page aimed at recruiting veterans athttp://jobs.parklandcareers.com/heroes. For more information about Parkland and the military veteran hiring initiative, they can email HeroesHiredHere@phhs.org.