New Weekly Web Series, Hosted by ABC News’ Bob Woodruff, Will Pair U.S. Veterans
Looking for Jobs with Famous American Mentors
ABC News will launch a new video series to shine a spotlight on the challenge tens of thousands of American veterans face finding jobs after they return from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the new weekly digital video series, ABC News’ Bob Woodruff will follow six U.S. veterans as they strive to build a career in an unpredictable job market. “Stand Up for Heroes” will run every Tuesday on ABCNews.com starting July 31 and is sponsored at launch by Brawny.
Throughout the series, ABC News captures the lives of six U.S. veterans as they return from military service and strive to find work in an unpredictable job market. Each veteran is paired with a mentor, a mogul in business, government, technology or entertainment who helps these heroes navigate the unfamiliar civilian workplace. These industry leaders, from “Star Wars” creator George Lucas to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and LinkedIn Executive Chairman Reid Hoffman, will mentor the featured veterans in their quest to fulfill the American dream after risking their lives to protect it.
More than 350,000 veterans return from Iraq and Afghanistan each year, but many struggle to find employment after years of military service. Today the jobless rate among these young veterans is 9.5%, significantly higher than the national average, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. For many veterans, the requirements and expectations of today’s workplace can be difficult to maneuver. With the guidance of these captains of American industry, viewers can watch as these veterans learn how to apply their military leadership skills to civilian careers and hopefully land the job of their dreams.
“‘Standing Up for Heroes’ offers an inside look at the unemployment crisis facing young servicemen and women across the country,” says ABC News Anchor Bob Woodruff. “Throughout this digital video series, viewers gain incredible access to the lives of U.S. veterans and the American icons standing up to help our nation’s heroes.”
ABC News is working with LinkedIn and Google for Veterans to offer U.S. troops free access to special online services and beneficial career development tools. Viewers can also connect with veterans and learn how to be a mentor in their own community through LinkedIn’s new Veteran Mentor Network.
About ABC News
ABC News delivers a big picture understanding of the world to empower and inspire viewers to make confident decisions for themselves and their families. More people get their news from ABC News than from any other source. ABC News is responsible for all of the ABC Television Network’s news programming on a variety of platforms: television, radio and the Internet. With an average television and radio audience of 180 million people in a given month, ABC News surpasses the competition. More than 2,400 affiliate stations broadcast ABC News Radio’s global news coverage. In addition, ABC News NOW is a 24-hour news and information network currently available to 44 million users across cable, broadband and mobile platforms. NewsOne, the affiliate news service of ABC News, provides live and packaged news, sports, and weather reports, as well as footage of news events, to 200 ABC affiliates and more than 30 domestic and international clients.
About ABC News Digital
ABC News Digital properties including ABCNews.com, OTUSNews.com and Goodmorningamerica.com on Yahoo! offer a dynamic, around the clock look at the news as it breaks – bringing video into the digital news experience like never before. It’s the online destination for newsmaker access, investigative coverage, and exclusive footage from every big story. As part of the Yahoo!-ABC News network ABC News Digital content reaches over 90 million people a month and more than 50% of all news and information videos streamed online are from the No. 1 online news network. In addition, ABC News NOW is a 24-hour news and information network currently available to 44 million users across cable, broadband, and mobile platforms.