Veterans’ services available

16 years ago

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Veterans’ Corner

by Steve Gagnon  

   Just as a way of introducing myself, let me first say thank you for reading this. I feel truly blessed to have so many good things happen to me over the years. The latest is this fantastic opportunity to talk to the entire population of Aroostook County Veterans.

    You might ask yourself why this is so cool. Thing is, I’ve been hired by the State Dept of Labor as your Veteran’s Representative. I am responsible for the entire County. Big area and equally big responsibility, but one that I gladly accepted. You see, I am charged with assisting the County’s Veterans with their job search efforts and with finding as many Veterans as possible who might need my services and be willing to allow me to help them achieve their goal of employment.
    Everything I do for my Vets is of course, free, that is at no cost to them. Since I took over this position just over a year ago, I’ve been struggling to increase my visibility in order to increase my program’s relevance to the County’s Veteran community. That is why this chance to talk to you is so very important to me. I can’t think of a better way to say “Hi” and to offer my services. If you are a U.S. Military Veteran with as least 180 days of active military service for other than training purposes, then you are a Veteran and I would be honored to assist you in whatever capacity I can to help you achieve your employment goals.
    My background is such that I can help you develop and fine-tune your resume, cover letter and references as well as your interviewing skills and your job search strategies. My goal is to give you some effective tools for you to work with to make your job search efforts just that much more effective and get you back to work that much quicker. In the coming weeks and months, I will be giving you some of these tools.
    Assistance with job searching and employment is just one aspect of the services I offer the County’s Veterans. I am in a unique position to help the Veteran connect with other agencies within the County who are highly trained and fully equipped to help Veterans get the assistance they need. Some of these services include navigating through the intricacies of the Veterans Administration (VA), securing medical treatment, utilizing the mental health services helping our homeless Vets as well as taking advantage of the Maine Veterans Home. We’ll talk about them later on.
    All of these services are available to our County’s Veterans. People who live and work right here in the County are the ones who will be providing these services; local people helping local people. I am the Veteran’s Representative for Aroostook County, my name is Steve Gagnon, and I was born and raised right here in Aroostook.
    Please feel free to contact me at the Presque Isle CareerCenter Monday through Wednesday at 66 Spruce Street across from the Aroostook Centre Mall; in the Madawaska/Fort Kent area every other Thursday and in Houlton every Friday. You can reach me 760-6322 to schedule an appointment or just say hello.
    Steve Gagnon has over 11 years of state government experience having worked with the Unemployment Office, the Reemployment Eligibility Assessment Program as well as providing services as a CareerCenter Consultant. He has expertise in resume preparation, interviewing and job placement. He can also assist Veterans applying for jobs through online applications as well as provide help in honing their computer skills in MS Word or MS Excel. His military background includes four years as an aircraft hydraulics mechanic and 20 years as a personnel specialist having retired from the US Air Force as an E-7, Master Sergeant.