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GLENVIEW, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Continuing its support of helping our nation’s military veterans find civilian employment, Combined Insurance, a leading provider of individual supplemental accident, disability, health and life insurance products, is working to help vets translate their military experience to better fit with private sector job opportunities.

With the unemployment rate for military veterans still high – currently 10 percent for post-9/11 veterans, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics – many vets continue to struggle to find work in the civilian job market. For those vets who have only military experience, identifying how their military skills fit into a civilian workforce can be a difficult task and can lead to roadblocks in marketing what they have to offer to potential employers.

Combined Insurance helps solve that challenge, by working closely with veterans to help translate their military experience, repurpose their skills and revise their resumes to help make them more attractive to civilian employers.

“Veterans have very desirable traits and skills – they can lead and be led, they are responsible, disciplined, dedicated and hard-working – but many of them don’t understand how to extract those qualities from their military positions and repackage them on their resumes,” says Peter Leighton, senior vice president, recruiting at Combined Insurance. “We show them how. Not many companies are willing to spend the time to do that.”

To help military veterans increase their civilian career opportunities, Combined Insurance works closely with the Transition Assistance Program (TAP). TAP, a partnership among the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs, Transportation and the Department of Labor's Veterans' Employment and Training Service, was established to meet the needs of separating service members during their period of transition into civilian life by offering job-search assistance and related services.

Combined Insurance attends TAP workshops and provides counsel and insight into the civilian job market so veterans gain a better understanding of the steps they need to take and what to expect as they start to search for employment. In addition to helping them plan, the company also helps teach veterans how to enhance their skills and create their resumes.

For example, someone who may have been a gunner’s mate in the military, would have been responsible for operating and maintaining guided missile launching systems, rocket launchers, gun mounts and other ordnance systems and equipment, as well as training and supervising crews in the use of large caliber guns, missile systems, and small arms. “Most civilian employers wouldn’t have a need for a gunner’s mate. But we know that gunner’s mates are analytical, good managers, detail-oriented, strategic thinkers, problem solvers, and are comfortable operating and servicing machinery, which are all desirable and employable qualities,” adds Leighton. “We help identify those skills and show the vets that we work with how to package them on their resumes.”

Since 2010, Combined Insurance has helped more than 400 veterans find jobs. The company also recently announced it was committing to hiring 1,000 military veterans in 2013.

To help meet that goal, Combined Insurance has built a strong military recruitment program that includes its participation in TAP, as well as Hiring Our Heroes, the 100,000 Jobs Mission, and use of other military recruiting resources such as vetsuccess.gov, Fleet and Family Support Centers, the Veterans Administration, state representatives and other local veteran organizations.

“Of course we hope the veterans that we work with will choose a career with Combined Insurance, but our first goal is to help them,” adds Leighton. “Our veterans have put their lives on the line for this country, so if anybody deserves help – deserves an advantage – they do and we are doing our best to give it to them.”

In November, 2012, Combined Insurance was ranked 8 out of 100 top military employers and ranked 3 out of 25 as a top military spouse employer by G.I. Jobs magazine.

For more information on Combined Insurance’s military veterans recruiting efforts, visitwww.combinedinsurance.com/military.

About Combined Insurance

Combined Insurance is a leading provider of individual supplemental accident, disability, health and life insurance products and part of the ACE Group of Companies. With a field sales force and corporate staff in excess of 5,000 people worldwide, Combined Insurance meets the growing coverage needs of policyholders around the globe. For more information, call 1-800-490-1322 or visit www.combinedinsurance.com.

About ACE

The ACE Group is a global leader in insurance and reinsurance serving a diverse group of clients. Headed by ACE Limited (NYSE:ACE), a component of the S&P 500 stock index, the ACE Group conducts its business on a worldwide basis with operating subsidiaries in more than 50 countries. Additional information can be found at www.acegroup.com.