HX5 Sustains Veteran Pipeline Through Hiring Our Heroes

A steady trickle of two fellows a year might not sound like much, but for HX5, it has added up to eight transitioning service members hired since 2021 through the Hiring Our Heroes Corporate Fellowship Program. Behind that commitment sits CEO Margarita Howard, herself a service-disabled Air Force veteran who now leads the defense and aerospace contractor into its next phase of veteran outreach.

The Chamber Program’s Origins

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation launched Hiring Our Heroes back in March 2011, a response to unemployment during the financial crisis colliding with troops returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan. What began as a series of job fairs has since grown into a broader set of workforce programs, including the Corporate Fellowship Program that started in 2015 and continues to expand its list of participating employers.

That fellowship operates under the Department of Defense’s SkillBridge initiative, letting active-duty members spend their final 180 days of service gaining civilian work experience. Fellows work four days a week with a host company and spend the fifth day on professional development, all while still drawing military pay and benefits during the transition period.

More than 500 people have completed the program since 2015, with roughly 80 percent going on to be hired and average starting pay near $70,000. Participating companies range from Lockheed Martin and Booz Allen Hamilton to Microsoft and Amazon, along with numerous smaller businesses across the country.

For a company the size of HX5, with roughly 1,000 employees, hosting two fellows annually is a manageable commitment rather than a symbolic gesture. Margarita Howard has pointed to this measured pace as key to giving each fellow proper attention rather than spreading resources too thin across a larger cohort of participants.

Small and mid-sized contractors rarely match the fellow counts of the largest defense firms, but HX5’s sustained participation shows how modest, steady commitments can still add meaningful value to veteran transition efforts over time. See related link for additional information.

Find more information about Margarita Howard on https://m.doyoubuzz.com/margarita-howard