Former Sacramento Bn. Cmdr. Col. Bill Nagel and Alegre Trucking CEO Tony Alegre sign the PaYS MOA
Recruiter Finds PaYS Partner to Employ Reserve Soldiers
By Carl Hilts, USAREC, Sacramento Battalion
July 15, 2014
“I am constantly in need high quality, reliable drivers and mechanics,” said Alegre Trucking Inc. CEO Tony Alegre. “Training new drivers is a huge expense and is always a risk. Not having to train applicants from the start makes it much easier to hire them and it lowers my risk in offering them a job.”
This point of view opened up a conversation between the Sacramento, Calif., based truck company and the U.S. Army Recruiting Command Partnership for Youth Success (PaYS) program this spring.
Alegre was in need of high quality, reliable drivers and mechanics. PaYS, is a program that applicants sign up for at the time of enlistment. Once those Soldiers’ complete their time of service, they’re guaranteed an interview with an employer in need of the skills they acquired in the Army.
For active duty enlistments, the duty station assigned matters little to utilizing the PaYS program. This is because an active duty Soldier in leaving the Army expects to move, so moving to the city where a PaYS partner has a current job opening is not a large obstacle to using the program.
However, it is different for Army Reserve Soldiers. Reserve Soldiers often make MOS choices based on the opportunities available near their home. This limits Reserve Soldiers’ ability to take advantage of the PaYS program, since they need civilian jobs in the local area and are not always able to take advantage of national level partners.
The PaYS incentive has a provision to allow Reserve enlistments to interview with PaYS partners for jobs upon completion of combat basic training and advanced individual training. They may accept these jobs while concurrently serving in their Army Reserve unit.
Historically, in the case of the Sacramento Battalion footprint, the job skills sought by the local PaYS partners have not matched up well with the open MOS slots for Army Reserve units. North Bay Company Commander Capt. Matthew Roehm noted the issues and chose to tackle the problem a different way.
“First Sgt. Jose Matos and I went to all the Army Reserve units in the footprint to determine their MOS vacancy needs,” said Roehm.
“I wanted to create PaYS partners to match up with Reserve units looking for similar skill sets,” he said. “This helps bring prequalified and trained Soldiers to the business and at the same time. it specifically fills needed vacancies for the Reserve units.”
Roehm discovered that the most common MOS vacancies for the local units involved transportation and maintenance jobs. He approached several major transportations companies within his company footprint with no success. Instead of admitting defeat, Roehm threw out a bigger net. He started to approach companies in the larger footprint of the battalion. Then he realized he had a connection with a fellow officer he met at the U.S. Military Academy.
Capt. Andres Alegre is currently stationed as a team leader with the 1st Special Forces Group, Fort Lewis, Wash., but his family’s trucking business, Alegre, is located in Lodi, Calif. Although Lodi was in San Joaquin Company, it was close to Reserve units in his footprint that needed transportation skills. Roehm made the call.
Alegre’s father, Tony Alegre, jumped at the chance to form this partnership. In speaking with former Battalion Commander Col. Bill Nagel and current Battalion Commander Lt. Col. John Crisafulli after signing the Memorandum of Agreement, Tony Alegre said, “It is a win-win for all of us.”
The Sacramento Battalion’s newest PaYS partner will yield benefits for Sacramento Valley and Capitol Companies that both have Reserve units at B.T. Collins Reserve Center in Sacramento. The partnership may not help Roehm’s recruiting company in the immediate future, but it will help the battalion’s Army Reserve mission overall.
Roehm’s actions remind us that honor, duty and selfless service are not limited by the area of operation of a company footprint.
By Carl Hilts, USAREC, Sacramento Battalion
July 15, 2014
“I am constantly in need high quality, reliable drivers and mechanics,” said Alegre Trucking Inc. CEO Tony Alegre. “Training new drivers is a huge expense and is always a risk. Not having to train applicants from the start makes it much easier to hire them and it lowers my risk in offering them a job.”
This point of view opened up a conversation between the Sacramento, Calif., based truck company and the U.S. Army Recruiting Command Partnership for Youth Success (PaYS) program this spring.
Alegre was in need of high quality, reliable drivers and mechanics. PaYS, is a program that applicants sign up for at the time of enlistment. Once those Soldiers’ complete their time of service, they’re guaranteed an interview with an employer in need of the skills they acquired in the Army.
For active duty enlistments, the duty station assigned matters little to utilizing the PaYS program. This is because an active duty Soldier in leaving the Army expects to move, so moving to the city where a PaYS partner has a current job opening is not a large obstacle to using the program.
However, it is different for Army Reserve Soldiers. Reserve Soldiers often make MOS choices based on the opportunities available near their home. This limits Reserve Soldiers’ ability to take advantage of the PaYS program, since they need civilian jobs in the local area and are not always able to take advantage of national level partners.
The PaYS incentive has a provision to allow Reserve enlistments to interview with PaYS partners for jobs upon completion of combat basic training and advanced individual training. They may accept these jobs while concurrently serving in their Army Reserve unit.
Historically, in the case of the Sacramento Battalion footprint, the job skills sought by the local PaYS partners have not matched up well with the open MOS slots for Army Reserve units. North Bay Company Commander Capt. Matthew Roehm noted the issues and chose to tackle the problem a different way.
“First Sgt. Jose Matos and I went to all the Army Reserve units in the footprint to determine their MOS vacancy needs,” said Roehm.
“I wanted to create PaYS partners to match up with Reserve units looking for similar skill sets,” he said. “This helps bring prequalified and trained Soldiers to the business and at the same time. it specifically fills needed vacancies for the Reserve units.”
Roehm discovered that the most common MOS vacancies for the local units involved transportation and maintenance jobs. He approached several major transportations companies within his company footprint with no success. Instead of admitting defeat, Roehm threw out a bigger net. He started to approach companies in the larger footprint of the battalion. Then he realized he had a connection with a fellow officer he met at the U.S. Military Academy.
Capt. Andres Alegre is currently stationed as a team leader with the 1st Special Forces Group, Fort Lewis, Wash., but his family’s trucking business, Alegre, is located in Lodi, Calif. Although Lodi was in San Joaquin Company, it was close to Reserve units in his footprint that needed transportation skills. Roehm made the call.
Alegre’s father, Tony Alegre, jumped at the chance to form this partnership. In speaking with former Battalion Commander Col. Bill Nagel and current Battalion Commander Lt. Col. John Crisafulli after signing the Memorandum of Agreement, Tony Alegre said, “It is a win-win for all of us.”
The Sacramento Battalion’s newest PaYS partner will yield benefits for Sacramento Valley and Capitol Companies that both have Reserve units at B.T. Collins Reserve Center in Sacramento. The partnership may not help Roehm’s recruiting company in the immediate future, but it will help the battalion’s Army Reserve mission overall.
Roehm’s actions remind us that honor, duty and selfless service are not limited by the area of operation of a company footprint.