John Melia Joins RecruitMilitary Staff; Was Founder of Wounded Warrior Project

June 17, 2012 - PRLog -- John Melia has assumed a director level position with the military-to-civilian recruitment firm RecruitMilitary. He will be based in Houston and will specialize in sales of RecruitMilitary’s products and services to companies and agencies working in the energy sector of the economy.
    Melia is the founder and chairman of the board of a nonprofit organization, Veterans Energy Force; and he is well known in the veteran community as the founder of the Wounded Warrior Project. He served as an infantry corporal in the 1st Marine Division and a first lieutenant in the Maryland Army National Guard. Melia holds the Combat Action Ribbon, the Navy Achievement Medal, and other decorations. He is a native of Massachusetts and a graduate of the State University of New York.
    “I am delighted to welcome John Melia aboard,” said Drew Myers, founder and president of RecruitMilitary and a former captain in the Marine Corps. “He has already served our country and the veteran community superbly. I look forward to working with him as we apply our products and services to help veterans gain employment, evaluate business-ownership opportunities, and enhance their education.” RecruitMilitary serves men and women who are transitioning from active duty to civilian life, veterans who already have civilian work experience, members of the National Guard and reserves, and military spouses and other members of military families.
    Melia founded the Wounded Warrior Project in 2002. As wounded troops began returning from Afghanistan, he remembered what it had been like to return to a stateside hospital with nothing but the hospital gown on his back. In 1992, the Marine Corps helicopter he was in exploded and went down in the seas off Somalia. He suffered burns and other injuries that led to his retirement from active duty in 1995.
    In 1996, Melia worked as a national service officer and national appeals officer with the Disabled American Veterans, supervising the DAV office in Roanoke, Virginia. He also worked as a senior national service officer for the Paralyzed Veterans of America and as a rating specialist for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. He is a member of board of directors of the Boselli Foundation and Children of Fallen Patriots.
    RecruitMilitary produces hiring events known as Hiring Our Heroes/RecruitMilitary Veteran Opportunity Expos in collaboration with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; offers subscriptions (search licenses) to its database of more than 500,000 registered veteran job seekers at http://www.recruitmilitary.com; delivers retained hiring services via its own staff of recruiters; and distributes more than 36,000 copies of each issue of Search & Employ®, a bimonthly print magazine, to over 220 military bases throughout the world, National Guard and reserve units, and job seekers who attend its Expos..
    Myers founded RecruitMilitary in 1998. The company has been producing hiring events since 2006; and, at the end of 2012, will have produced more than 420 events in over 50 cities. RecruitMilitary is based in Loveland, Ohio (Greater Cincinnati).
  In November 2011, RecruitMilitary received the First Annual Lee Anderson Small Business Veteran and Military Spouse Employment Award from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (http://www.uschamber.com). The Chamber recognized RecruitMilitary as a specific business that has “gone above and beyond to honor the sacrifices our military families make in their service to our nation.”
    In February 2012, RecruitMilitary received the first annual One More Way Award from The Sierra Group Foundation. The foundation established the award to recognize people or companies whose support results in awareness and job opportunities for people with disabilities. The Sierra Group Foundation (http://www.thesierragroup.com/foundation.htm) is a non-profit organization whose mission is “to drive up employment for people with disabilities, including veterans.”