Many of us are facing a constant barrage of emails, zoom calls, webinars and much more. Despite having more time for relaxation amidst a national pandemic, it seems we’re more connected to our devices than ever before. Enter digital fatigue. If you find yourself with sore, strained eyes, more headaches than usual and you’re suffering from poor posture or increased neck and shoulder pain, chances are you might be suffering from digital fatigue.

If you’ve seen your screen time skyrocket, you aren’t the only one. The boundary between work and leisure has become ever more blurred of late but all hope is not lost. Here’s what you can do to mitigate the side-effects of too much screen time.

Avoid constant video meetings. Video meetings have been a lifeline during the pandemic and provide beneficial interaction, both socially and professionally. However, if you are feeling the strain of being on display, opt for a few phone call meetings or space out the video calls. Don’t try to book all of your meetings at once.

Schedule focus time. Shut down your apps and channel your energy into essential tasks. Recognize that email, social media and phone calls can have a big impact on your ability to focus. Keep a to-do list handy and write down what you need to respond to. Writing a note is less of a distraction than answering an unrelated email or phone call.

Use a blue light filter. When you are in front of the screens, consider using the blue light filter option. This is especially important when viewing screens closer to bedtime. For added protection, blue light filtering glasses are available in prescription and non-prescription form both locally and online.

Take breaks. Don’t forget to step away from both the screens throughout your day. Taking a quick walk or playing with a quarantine pet can help your eyes and brain relax. Consider doing no-screen activities on your evenings and weekends like hiking, yardwork, crafts or home improvement projects.

Analyze your routine. Critically think about how much of your day includes a screen. Maybe invest in an alarm clock so you are not going to bed with a screen and waking up to a screen. Are you watching television before bed? Create a wind down routine that is screen-free and prioritizes self-care. This will not only reduce your daily screen time but will result in a better night of rest.

Overall, it’s important to consider how your screen time habits are affecting your ability to focus and rest. If you are struggling with digital stressors, plan to reduce your exposure to them. Small adjustments to screen time habits can go a long way in avoiding digital fatigue.

Is your capacity at work really that overwhelming, or do you just need help organizing it all?

We polled the members of our staff for their favorite ways to increase productivity at the office. Here’s what works for the marketing team at Rowland Publishing, Inc.:

1. Segmenting Email Communication

The worst distraction at your desk is your inbox. It only takes a few seconds to get side tracked by an incoming email.

Next thing you know, an hour goes by before you continue the task you were originally working on.

Try scheduling when you check and answer your emails.

For example, knock them out first thing in the morning (flag for later anything you can’t answer right away), and then don’t look at your inbox again until lunch.

Repeat and do one final check before you head out at the end of the day.

2. Organizing in Folders

Whether your company operates in print, digital or a little bit of both, it can be helpful to organize your paper and electronic files into folders.

I’ve organized all of my clients alphabetically, but there are a variety of other systems you can implement depending on your industry: numerically, by grouping, by service, by process, etc.

3. Color Coding

If you’re responsible for multiple entities and need to see all of them laid out, color code them on your digital calendar or filing system.

Color coding can be extremely helpful for those who consider themselves visual learners.

“It gives me something to associate with. I can identify what I am looking at or what’s next on my list before I have to read or dig into paperwork.” says Taylor Dashiell, Integrated Marketing Coordinator at Rowland Publishing.

4. Using a Calendar or Planner

For any Type-A personality, the idea of only using the papers on your desk or email to keep track of your to-do list is debilitating, but you don’t need to be a stickler for structure to benefit from using a calendar or planner.

The biggest benefit of this hack is that it’s the easiest one to make work for you. For example, if you’re looking for a way to keep track of deadlines, write them down in a planner.

Synching your digital calendar to your phone is another way to stay on track with the week ahead. “The calendar alerts do the work for me because they chime in to let me know what to follow up on,” says Javis Ogden, Senior Integrated Marketing Coordinator for Rowland.

5. Take a Real Lunch Break

This might seem like a no-brainer, but we’ve all had those days when we feel like we can’t leave our desks.

If there’s one opportunity for you to get up and out of your workspace for at least 30 minutes, it’s lunch.

Take advantage of the time to unwind a bit, get outside and grab a bite to eat without the headache reminder of all of the things waiting for you on your computer screen.

You’ll be surprised on how refreshed you’ll feel when you return.

6. Breaking Up Your Work Day

A popular organizational hack is work for 50 minutes and break for 10.

While it might seem unreasonable to have your day so regulated, studies show that it does help increase productivity.

“I find it helps me clear my headspace and will help me remember things I may have forgotten and jog my creativity,” says Janecia Britt, Rowland’s Digital Editor.

Andrew Wardlow Photography

Jorge Gonzalez, at Watersound Beach, says St. Joe’s 50-year plan includes a 100,000-acre project across Bay and Walton counties.

JORGE GONZALEZ sits comfortably in a large conference room surrounded by maps that tell the future of The St. Joe Company.

It was dubbed by former company leaders as “the war room,” but Gonzalez looks around at the walls, smiles and says he prefers to shy away from the melodramatic. “We call it the map room. That’s as exciting a term as we’ll use.”

No matter what it’s called, the maps show that while the historic timber and paper company turned manager and developer is far smaller than it once was, it is still poised to make major changes to Northwest Florida over the next several decades. They show the extent of the company’s Panhandle landholdings as well as Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport and the company’s adjacent VentureCrossings industrial park, the Port of Port St. Joe and the Bay-Walton Sector Plan, a 50-year project destined to reshape and boost the regional economy along with corporate finances.

Despite its long-term base being in Jacksonville, in a high-rise overlooking downtown and the St. Johns River, St. Joe always had a big footprint in Northwest Florida, owning tens of thousands of acres of land and helping to drive economic pursuits designed to set a foundation for the region’s growth. But then came the Great Recession. Profits dropped, company leadership changed, St. Joe’s headquarters moved to a small complex located off U.S. 98 in Watersound and the once-high profile was muted.

“The recession hit and many entities did not even make it. We did. We had some management transitions, changes in our board that contributed to more of a focus on internal rather than external,” explains Gonzalez, who has held the CEO post since November 2015. “2016 was a transitional year for us. We spent a lot of time making sure that our forward strategy was the right one.”

In a sense, St. Joe has undergone somewhat of a rebirth, with an increased focus on solidifying its own financial base by creating recurring income streams for the company. Much of its energy is focused on a 50-year plan for a 100,000-acre project spread across Bay and Walton counties, and promoting economic development in the region, particularly through its industrial park at the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport in Bay County. In the lead is Gonzalez, a man who knows well the people, the communities and the culture of Northwest Florida — a familiar face who has spent years working hand-in-hand with state and local partners to boost the region’s economy.

“I like to deal with people on a very personal level,” says Gonzalez, a native of Miami who attended Florida State University and has spent 30 years in Northwest Florida, 15 of them working for St. Joe. “In the past maybe we used a lot of consultants. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I just have a different style. I’ve learned that in Northwest Florida, people want to talk with the principals and get to know them on a very personal level. They don’t necessarily want agents talking on your behalf.” 
Gonzalez also emphasizes that St. Joe wants to focus on collaboration and not be seen as the muscle man trying to remake Northwest Florida in the image the company wants. 

“We want to be very collaborative and work with the corporate entities that have a stake in Northwest Florida,” he says. “I don’t like going into a back room, figuring what we think should happen and then go force that. It’s not my style. The institutions in our communities, whether business or governmental, feel like they are more of a team with us, as opposed to St. Joe deciding what should be best. I’m more about being collaborative.”

The Beginnings
The roots of The St. Joe Company go back to Alfred Irénée du Pont, an American industrialist who moved to Jacksonville in 1926. Along with his brother-in-law, Ed Ball, he delved into banking and real estate, buying up Florida land for dollars an acre during the land bust of the late 1920s. When du Pont died in 1935, Ball became trustee of his estate and kept buying land to grow the timber that fed the Port St. Joe paper mill. The income from the mill allowed Ball to acquire railroads, a telephone company, banks and sugarcane plantations.

Andrew Wardlow Photography

Jorge Gonzalez, president and CEO, is in charge of St. Joe’s long-term direction.

The company’s landholdings surpassed the million-acre mark, but Ball wouldn’t sell any of it. In the 1950s, Walt Disney attempted to buy 3,000 acres. But after making Disney wait all day for an audience, Ball merely sent out a note that reportedly said, “I’m not selling land to you. I don’t deal with carnival folk.” So, Disney turned its sights on Central Florida.

Ball tangled with environmentalists, union bosses and even the U.S. Department of the Interior over the type of pine trees St. Joe was planting. The company continued buying land into the 1970s, accumulating more than 1.5 million acres. Ball died in 1981. In 1996, the paper business was sold to Smurfit Stone, which closed the mill in 1999.

Today, the company’s land holdings are vastly diminished from the time St. Joe was known as Florida’s largest land owner. In 2010, it owned more than 580,000 acres. Today the land inventory is approximately 178,000 acres, predominantly located in Bay, Walton, Gulf and Leon counties. There are 47 full-time employees compared to a workforce of 1,800 in 2006.

In 2014, the company sold 380,000 acres of rural land in Northwest Florida to subsidiaries of Utah-based AgReserves Inc. for $562 million. AgReserves, an affiliate of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, reportedly intends to continue agriculture and timber uses of the land.

The sale included the majority of St. Joe’s timberlands in Bay, Calhoun, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Jefferson, Leon, Liberty and Wakulla counties. The company does, however, still have some rural land and forestry programs in place with sustainable forest management, timber management, land management and conservation programs in place.

A Plan Takes Off
For the Bay County region to prosper, it was commonly accepted that a bigger airport was needed. The dream for the new $318 million Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport was more than 12 years in the making but was finally realized in 2010. One of the major elements to that success was St. Joe’s agreement to provide 4,000 acres of land in West Bay for the project. The commercial space in the St. Joe-owned industrial park adjacent to the airport provides direct access to a 10,000-foot runway — a major plus for future economic development. St. Joe was also instrumental in bringing Southwest Airlines to the airport, boosting tourism.

“The airport relocation was a multi-year project that was a pretty big idea,” says Gonzalez. But the recession and then the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill stalled the local economy, and the rush to grab commercial space around the airport that St. Joe was banking on didn’t take off as quickly as hoped. At least, not right away. 

In 2012, ITT Exelis opened a mine defense production facility at the VentureCrossings Enterprise Centre. And it was recently announced that GKN Aerospace manufacturing would be moving into the industrial park. The GKN facility is now under construction and is expected to be open for business in 2018. The company’s location in Bay County represents a $55 million capital investment that will create an estimated 170 new highly skilled jobs for the region with an average salary of $65,000. The aerospace division is an aircraft supplier for both military and commercial customers, building aerostructure, engine systems and special products, including canopies for F-22 and F-35 jets.

“That particular project addresses diversification of the economy,” explains Gonzalez, who also points out St. Joe was one of the founders in recent years of the Northwest Florida Manufacturing Council. “That’s a pretty significant wage for Bay County. And manufacturing has a high multiplier effect (with the creation of other services needed by that manufacturer and its employees).”

At a May welcoming ceremony for the new plant, Mike Grunza, CEO of GKN Aerospace’s Aerostructures’ North America business, said that while many manufacturers are leaving the United States for foreign countries, the company was impressed at how the region is ready for industry growth, including a job-ready pipeline, infrastructure and its location near transportation sources such as the Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport. 

“We looked around at locations both inside and outside the U.S., and there was no better partnership than here in Florida,” said Grunza. “This investment emphasizes our commitment to manufacturing in North America, as this new, world-class facility will create jobs and strengthen our competitive position in the U.S. aerospace market for the future.”

Photo Courtesy of The St. Joe Company

St. Joe is watching the active-retirement market, which fuels demand for projects such as Breakfast Point development in Bay County.

The landing of GKN was a massive collaborative effort of the Bay Economic Development Alliance (Gonzalez is vice chair) with Enterprise Florida, Gulf Power, University of West Florida, Florida Department of Economic Opportunity, the St. Joe Company, Bay County Board of County Commissioners, CareerSource Florida, CareerSource Gulf Coast and Gulf Coast State College. (The site is one of nine industrial locations that have been certified through Gulf Power’s Florida First Sites program and is the second out of nine sites to attract a manufacturing business.)

Forward Strategy
“We’re very bullish about making investments in our real estate to create income streams,” Gonzalez says about the future. “For example, expanding our portfolios of buildings that we own that we lease. We’ll be very methodical and thoughtful about when we sell commercial land, because once we sell, our economic interest ceases to exist and we lose income.”

GKN fits right in to that strategy as St. Joe moves forward. It will be leasing its facility from a subsidiary of St. Joe.

When the company sold much of its rural timber land a few years ago, Gonzalez said it was because “we didn’t see a higher and better use of those facilities for the next couple of generations. We kept the property we expected to have a higher and better use.”

A huge chunk of the land that was kept — a little over 100,000 acres, or five times the size of Manhattan — is the Bay Walton Sector Plan. (“We reminded our friends in Walton that Bay came first because it comes first in the alphabet,” Gonzalez says with a smile.)

The 50-year plan calls for 170,000 residential units and 25 million square feet of non-residential property. Yet how that will actually be distributed or built is far from being decided. The company held 30 community meetings in the region to get input from local residents, businesses and community leaders.

“The idea is that instead of having that type of land asset just be developed based on what comes up next week, we wanted to have a blueprint or framework with a long shelf life,” he says. “We’re not going to artificially confine ourselves to project types because that’s what we did in the past. We’ll look at retail, office parks and residential.”

Originally there was discussion about developing communities that would attract retiring baby boomers and perhaps have some similarities to The Villages, a renowned retirement cluster located south of Ocala that is one of the fastest growing cities in the country, with more than 100,000 residents.

“The retirement demographic is something everyone in the country is looking at. We have been studying it and the trends, and we have looked at The Villages, like everyone else,” Gonzalez says. “They’re the overnight success that has been 30 years in the making. But our intent is not to replicate that here. The attitudes about retirement have been evolving and aren’t the same as they were 10 or 20 years ago. We have to be sensitive about what the trends are. Active retirement is something we’re considering. With our scale of holdings, we can do a lot of things.”

Those things include workforce housing, traditional family housing, second homes, vacation homes and retirement homes. Adds Gonzalez, “We’ll look at the data, the market. Wherever we think there is an opportunity to respond to the market, we’re going to do that.” 

Some of the company’s existing developments include Watersound Origins, within three miles of South Walton’s beaches, which has no restrictions and where homes range from $400,000 to $900,000. Breakfast Point is another residential development, located on Panama City Beach in Bay County, where homes average in the low to middle $300,000s.
On the planning board is continued work on the future of the Port of Port St. Joe. The port hasn’t been operational for years, but the company continues to own the property where the paper mill once operated.

“Many years ago, the company planned a mixed use commercial/residential use on that property, but the thing we heard loud and clear from the community is that they were more interested in jobs — in commerce and industry. So, we redirected the plan and rezoned to industrial,” Gonzalez says. “It’s not easy to start a port from scratch (the channel hasn’t been dredged since the 1980s). It takes a lot of time and effort, but we’re working with the port authority and transportation department to apply for and obtain dredging permits. We’re hopeful that at some point in the future, something will happen.”

Financial Outlook
According to its most recent annual report, St. Joe this year expects to have a capital expenditures budget of $62.8 million, including $29.1 million for the development and acquisition of land for residential and commercial real estate projects, $25.7 million for leasing, $6.4 million for resorts and leisure, and $1.6 million for forestry and other segments. The company owns 604,000 square feet of rentable commercial space.

“The fundamental nature of our company hasn’t changed,” says Gonzalez. “We are very open for business.”  

jorgen mcleman / shutterstock.com

Ask any working professional what they could use more of, and you’ll probably keep getting the same answer. Time. In the frantic pace of the digital age, time is something everyone seems to be short on now. (It’s almost laughable that we once thought technology would help create more leisure time!) But if workers could figure out how to make the most of their waking moments, they could be far more productive and happy regardless of their time constraints.

Success at work and in life often comes down to one thing: developing better time management skills. Our minutes have become hot since time is so scarce these days, and we toss them away without a second thought. The truth is, we are always going to have obligations, deadlines and responsibilities, but if you learn how to handle your hot minutes you can work with the clock instead of against it.

Here are some tips to help you make the most of your time (no matter how little you have) and achieve a healthier and happier work-life balance:

1. Prioritize sleep so you can function when you’re awake. If you do nothing else, prioritize your sleep needs. You will be more productive and feel more ambitious when you get the rest your body requires. I suggest scheduling sleep like any other daily activity on your to-do list. Pencil in a stopping point in your day and stick to it without fail. Then wind down with a book or another relaxing bedtime ritual to help you drift off to sleep.
2. Establish what the “workday” means to you and your boss. It’s common for employers to call or email you after hours, but it is up to you to decide whether you’re available after hours. If you choose to be off-duty on nights and weekends, that is your choice (and your right!). Just make sure you respectfully address your “workday” limits to your boss upfront, so everyone is clear on the boundaries.
3. Don’t stay on your email all day. Constantly checking your inbox is distracting and slows you down. Designate a few times in your workday to check email so that you remain in control of your schedule and aren’t being reactive to new messages as they appear.
4. Choose human connection over technology. Though technology has improved our lives, it comes with its own set of problems. Emails and texts are convenient, but they create room for confusion and miscommunication. Whenever possible, talk in person in order to get your message across clearly.
5. Learn to say no and mean it. It’s OK to turn down invitations, cancel plans or disconnect from the outside world every now and then. Saying no is a skill that will benefit you throughout life, so allow yourself to politely start bowing out of unnecessary commitments right now.
6. Set achievable goals each day. Even the most thoughtfully constructed to-do list will be useless if it is too ambitious. What’s the point of writing down unachievable tasks? We’re not superheroes and shouldn’t try to be. Make your daily goals small enough that you can actually get them done. Remember that you can always do more if you have the time.
7. 7. Give multitasking the ax. Multitasking is ineffective and counterproductive. People work best when they give focused attention to the task at hand. So aim to work on only one project at a time and give yourself permission to forget about other priorities until you are done.
8. Listen up! Active listening consists of being present and engaged when communicating with another person, but it’s not as easy as it sounds. It’s very common to forget to listen after you speak your thoughts in a conversation, and you often lose important info as a result. When you are talking with a coworker, manager or anyone else, be sure that you turn off that pesky inner monologue and focus when it is the other person’s turn to speak.
9. Don’t be a sheep. While maintaining the status quo is often a good thing (especially at work), there may come a time when it is advisable to stop following the herd and innovate in the name of productivity. If you can envision a way to work smarter and better, you may just create new best practices for your place of work that will save time and increase quality.
10. Stop shuffling papers. Most of us waste a lot of time shuffling papers from one pile to another. Chances are that your desk is full of paper you don’t know what to do with. Stop this maddening cycle by touching each sheet of paper just once and figure out the appropriate action. Either put it in a to-do pile so you can deal with it immediately, a file (for documents you must keep), or the trash. This keeps the papers moving and keeps you sane!
11. Step away from the Internet. Surfing the web is a huge time-waster for most people. An innocent little break often turns into an hour (or more) of wasted time that you can’t get back — especially when you should be working or headed to bed to get some rest. I advise shutting off access to the Internet at a certain time each day to avoid getting lost in cyberspace. I also recommend breaks from recreational Internet use — about a month — to focus on other aspects of your life that may need attention.
12. Have some fun along the way. It’s important to remember that stressed-out people aren’t all that productive. You have to relax and schedule “recharge time” into your life to avoid burnout — especially if you have an intense work environment. Be sure to build in time for fun on the weekends and on some evenings but try to make work fun, too. If appropriate at your office, find ways to infuse a little lighthearted play into your workday.
13. Practice breathing and mindfulness. Imagine how productive you could be if you could focus, calm all anxious thoughts and truly be present. You can find out by practicing mindfulness.Breathing is a tool for achieving a relaxed, clear state of mind. There are multiple methods for achieving this state, including tai chi, meditation, yoga or simple breathing exercises. Find one that resonates for you and practice it daily.
14. Stop owning other people’s stuff. How often do you hear yourself saying, “Never mind, I’ll do it myself”? Probably more often than you’d like, and this habit takes up your precious minutes in no time. The solution is to hold others accountable for their responsibilities. This includes your children, your spouse and your colleagues. Let “Never mind . . .” be the exception instead of the rule.
15. Let go and delegate. Learn to know when to let someone else handle a task. It can be hard to relinquish control, but it is also necessary to delegate, especially if you’re in a leadership position. Remember that delegating is not admitting you can’t handle your responsibilities — not at all. Rather, it’s about maximizing the potential of your entire workforce.

Remember that you have two choices when trying to manage your time. You can either let your priorities and obligations run your life, or you can take charge of your minutes and let them work for you to achieve your goals in a timely manner. While you won’t ever succeed long-term by racing the clock, you can drop your bad habits, improve ineffective practices and kick stress to the curb so that your whole life improves.

Jackie Gaines is a coach for The Studer Group and a senior executive with a career that encompasses more than 38 years of sustained leadership and accomplishments with major health systems and organizations. She has dedicated most of her career to the advancement of quality health care programs, particularly those focused on the care of the poor and underserved. She has written four books, including “Wait a Hot Minute! How to Manage Your Life with the Minutes You Have.” Copies can be purchased online at StuderGroup.com.

Alicia Osborne

Try Googling the word “millennial” and you’d be amazed at the research that has already gone into this generation, once more commonly referred to as the Echo Boom, or the sons and daughters of those born soon after the end of World War II.

For decades, their parents have been the driving force in our nation’s economy. At their peak in 1999, baby boomers numbered 78.8 million. This past year, that total was expected to drop to 74.9 million while the Millennial Generation, whose ages in 2015 ranged from 18 to 34, climbed to 75.3 million — on their way to an expected 80 million peak.

Herculean efforts are being made to understand these younger Americans, once also known as Gen Y, who comprise one-third of the U.S. workforce. Their work ethic, buying habits, goals and general outlook on life have been put under a microscope as the business world — from banks to retailers to Realtors and even opera houses and art galleries — has searched for the best way to understand them and harness their potential buying power.

Who are they? In a 2010 study, the Pew Research Center described millennials — named as such because they are the first generation to come of age in the new millennium — as “confident, self-expressive, liberal, upbeat and open to change.” Further studies done by a variety of sources from Wall Street to universities have shown these Americans to be highly educated, optimistic, less religious, more ethnically diverse and in no hurry to marry or purchase their own home. They want to make a difference in their communities and the world, although not necessarily committing to any long-term projects. According to a 2014 report by the White House Council of Economic Advisers, they are also interested in their quality of life, having time for recreation and working in creative jobs.

It’s hard to generalize a whole generation in just a few descriptive words. And it’s unfair to lump together members of one generation. But there are some stark differences between millennials and those who came before them.

“Baby boomers love a challenge. They are focused on work and achievement,” explains Xuan Tran, an associate professor of hospitality, recreation and resort management at the University of West Florida, who has studied the millennials. “Members of Generation X feel they need more security, so they focus on power. For Generation Y (millennials), if you want to work with them, you need to make sure they can balance between work and family.”

Seeking ‘Fun’ at Work

Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey, founders of Barefoot. Courtesy of the Barefoot spirit

While their parents and grandparents grew accustomed to strict working hours and often tightly controlled working conditions early in their careers, millennials yearn for a better experience at their workplace. According to a recent report from Accenture, 60 percent of the graduates in the class of 2015 say they would take a pay cut to work for a company with a “positive social atmosphere.”

Michael Houlihan and Bonnie Harvey are the founders of Barefoot, the largest bottled wine brand in the world. In their book, “The Entrepreneurial Culture,” they share the methods and tactics they used to make the company, which has been sold to EJ Gallo, so successful. Their message: It’s a myth that productivity improves when company cultures are rigid, serious and businesslike. The reality is, productivity improves when people enjoy being at work.

At Barefoot, they concentrated on fun, respect for all (regardless of age), philanthropy, flex hours, showing appreciation for a job well done and treating workers as individuals instead of cogs in the machine. And while going to work might not beat a day at the beach, they insist it’s still possible to make time at the office enjoyable.

Millennials want to be appreciated for their work and be involved with their company and community. A work/life balance is very important.

“Strive to create a fun environment,” Houlihan says. “At Barefoot, we designed colorful work spaces with natural light and playful graphics. We let employees choose their titles and encouraged wine-related names. (I was ‘Head Stomper,’ if you’re curious.) We also gave plenty of time off, celebrated birthdays and didn’t mind a little silliness as long as the work got done. All of this helped our people to stay fresh and involved, and kept morale high.”

Rick Oppenheim, whose Tallahassee-based public relations company celebrated 30 years in business in 2015, has hired millennials and also brought them into RB Oppenheim Associates as interns.

“We have a lot of millennials running around here on any given day,” the 63-year-old says with a smile. “The workplace has evolved as our culture has. The 25-year-old of today approaches work differently than the 25-year-old did 20 years ago. As employers, we have to pay attention to this. To have a successful workplace, you have to know how to deal with your employees. How to engage them and keep them. My generation understood you had to pay your dues to rise in a company. Millennials expect that journey to be considerably faster.”

Rick Oppenheim, shown with Brianna Barnebee (left) and Gabrielle Shaiman (right), loves working with millennials and says employers need to provide flexibility, show trust and reward success.

Alicia Osborne

Oppenheim brings in a massage therapist once a month for his staff and he tries to do fun things, such as have happy hours. He will allow his employees to work remotely when necessary.

“We try to have a nurturing, fun, engaging workplace,” he says. “You have to have trust, provide flexibility, reward success, encourage creativity, guide but not direct. The goal is to understand what their goals are and help them get there.”

‘Fearless’

There are a lot of words used to describe the Millennial Generation. The term “fearless” is one of the more popular. Unlike the baby boomers, who tended to stick with one company or at least stay in the career they were trained for, this new crop of workers doesn’t hesitate to jump jobs or careers.

Millennials reportedly leave their employers in less than three years — sooner if they don’t like a company’s culture. Many of them want to travel and experience other cultures while they’re young. Others want to move away from smaller cities to urban areas that offer more cultural activities and the opportunity to meet and engage with other young professionals from around the country — a brain drain that could adversely affect places like Northwest Florida.

“Millennials are driving social and geographic shifts,” notes a 2014 White House report. “Especially the more educated among them have moved in large numbers to urban areas. (This) could have important economic implications for a long time to come.”

Dorian Zwierewicz Lauren Smith/University of West Florida

Dorian Zwierewicz is a business growth consultant at the University of West Florida’s Small Business Development Center. He’s 23, has an MBA from UWF in hand and loves his job and his boss. He plans to remain flexible in his future plans, possibly remaining in Pensacola, but he also has a five-year plan that may lead him to “move to something bigger.” He already has friends moving to bigger cities such as Atlanta, Boston and Philadelphia for work and school.

“They say there is so much more to do,” he says. “The lifestyle and culture are all big factors.”

Brianna Barnebee, 24, graduated from Florida State University in 2014. She majored in public relations and international affairs and now works with Oppenheim. But in a couple of years she’d like to have a stable job that allows her to work remotely while traveling the world.

“It’s more about the experience and being happy than making the most money,” she says. “Our parents were working to make money. It’s normal for us to go job to job to get the best experience possible. We want to achieve the best for us, not for our parents.”

She knows others who are taking time out from careers to teach English in foreign countries or even become nannies for families overseas, jobs that don’t offer much money but open new opportunities to become immersed in different cultures. Being thousands of miles from home isn’t as fearful as it may have once been because modern technology helps them stay close to friends and family.

Her coworker Gabrielle Shaiman, 23, is a native of South Florida and says her current job is a great opportunity for a recent college graduate (she also earned her degree from FSU in 2014), but she doesn’t expect to be in Tallahassee long term. In fact, “my parents are supportive of me getting out of the Florida bubble.”

Having grown up with technology and the Internet, millennials see the world as their oyster.

“We want to be very independent,” says Shaiman, “and we have a lot of resources that other generations didn’t have.”

Balancing Work and Family

At the age of 31, Sandi Poreda is on the leading edge of the Millennial Generation. She began her career working like a baby boomer, putting in long hours, starting at the bottom of the office ladder and working her way up. She liked the security. But in her later 20s, she began to re-evaluate.

“As I got a little older, I began to value quality of life as a work asset,” she says. “It was OK with me if I made a little less. I think maybe we’re starting to pay more attention to a better sense of balance. That was the turning point for me.”

In January 2015, she took the plunge and started her own company, Bulldog Strategy. She used skills learned during her years working in the office of Florida’s attorney general and transferred them to a public relations company that specializes in litigation communication, serving attorneys and their clients.

“Balance has been a real big deal for me. How do I make sure the desire to grow my company doesn’t threaten the balance? It’s not how to work less but how to work smarter,” Poreda explains. “Now that I’ve reprioritized, I feel more balanced and I do a better job for my clients because I’m not crazy.”

Thanks to technology, many of today’s jobs don’t require employees to be in the office, at their desks, from 9 to 5. And, believe it or not, a 2013 Millennial Branding study reported that almost half of millennials say they’d choose flexibility over pay.

“Employees feel positively about companies that give them time to live their lives outside of work when possible,” says Barefoot Wine’s Bonnie Harvey. “Set up deadline-based timetables rather than strict work schedules, and allow for home office work as much as possible. This will help your people save gas and commute hours. Think of it as paying for performance, not attendance. At Barefoot, we found that when we trusted our people to do what we asked them to and left the when and where up to them, they were more focused and productive. They thought like entrepreneurs, not clock-punchers.”

Lazy and Entitled?

They are certainly a confident group. A 2014 Wells Fargo study revealed that the vast majority of millennials (84 percent) feel they have the skills to succeed in their career goals and are confident their careers will advance. If they lost their job, 78 percent believe they could find a comparable one within a year — a sharp contrast to baby boomers (58 percent).

Sandi Poreda, shown here with 8-year-old Ella, her rescue bulldog mix and business mascot. 

courtesy of Sandi Poreda/trewmedia.com

Calling them lazy and entitled could be a bum rap on an entire generation, but millennials do have some work traits that boomers in particular sometimes find mystifying.

“When they get into the workplace, they want you to tell them what you want and then leave them alone. That’s a hard adjustment for a baby boomer,” admits Keyna Cory, 61, president of Public Affairs Consultants Inc. in Tallahassee who hires (and pays) a lot of interns. “They are workers that want opportunities but want instant gratification. You’ve got to thank them — they’ve grown up in a world where everyone gets a participation trophy.”

But then, whose fault is that?

“We’re products of the environment we’re raised in. I’ve read that we’re entitled and everyone’s a winner,” points out Zwierewicz, of UWF’s Small Business Development Center. “If we were raised that way, we can’t be blamed for it. I always thought it was a strange analogy. We weren’t the ones handing out the trophy.

“I don’t think I’m lazy at all. My focus at work is really on adding value.”

In a student survey she did for her doctoral thesis, Barbara White said she learned that even though millennials get the rap for not being responsible, they want to be valued as being highly responsible.

“They wanted to be perceived as an expert, so their advice would be sought,” says White, an assistant professor in accounting and finance at UWF. “We know this generation tends to be a little more confident, have higher expectations and they will question things more.”

As for getting pats on the back at work, she says millennials grew up hearing about how special they were and getting constant reinforcement.

“We know that you won’t have someone come by every day and tell you what a good job you’re doing,” White says. But, she adds, employers could help the situation by establishing more regular employee reviews (even every three months) to let younger workers know how they’re performing. Still, she cautions, “They want realistic feedback. They know some of what they got (as youths) was smoke and mirrors.”

Another suggestion she offers is to let millennial employees serve on company committees, maybe even establishing junior committees to tackle some issues in the workplace. And, she adds, “they will work hard if it’s important to them. Incorporate those things that are important.”

Still, when millennials get into their first job situation, employers may often have to start out teaching some of the basics.

Cory said some of her interns have had to be taught how to properly answer the phone and how not to rely on texting for everything. (She even had an intern resign by text, telling her, “I’m not happy working here. My key’s on the desk.”)

And, when the economy is good, she knows they could leave their job in a heartbeat for a better opportunity. But she knows that older employers will have to learn to adjust to the new workers they’ll be encountering and the new consumers their businesses will need to connect with to survive.

“I’m going to have to adjust,” Cory says. “If I’m going to grow my business, as an employer I’m going to have to put on a different mindset. I’m going to have to adjust to them.”

Randi Zuckerberg, sister of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who is a New York Times bestselling author and founder and CEO of Zuckerberg Media.

Jennifer Ekrut

Market Trendsetters

Ask a millennial the last time he or she walked into a bank and they might not even remember. They are in the forefront of online banking — a 2014 survey by Citibank revealed that 20 percent of their customers under the age of 40 don’t have a checkbook — and use their smartphones for some of the most vital tasks in their lives. Staying in communication with friends and family? Don’t call. Text. Or better yet, send a photo or video via Snapchat.

“They’re moving away from email. They’re using all these messaging apps, like Snapchat. It really is a very new world out there,” says Randi Zuckerberg, sister of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, who is a New York Times bestselling author and founder and CEO of Zuckerberg Media. “Not every business needs to be on Snapchat, but they need to understand the why of this huge trend and how to be better about recruiting and hiring millennials.

“The new generation of consumers likes to share things more than buy. They don’t buy cars, they prefer experiences over material objects. So these are things businesses need to understand if they are going to be successful. It really is a very new world out there.”

Some businesses are trying to prepare. A 2015 survey for Transitions Optical began tracking the attitude of millennials toward their eye doctors and eyeglass/contact lens preference.

“Cultural sensitivity, giving back and having the freedom to express their personal style all emerged as being highly valued among millennial eyeglass wearers — and are also core values of growing ethnic minority groups that make up such a large portion of this generation,” says Patience Cook, director of North America marketing for the optical company. “This reinforces the importance of eyecare professionals embracing multicultural outreach efforts and paying attention to trends in this area.”

One of the biggest differences between millennials and earlier generations? They’re more likely to consider what’s fashionable or which pair bears a recognized name brand when choosing their eyeglasses.

Businesses that want to appeal to millennials will have to make good use of technology, which this generation demands.

Courtesy of Neiman Marcus

“Having grown up with the Internet and being the first on many social media sites, it’s not surprising millennials tend to be more aware of the latest fashion trends,” Cook says. “By keeping this in mind … eye-care professionals can help to grow their businesses while increasing patient satisfaction.”

Whole Foods formed a special innovation team and is launching a new, “hip” market concept aimed at millennial customers. They’re calling it 365 by Whole Foods Market, and the first stores will open in 2016.

“This new format will feature a modern, streamlined design, innovative technology and a curated product mix,” co-CEO Walter Robb told investors when making the announcement in May. “It will deliver a convenient, transparent and values-oriented experience geared toward millennial shoppers … We believe the growth potential for this new complementary brand to be as great as it is for our highly successful Whole Foods Market brand.”

Even hotels, including most recently Best Western, are launching rebranding campaigns in an attempt to appeal to millennials.

Michael K. Brady, the Carl DeSantis Professor and chair of Florida State University’s Department of Marketing, suggests that those companies with special recognition programs for customers could attract millennial customers.

“They like to be individualistic and recognized for what they do and companies can turn that to their advantage with programs like loyalty clubs that recognize consumers for being good customers or having special lines for entrance for loyal customers, like the airlines do,” he says. “They respond well to that recognition.”

As for technology, they don’t just expect it, they demand it. And it will be up to businesses to figure out how to incorporate technology, especially interactive technology, into their sales. Take for instance, the Magic Mirror, which allows customers to try on products via a mirror instead of physically putting on a piece of clothing, jewelry or eyewear. It’s already boosting sales in some stores like Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom’s.

“They want to see technology in places it hasn’t been before,” Brady says. And, he adds, “They’re very skeptical consumers. But that’s also an opportunity for marketers, who will need to convey a message of truth worthiness.”

But Cory reminds all that millennials have a short attention span, so selling them on anything could be a challenge.

“If they don’t understand within seven seconds, they move on. A goldfish will stare at something for nine seconds,” she says. “We have to make websites so that millennials get it, like it and understand it — or they will move on. Whether you are a baker, clothing store or professional services provider, you’ll need to keep their attention and keep them wanting to come back for more.”

Soldiers jumping obstacles during training at Camp Gordon Johnston (circa 1943).

State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory

During the predawn hours of June 6, 1944, more than 150,000 Allied soldiers invaded a handful of French beaches along the coast of Normandy, one of the largest amphibious assaults in history. Seventy-one years later, the sacrifices and achievements of many of those troops, and other soldiers who fought in World War II, are still kept alive in tiny coastal Carrabelle, Florida.

Uniforms, medals, pictures, letters and thousands of other keepsakes are displayed throughout eight rooms of the city’s not-for-profit Camp Gordon Johnston World War II Museum, housed in an out-of-the way, aging municipal complex with a leaky roof and limited air conditioning.

The museum’s humble location belies the importance of the historic collection within. Camp Gordon Johnston was a World War II Army post in Carrabelle and the surrounding region. From 1942 to ’46, more than 250,0000 soldiers were trained at the camp for amphibious landings in Europe and the Pacific. The military installation, known for its rugged, commando-style training, occupied nearly 20 miles of coastline on the Gulf and 165,000 acres of Franklin County. The 4th, 28th and 38th Infantry Divisions trained there, as well as the 6th Amphibious Brigades and other specialized forces.

The artifacts and mementos go beyond the Carrabelle camp. This is the only museum dedicated to World War II in Florida and most of the Southeast. Items from Korea and Vietnam are also on display.

Yet the museum, a tribute to the past, faces an uncertain future.

Supporters stress it’s urgent that the museum move to a new site to survive and preserve all of its items, most donated by veterans and their families. The 225-member Camp Gordon Johnston Museum Association has already purchased a 1.3-acre site at 1873 U.S. Highway 98 West for a new 6,000-square-foot building across from Carrabelle’s public beach. The site has a view of the Gulf, where soldiers once practiced their skills on amphibious landing craft.

Problem is, there aren’t enough funds to build a new facility.

“I firmly believe we could be an economic boon to this county,” said museum curator/director Linda Minichiello. She and her husband, Tony, both volunteers, have kept the nonprofit museum going since it first opened nearly 20 years ago in makeshift headquarters in a former fish shack. The museum is now in its fourth location.

“We average a little over 4,000 people a year and we could double that, at the least, with a new facility on the beach,” said Tony Minichiello, also the association president. “Right now we can’t even put a sign on 98 to let people know we’re here.”

In a major victory, the Florida Legislature voted during the 2015 session to give the military museum $500,000 to build a new structure and appropriately display its historic gems. But hopes were dashed by a June veto by Gov. Rick Scott.

“I was surprised and disappointed,” said state Sen. Bill Montford, D-Tallahassee, who sponsored the budget request for the museum along with Monticello Republican Rep. Halsey Beshears. “It has great historic value, and if not for volunteers, we would have lost a treasure.”

Both legislators vowed they will be pushing for funding again in 2016 and intend to make a more high-profile appeal.

“There are items of true historical value that no one else in the world has,” Beshears said. “But it’s off the beaten path. No doubt more people would come in if they could drive by and see it. It’s a really cool place.”

In a beach location, the museum would serve as a “destination spot for this area,” Montford said.

Lisa Munson, executive director of the Carrabelle Area Chamber of Commerce, agrees.

“Location, location, location,” she said. “Highway 98 is where all the tourists pass through. It’s across from the beach area with parking and picnic tables and right next to the RV park. There’s a path to the Crooked River Lighthouse. The beach, the lighthouse and the museum would be three major attractions all within a quarter-mile walking distance from each other on a major highway.” 

African-American soldiers in front of barracks at Camp Gordon Johnston (circa 1943).

State Archives of Florida, Florida Memory

Three flagpoles displaying the American flag, a POW flag and the World War II “Grateful Nation Remembers” flag mark the museum’s proposed new site, now a manicured grassy lot. The Camp Gordon Johnston Museum Association owns the beach property and has raised $150,000 toward a new structure, expected to cost about $500,000. The museum has already spent $30,000 for architectural renderings. Supporters estimate the project would create about 30 new jobs.

The association will also be building a memorial and a separate unit for vehicles now in storage: a World War II German leiferwagen (truck), Willys Jeep (manufactured during World War II) and a DUKW amphibious truck. The museum is adding a half-scale model of a Higgins boat, a World War  II amphibious landing craft being built by Carrabelle resident Martin Benbaruch, son of a Holocaust survivor and a native Israeli boat builder.

The museum’s budget is about $50,000 a year, $20,000 of which comes from the Franklin County Tourist Development Council. The other $30,000 comes from donations from dedicated supporters. There’s no cost to visit the museum, but visitors generally leave a few dollars in the donation box.

The museum pays rent and insurance costs at its current home, a former school that includes municipal offices. The complex needs a new roof, but the city can’t afford one, Tony Minichiello said. In addition, utility costs are expensive, so the museum can only use air conditioning 23 hours a week during its operating hours.

“It’s operating on a shoestring, and it’s not acceptable,” Montford said. “We owe it to the community, the state and the country to preserve the museum.”

In addition to seeking money from the state, Camp Gordon Johnston association members have requested $250,000 from the county Tourist Development Council to begin construction of the museum but as of this summer didn’t know whether any additional funds would be granted.

“We need to move some of these items into an air-conditioned environment as soon as possible,” Linda Minichiello said. “We can start small and add onto it.”

The humidity is already causing concerns about mold and disintegration of uniforms and documents.

“In that environment, these items won’t last,” Beshears said.

In another effort to bolster support, the museum association is launching a Tallahassee-based advisory board to start a capital fund.

“We want to get the word out to the business community, especially those who value history,” Tony Minichiello said.

“I think a lot of people would be interested in visiting the museum and supporting the museum if they just knew about it,” said Tallahassee lawyer Matt Mathews, general counsel to the museum. “It’s a great asset for everyone.”

Longtime history buffs, the Minichiellos have been involved with the museum from the outset.

When the Tallahassee residents decided to buy a second home in Carrabelle, they were intrigued by the area’s military history. They organized the Camp Gordon Johnston Museum Association in 1995. In 1996, veterans came to Carrabelle to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the closing of the training camp. The reunion was so successful, it evolved into the annual Camp Gordon Johnston Days, a three-day event with a parade, dance and other activities.

But the reunions weren’t enough, veterans decided. A museum was needed. In 1998, the first collections were displayed in a 96-square-foot fishing shack. Linda Minichiello was the first volunteer.

“It was so small, only two people could be there at a time,” said Tony.

The museum would then move three more times, to a former school, the downtown Carrabelle theater, and in 2008, to its current location at the municipal complex. The museum’s eight-year lease expires in 2017.

“We don’t even have all of our artifacts displayed,” said Linda. “Every year, veterans and their families bring us more items.”

In her soft Southern voice, she passionately spins a story behind each button, badge and banner on display at the museum. Some of those captivating tales are written in the museum’s Amphibian newspaper, on tapes or online, but many are only kept in Linda’s memory.

She not only provides tours to visitors, including busloads of schoolchildren, she also shows modern war movies and documentaries in the museum’s two small theaters and makes the popcorn. It’s all a labor of love.

“For me, it’s doing something for my father,” Linda said. “He was an amphibious soldier who fought in the Aleutian Islands during World War II.” He later suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and was hospitalized for many years.

Linda is retired from a 25-year career teaching English and journalism in a Cairo, Georgia, high school. Tony was in the Air Force during the Vietnam War, then went into printing and sales. Married 52 years, both went to college on the G.I. Bill.

Linda is also a volunteer with Homeland Security and handles calls about live ammunition still found in the area.

“I call the base commander at the bomb squad out of Tyndall and they’re out here,” she said.

The museum shares a great deal of little-known information, including the contributions of nurses who trained at Camp Gordon Johnston and accompanied troops when they landed in Normandy and other invasions.

“These were experienced nurses who were given another year of training to do what a doctor normally does,” because of the lack of physicians to treat the wounded, said Linda.

One of the nurses who trained at Carrabelle “talked about how scared they were” during a museum visit. “The medical corps doesn’t carry weapons and they treat our soldiers, the enemy and citizens,” said Linda. “As soon as they got off the boats, they set up field hospitals.”

The museum’s exhibits include recreations of a field hospital, a mailroom, a barracks and a 1940’s living room. Among many unusual items are two rare Japanese propaganda fans, information about German prisoners of war who were put to work in Carrabelle, and a rare camouflage Army jacket and trousers recovered from a garbage bag.

“Camo was only used temporarily during the summer of  ’44,” Linda said. Because of its similarity to German uniforms, the camouflage caused “so many deaths from friendly fire, they pulled it.” An astute yard man found the garbage bag filled with military keepsakes and brought it to the museum.

“Some people don’t know what they have,” Linda said. “It’s so important that all this history be saved.”

About Gordon Johnston  Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Gordon Johnston fought with the Rough Riders in the Spanish-American War then went on to serve in the Philippine-American War and then World War I. He earned the Medal of Honor for action in the Philippines and the Distinguished Service Cross (the nation’s second highest military honor) in World War I, along with three Silver Stars, a Purple Heart and Officer of the Legion of Honor (from the French). He retired from the U.S. Army as a full colonel. He died from a polo accident in 1934. 

When Justin Schnadelbach came out of the Marine Corps about 10 years ago, he had experience as a combat engineer assistant and a résumé that a buddy helped him write. 

What he didn’t have was any idea what to expect from the job market.

With the war in Iraq heating up, there were fewer veterans leaving the service and not much focus on helping them transition into the civilian work force back home. No one was really teaching vets like Schnadelbach how to market their military experience to civilian employers.

And the country was heading toward a recession. Jobs were about to get scarce.

Schnadelbach, 31, managed to survive several lean years mainly through persistence and trial and error in the job market, but it was a tough go for a while.

 “I was . . . on my own,” Schnadelbach said. “It’s been kind of a rollercoaster.”

Today, much has changed for vets.

The unemployment rate among Florida veterans is at its lowest point since 2010, especially for post-9/11 vets, and veterans are entering employment at higher rates and for generally higher wages than their non-veteran counterparts, according to federal labor figures.

Although challenges still remain — for example, helping homeless veterans and vets with criminal records find jobs — the outlook seems especially rosy in the Florida Panhandle, where more than 3,500 veterans found employment in 2014.

Here, vets are prized for their military skills and their reputation as disciplined and highly motivated workers. This is particularly true for veterans with technical training who are job-hunting in areas heavily populated by defense contractors.

While the turnaround is due in part to a recovering economy, it also owes much to a number of new state and federal initiatives aimed at putting veterans into jobs.

Among them: training that teaches vets how to negotiate the job market and translate their skills to civilian experience; outreach programs that educate employers about the advantages of a military-trained work force; and financial incentives for companies that hire veterans.

“They have a lot more now than when I was getting out,” Schnadelbach said.

Veterans Out of Work

As recently as 2011, the employment situation for veterans was bleak.

Unemployment among post-9/11 veterans was at 12 percent, compared to a national unemployment rate of less than 9 percent for civilians. Unemployment was actually increasing for vets, while non-veteran unemployment was trending down, according to the Joint Economic Committee of Congress.

“The withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan and the associated troop reductions in each branch of service will make it increasingly difficult for young veterans to reenlist, forcing many into the still-recovering civilian labor market,” the committee reported at the time. “Although the economy continues to improve, many young veterans will face an uphill battle to find a civilian job.”

Florida is home to one of the largest veteran populations in the country at 1.5 million — about 175,00 of them in the Panhandle — and the situation here wasn’t much better.

By the end of 2011, the veteran unemployment rate in Florida was higher than the state’s civilian unemployment rate and higher than the national average, according to Jesse Panuccio, executive director of the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity.

The situation led to passage of the VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011, which established tax credits for companies hiring veterans, made it mandatory for veterans leaving the service to receive job-hunting training and directed the U.S. Department of Labor to work on identifying the civilian equivalents of most military jobs.

The Labor Department also began funneling increased funding to states to help pay for job placement programs for veterans. Florida significantly increased efforts to connect veterans with jobs, starting everything from veterans-only job fairs to media campaigns aimed at potential employers to a special online job board for vets.

“Veterans have served us, and it’s important that we now serve them,” Panuccio said. “We’re doing quite a lot . . . Among policymakers in Tallahassee, there is a concerted effort to make this state very veteran/military-friendly.”

It Starts at CareerSource Florida

The bulk of the work being done to help vets find jobs takes place at the state’s 24 regional CareerSource Florida (formerly Workforce) employment centers.

Each center has a staff of federally funded job-placement experts, often veterans themselves, who work specifically with veterans. For example, the CareerSource EscaRosa office, which covers Escambia and Santa Rosa counties, has seven to eight staff members assigned to assist vets, according to executive director Susan Nelms.

Justin Schnadelbach, shown here at Veterans Park in Pensacola, survived several lean years after leaving the Marine Corps but now works full time with Gulf Power.

Matt Burke

They hold classes and work one-on-one with veterans, teaching them how to shine in interviews, dress for the workplace and write résumés that translate their military experiences into civilian terms. In addition, they offer career counseling and steer veterans to job openings that fit their experience.

Schnadelbach, the Marine Corps veteran, could have benefited from that sort of training. After he left the service, he picked up a series of contract jobs, including beach cleanup for BP after the Gulf oil spill, before landing a full-time position a year ago with Gulf Power as a GIS mapping specialist.

His advice to vets: Make sure résumés and all certifications are current, learn how to do job interviews and get good at “selling yourself” in a competitive job market.

“The biggest thing is figuring out how to translate what you did in the military into the civilian world,” he said.

That’s simpler for some veterans than for others. Vets who worked on aircraft or in cybersecurity, for example, can easily transfer those skills over to civilian workplaces. Infantry and special operations troops might have fewer civilian hard skills but almost certainly will have leadership experience, problem-solving skills and even customer service training from dealing with local populations.

To help vets, Florida offers the Veterans Program Portal at the EmployFlorida.com website. It allows veterans to enter their branch of service, rank and military occupational specialty to search for civilian job openings that match their military experience. The accuracy varies; entering “U.S. Army enlisted infantry soldier” returns police and security jobs, as well as one for a position that requires a four-year degree and a year of experience in pest control.

Meanwhile, outreach specialists focus on marketing vets to local employers. They identify companies that are open to hiring veterans and work on educating others about how hiring vets can help their bottom line. The industries targeted vary by region — EscaRosa, for example, spends a lot of time working with government contractors.

Nelms, though, cautions that CareerSource Florida centers are not the only place vets should look for jobs.

“We’re one component of employment,” she said. “We may not be everything to everybody.”

Schnadelbach said he found his current job by spreading his name and résumé around as many places as he could, including sites such as Monster.com and CareerBuilder.com. A contractor who worked for Gulf Power saw his information, called him “out of the blue,” and offered him work. That eventually led to a full-time position with the utility company.

“Try them all out,” he said. “You don’t really know anything until you try it. The worst that can happen is that nothing works.”

Reversing the Trend

The efforts have paid off.

CareerSource centers in the Florida Panhandle placed more than 3,500 veterans in jobs last year. Those centers — stretching from Taylor to Escambia counties — were responsible for about 15 percent of all veteran job placements in the state, according to a Department of Economic Opportunity report.

The Department of Labor doesn’t keep veteran unemployment numbers by county, but statewide the unemployment rate for veterans also has improved considerably. It was down to 6 percent at the end of 2014, compared to an overall state unemployment rate of 7 percent.

Income for veterans across the country is looking healthy, too. The federal Department of Veterans Affairs reports that the national median income for veterans is about $40,000 — more than $10,000 higher than for non-veterans.

Median incomes for veterans are higher than the national figure in at least three Panhandle counties, Census Bureau reports show. In Okaloosa County, the median income for veterans is about $50,000. In Santa Rosa, it’s $46,000 and in Leon County, it’s $43,000.

Taza Simmons, with CareerSource in Tallahassee, interviews veteran Liz McBride.

Matt Burke

“We’re in very good shape here, especially in Northwest Florida,” Nelms said. “It’s a seller’s market for veterans.”

Dan Turberville is a retired U.S. Army Reserve colonel who served as a military historian and worked as an attorney in civilian life. At 71, he’s back in the workplace after finding the life of a retired person “miserable.”

He said he’d never applied for a job, having owned a law firm for most of his adult life. It was an adjustment going from being the person who did the hiring to being the person asking to be hired. He found CareerSource EscaRosa through the unemployment process.

His counselor helped him update his résumé and put him through some “very intense” training on how to stand out in job interviews. Turberville said one tip he would never forget was that during an interview, it was important to make contact with every single person in the room “because you never know who’s going to make the final decision.”

The main problem he had during his job search was his age. Many companies require job-seekers to apply online before anything else. The applications never asked directly about his age, a violation of the law, but often asked what year he graduated from high school. Funny enough, after that, he would get rejected.

“That was very, very depressing,” he said. “Getting an interview was most difficult.”

But he stuck with it, and his counselor kept him constantly updated on new job openings that seemed like a fit for him. It took about nine months, but he eventually found a low-level job at Baptist Hospital in Pensacola, where he has been working since September, he said.

His advice to young veterans looking for work is to use their local CareerSource Florida centers.

“It’s probably their best option,” he said. “I’m a very satisfied customer.”

Once in the door and talking to a potential employer, veterans need to focus on the added value of their military service.

“You have life experiences that they can’t buy,” he said. “Show them how they will actually make a profit or benefit from having you there.”

A Win-Win

So who’s hiring these vets, and why?

Syn-Tech FuelMaster is one.

The Tallahassee company designs fuel management software and hardware for government agencies and businesses that have large fleets of vehicles. It’s the sole provider of fuel management for all branches of the military, according to the company.

Of the company’s 180 employees, at least 37 are veterans, said Human Resources Director Lisa Starling.

Part of that is simple practicality. Government contractors are required to make a documented effort to hire qualified veterans. And as a company that offers telephone support for its products to the military on a daily basis, it helps to have employees staffing those phones who “speak the language” of the military, Starling said.

But the other part of veteran hiring is just that they make good employees, she said.

Overall, veterans have a strong work ethic. They also tend to have some kind of technical background or trade that they’ve learned in the military. And they are high performers, good at meeting deadlines and dealing with stress.

“Even under pressure, they can handle it because they’ve been in that environment,” Starling said.

Another plus is that veterans tend to be long-term assets.

“From my experience, they’ve been promotable because they have a lot of good leadership training in the military,” according to Starling, who said that just off the top of her head, she could think of at least 10 veterans who had moved into management positions within the company.

At Morris Allen Associates, a Tallahassee civil engineering and IT consulting firm, veterans make up most of the staff — five out of six of his permanent employees have served, according to Walter Davis, the founder and owner and an Air Force veteran of Vietnam.

Even when the company scales up for larger projects, Davis said he makes a point of hiring vets. They’ve already been trained and have the discipline employers are looking for — workers who don’t need to be micromanaged, don’t watch the clock and will do whatever has to be done to complete the job.

“They know how to take the mail through the jungle,” Davis said. “They don’t come any better.”

Nelms, the executive director of CareerSource EscaRosa, echoes those sentiments. What she hears from employers, especially those looking to relocate to the Panhandle, is that vets are premium employees, she said.

In fact, she said that when site consultants are scouting new locations for their corporate clients, “they ask about (the veteran work force) every time.”

The attraction, she said, is that military veterans often have a unique combination of specific technical training and hard-to-acquire “soft skills” such as excellent written and oral communication, solid decision making, and the ability to work well within a team.

“Employers love ex-military,” she said. “They see them as such a huge benefit. They have a proven track record on . . . getting things done.”

Other companies known in the Panhandle for hiring veterans include Waffle House, Lowe’s home improvement store and Gulf Power.

On the Lowe’s career site, vets can type in their military specialties and find corresponding civilian skills required for jobs in the stores. And at Gulf Power, which makes a point of attending more than 30 military job fairs a year, veterans make up 8 percent of the work force in the Panhandle region.

Some Challenges Remain

Unfortunately, there are still vets having difficulty finding employment.

Veterans who are approaching the end of their service are required to go through the military’s Transition Assistance Program to learn about the post-military job market. But, Nelms said, it seems that not all are being properly educated about the resources that are available to help them.

In addition to the regional CareerSource Florida centers, there is the state veteran employment website, VA programs for homeless and disabled vets, veterans preference programs in state and federal hiring, and various career fair events arranged by public agencies as well as private groups such as the Wounded Warriors Project.

“I think it’s very confusing to understand where to go for what,” Nelms said.

Another stumbling block can be inaccurate perceptions of veterans, particularly at a time when many of them have come home from Iraq and Afghanistan with combat experience. Sensationalized reports about PTSD tends to create resistance in smaller private employers, said Debby Coxwell, work-force programs administrator with CareerSource Capital Region in Tallahassee.

But “not all veterans have severe PTSD,” she said.

(According to a 2008 study by the RAND Corporation of nearly 2,000 Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom vets, about 14 percent experienced some form of PTSD.)

If a vet is dealing with PTSD, that is addressed during the career-planning service at CareerSource Capital Region. The vet is steered to proper counseling and treatment for the trauma, according to Coxwell.

“We never want to put someone to work that is not job-ready,” she said.

Perhaps the biggest challenges to getting veterans into jobs is what CareerSource Florida refers to as “significant barriers.” These include homelessness, disabilities and previous incarceration.

About 10 percent of prison inmates were veterans in 2004, the last time the U.S. Department of Justice conducted a count.

Rick Machovoe, 52, joined the Marine Corps as an infantryman right out of high school.

He was introduced to drugs while serving and later developed an addiction to cocaine and crystal meth. Machovoe ended up serving time in prison for non-violent offenses. During his last incarceration, he got clean — and stayed that way.

He was released to a transitional facility last year and now lives in Pensacola. Machovoe began looking for a job in November.

He said he has experience operating a mailing insert machine, working in machine shops and doing carpentry, but despite completing nearly 200 applications, he hasn’t gotten a single job offer. The problem, he said, is that many employers require job-seekers to apply online, and most of his applications get rejected as soon as the screener sees that he is a convicted felon.

“Nobody spends more time looking for a job than me,” he said. “But by not having an opportunity to sell myself (in person), just going by what’s on paper, I don’t have a chance.”

He said he’s been working with counselors at CareerSource EscaRosa, and they have been helpful, including assisting with his résumé. But the few times he’s actually made it into the hiring process with an employer, he is rejected as soon as his background check comes back, even though he was upfront about his criminal record, Machovoe said.

(What employers might not know: The Federal Bonding Program from the Department of Labor offers insurance against theft to companies that hire felons. It is a “guarantee of worker job honesty” for the first six months of the felon’s employment.)

“I’ve dug such a hole . . . that now, when I’m trying to do the right thing, I can’t get a break,” he said. “I realize that I made the bed I’m lying in. I don’t blame anybody for that.”

Machovoe said he has no intention of giving up. He hopes his military experience might count for something with potential employers, since it demonstrates that he has at least some fundamental character, he said.

“It wasn’t like I was a criminal from the get-go,” he said. “A guy 17 years old joins the military, he must have some kind of honor and dignity to him. If someone joined the service, there’s something special in him that not everyone has.”