Helmets to Hardhats (H2H) is a national program that connects National Guard, Reserve and transitioning active-duty military members with quality career training and employment opportunities within the building and construction industry. The program is designed to ease the difficult passage into civilian life for military families, providing the best career opportunities, pay, and benefits to those who have earned the nation’s support through their years of service.

The program collects career opportunities from the nationwide building and construction trades and works to provide former military personnel with that data. Candidates can access information about careers and apprenticeships via the Internet from anywhere in the world. To apply for work or membership, candidates complete a comprehensive profile that helps hiring managers determine what transferable skills they acquired during their military service. Once a candidate finds and submits interest in a career opportunity, otherwise known as a digital handshake, they are contacted by a Helmets to Hardhats representative to ensure all application requirements are met.

Helmets to Hardhats is co-sponsored by all fifteen Building and Construction Trades organizations, as well as their employer associations, which together represent about 82,000 contractors. Labor leaders have embraced the program, eager to help military personnel transfer their experience into secure careers within the construction industry.

Helmets to Hardhats currently has 157,755 candidates registered, and through the proactive support and registrations of the building and construction trade unions, quality employers and JATCs, 86,924 careers are currently listed on the H2H website and the program has had 39,092 candidates apply for positions.

"Together, the military and the construction trades have built America over the past several hundred years with the same kind of sweat, equity, commitment and courage," Lieutenant General H. Steven Blum, Chief of the National Guard Bureau said. "No other industry in the history of the United States has ever made a total commitment to support the armed forces by providing access to the best jobs in construction."

Helmets to Hardhats is gaining significant attention across the nation not only as a program that works, but also a program that cares. Moving forward, one of the essential goals is to deploy a statewide direct entry program into every state.

With the implementation of a statewide direct entry program, Helmets to Hardhats candidates are able to get into quality construction careers soon after applying for them. Once the state proclamation/resolution is signed, it allows all JATCs and locals to accept current and former military candidates and provide credit for military training and experience at their discretion. Thus far, a total of twenty-five direct entry proclamations/resolutions have been signed by various state political leaders from Indiana, Ohio, Connecticut, West Virginia, Illinois, Washington, Nebraska, Rhode Island, Iowa, New Hampshire, Vermont, Virginia, Missouri, Maine, Kentucky, Tennessee, Massachusetts, Delaware, Hawaii, Wisconsin, New Jersey, California, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, and Kansas.

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