“We must learn about and share our knowledge and best practices with each other,” Chauchepart said.  “Only from there can we effectively proceed to monitor, influence and lobby the public and private stakeholders on behalf of our returning reservists,” he added.

“We need to help our reservists not only retain their civilian job, but also to help the members obtain an even better job,” said Norwegian Brig. Gen. Sigurd Hellstrom. “Reservists bring back valuable management skills and the ability to operate in a crisis.”

How can employers learn to obtain untapped reservist talent?  One solution is to establish a civilian skills and competencies database. While this sounds relatively simple, there are management and individual privacy issues that need to be solved for the plan to work.

Another challenge presented is that reserve associations must reach out to service members before they return home from duty.  Often, reservists deploy and become isolated by their separation from their normal life and family support.

Finally, the group suggested that either the CIOR website or perhaps a Blog should be available to connect all NATO reserve organizations to share best practices.  The working group concluded with more questions than solutions, but the dialogue gave all parties valuable food for thought from their meeting in Riga.

CIOR is the largest military reserve officer organization in the world, representing the interests of more than 1.3 million reservists across 34 participating nations.

For more information about CIOR, visit www.cior.net.