Inside the Region
Welcome to Inside the Region, the podcast that explores the forces shaping our local economy.
In each episode, we dive into the conversations driving business growth, investment, and innovation across the region. From major development projects and capital investment to workforce strategies, market trends, and data insights, we unpack what matters most to business and community leaders.
Inside the Region
Victoria Molnar Veteran Engagement Manager at Invets
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Welcome to Inside the Region, the podcast from the South Bend Regional Chamber, where we explore the people, ideas, and momentum shaping our local economy and community.
Today we’re diving into the intersection of talent, opportunity, and regional growth. Joining us is Victoria Molnar from InVets, an organization dedicated to connecting transitioning service members with meaningful careers in thriving communities like ours.
We’ll talk about how programs like InVets are helping attract top-tier talent to the region, why veterans are such a powerful asset to the workforce, and what it means for the future of South Bend and beyond.
Welcome to Inside the Region, the podcast that explores the forces shaping our local economy. Being brought to you by Old National Bank, where relationships and results matter. Discover what Old National Bank can do for you at OldNational.com. In each episode, we dive into the conversations driving business growth, investment, and innovation across the region. From major development projects and capital investments to workforce strategies, market trends, and data insights, we unpack what matters most to business and community leaders. Now here's your host, Director of Economic Development at the South Bend Regional Chamber, Alison Herzing.
SPEAKER_02Today we're talking about an often overlooked talent pipeline that's incredibly valuable to employers and communities, military veterans and their families. And I have with me Victoria Molnar, a veteran engagement manager with Invets. Welcome, Victoria. Thank you for being here. Appreciate you taking the time today to talk to us about Invets. Um, just want to start out. Tell us a little bit about yourself.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, thank you for having me. I am Victoria Molnar. I'm from South Bend, um Mishawaka area, graduated from Marion High School. And after high school, I was like, I want to be in the military. So I joined the Air Force. I was a mechanic and I served for 20 years. And so I retired in 2024 and knew I was coming back to Indiana. And so I was actually a client of Invets before I came back. And so I didn't know what I wanted to quote unquote be when I grew up. So I joined the team and they helped me find my place here at Invets. And now I help other veterans when they're coming back to Indiana find their place in within the state. So Invets, we are all veterans. It's veteran founded and veteran operated. And we travel around to different bases outside of the state to find out where veterans and spouses are going after they get out of the military.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I love that you kind of already been through this yourself and now you're able to help other individuals and really talk about your personal journey as part of it and show them the way that you've gone and the different opportunities that are available. Do you, when you say you go to different bases outside of Indiana, does are you meeting with Indiana residents like yourself that are at a different base, or can it be just anyone that might be interested in coming to Indiana?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's both. So we set up a booth at the outprocessing and career fairs, and we find out, hey, where are you going? If they're from Indiana, we're like, oh my God, we gotta sign you up. You gotta, you know, we've been in your boots, we know exactly what you're going through. Because getting out of the military is a lot. In the service, you already know what your next step is. You're always told what to do, but getting out of the military, you don't know what the next step is. So it's a lot harder. Um, but we are also open to if they're like, hey, I'm from California, but I'm not moving back there, you know, it's so cost of living is so high, or hey, I'm from New York, I'm not going back there. We're like, hey, have you ever thought of Indiana? And so if they've never thought of it, we like, hey, let's connect, let's tell you what Indiana has to offer. And we do. We bring a lot of non-um original Hoosiers, but we they want to be chosen Hoosiers and move back to the state.
SPEAKER_02That's funny. I'm not from the area. I always say I'm a Hoosier by choice. Yes, exactly. Yeah, and and I am that East Coaster that came here, and and it's so different. And it's just a completely different lifestyle and the cost of living, like you talked about. Just you really can't even appreciate it till you're here. Exactly. And then you're looking back and going, Oh my gosh, why didn't I come earlier? Or why, you know, I'm so happy I found this opportunity. Exactly. So individuals coming, you know, you said you were in maintenance before, and then you come um kind of get out of the military after 20 years. Kind of, you know, some roles you can easily transition into a different role, but some you may say, Hey, I did 20 years of that and I'm ready to move on. Or sometimes there's just not a connection from exactly that previous role to a uh civilian role.
SPEAKER_01Is that true? Exactly. Yes. There are a lot of people who are like, I want to pivot, I want to try something completely new, or maybe they were doing a certain job like mechanics in the military, but they're getting their degree in business administration or HR or even medical, you know, and so we try to help them first civilianize their resumes, but we also try to help connect them with mentors and or partners and companies that want to hire veterans, not only for their skill set and their, you know, determination and ability to show up on time and everything like that, but we also then say, hey, they are pivoting. It's new. Maybe they want to start at a lower level just to get their foot in the door to be able to grow within that new organization.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you talked about a couple things there. Um, so one thing I picked up on is education. They might be working on education or coming out and maybe wanting to go into a certain area and looking for an opportunity to expand their education. Right.
SPEAKER_01Yes. We have a lot of military members that may have gotten their associates or even their bachelor's while in using their tuition assistance, um, but they get out and they want to use their GI Bill or go to get their MBA or try something completely new, getting into the trades or getting into a skill set like that. And so we help them as well. And then along the way, when they graduate, you know, we want to help them get that good job afterwards.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and what's that help look like? Is it, you know, you're just kind of, you know, calling up the local company and saying, hey, I've got Victoria, she's would be a great fit, or is it so far as helping them find a community or a school or all of the above, none of the above?
SPEAKER_01It's actually all of the above. So we tailor our quote unquote white glove service to each individual's needs. So if it's a single military member, they don't need to look into child care, or they may be just going back to stay with family for a while to get school or until they get a job and get an apartment. Um, if it's a married member and they have kids, I've actually literally walked around with my camera and shown them, hey, this is the town, this is the schooling system. I've done research for them, I've connected them with realtors or brokers or trusted people that we know that will take care of them and not put them in a bad area of living, you know. Um, so we kind of tailor it to their needs uh on a case by case on each one of our clients. Um, but we do, we definitely help with all the above.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and it's so important. I mean, when you're moving to a new community, it there it's overwhelming. There's a lot going on. I mean, from all of those areas, but also just simple things. Do you know, where's the closest stores or the doctor I need to have, or how do I connect him with other individuals?
SPEAKER_01And I've actually done that as well. We had a client moving from New Mexico to Indiana, and I connected him with a veteran in well, I showed him around South Bend, but then I connected him with a veteran in Kokomo, one in Carmel, one in Fort Wayne, and one in Muncie to take them around for the day to see the area free so he could find out where he wanted to call home. He ended up choosing Kokomo, and so now he is buying a house and going to be moving here in April.
SPEAKER_02Oh, wonderful.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, super excited. And he missed the winter. I know, right? But he's excited to be here and um with jobs, same way. We can connect them with directly to the company, or we connect with the company, and if the company has positions, we're like, hey, send us your positions, we'll highlight them to our veterans that are open to the state, and they'll move to the city that the position's at.
SPEAKER_02And so with the companies, are you out actively trying to recruit organizations and tell them about your mission and what you guys do? And then you kind of have this Rolodex, or how's it, you know, how does this kind of work?
SPEAKER_01Exactly. Um, we travel around to all the different counties in the state, and some companies reach out to us directly, especially now that we've started our Invet summits, but we will even just call them up and say, Hey, I would love to stop by. My name is Victoria. I'm a veteran engagement manager. Hey, you have these positions on your website that are really appealing to a lot of our clients, and I would love to talk to you about what we do with veterans and how we bring them into the state. And so we love to find that key person within the organization that we can reach out to and say, hey, my veteran, he lives in Texas, he's moving to Indiana, he's really interested in this position, he just applied. Can you either one give me some feedback? Can you make sure it gets into someone's hands? They're not obligated to hire, but just like giving them a good once over, hey, if you have any questions on that resume, if it's too military termed, I can help break that down for the company and just having that communication open with the hiring team or the general manager, whoever is in charge of those hires.
SPEAKER_02That is so important because you know that finding that job oftentimes is making those personal connections, who you know or somebody helping making a bridge for you. Um, oftentimes when you ask people how they got into their role, it's because they knew somebody. And so helping individuals kind of connect in with our businesses really is just such a big, you know, like advantage for them.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. One of our other coworkers, uh, he lives in Carolinas now, but he used to say networking is one letter off from not working.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and I'm loving that. That's too. I uh you just really appreciating some of these phrases. I'm gonna have to start writing them down. But that's you know, it's it's really kind of a mindset.
SPEAKER_01It is. And so many people just blast resumes out there. No, you need to tailor your resume, you need to show that you're interested in these positions, and then you do need to follow up with the company and show that you are interested and not just putting your resume out there for 200 companies to hope that they pick you.
SPEAKER_02It really is competitive. Yes. Now, um, you know, there was a time where you could kind of do that mass, you know, mailing. Um, you know, it was funny this morning I I was talking to someone, I was saying, and we were talking about resumes and coverlers, and I said, remember now I'm gonna date myself. Um, when I you would print them off and mail them to people, and it would be, you know, you'd kind of send it off into the postal service and crush your fingers, and you know, um, and and one time I did receive a postcard back from Disney with a Mickey Mouse waving and telling me I did not get the job. Oh wow. But I was 21 and I probably deserved it. Um, but now it's so much different. You just kind of send it like you can mass send, but really, if you're not customizing the resume to the role, oftentimes you won't make that next step. And this is something that Invets helps um veterans do with their resumes. Exactly.
SPEAKER_01We try to catch every resume before our clients apply to make sure it's civilian terms and it's not um a lot of military ling language. But if they're not tailoring it, and a lot with AI nowadays is getting scanned, you know, before they even get to a human for review of applications, it is hard. So we need to make sure that we reach out and say, hey, just because they already applied, sorry they didn't change the top to say relocating to Indiana, but they are coming to Indiana. Please don't auto-reject them. That's what we like to try to do with that POC from the company.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, because you don't know what you don't know. Right. And so, um, so connecting connecting in with businesses, how you know, you said sometimes you just call and other times you talked about you just had your Invet Summit. So um, can you give a little bit of information about what is, you know, it was the first one you said that you've done? What is that? What is the Invet Summit?
SPEAKER_01Yep. So we just started them last year. IDVA gave us a grant last July 1st to do five summits around the state to kind of get our companies and our veterans all in the same room for meaningful networking and connection. So we had one in Indianapolis in July, we had Fort Wayne in October, we had Bloomington in December, and then South Bend was just recently last week. Um, it's really about getting key players of a company into a room and veterans and spouses that are looking to hire and or just network with other companies and veterans and spouses in a room to be at ease, talk, and hopefully have informal interviews on the spot, but then formal interviews, you know, after a phone call the week later, you know. So we tell them bring resumes, um, we put it out there to the entire community. It's not just South Bend, we open it up to all the counties around. If you're willing to drive, come on up, you know. Um, it also then opens up the door to companies that have never heard about us. I met with Legacy Heating and Cooling at my summit, and they were like, oh my God. And one of the guys was actually a veteran. He was like, I would love to hire more veterans. So we have a meeting set up so that way we can sit down and talk longer in a more relaxed setting as well. Find out what jobs he's looking to hire for and what veterans I have that are coming to the Elkart area.
SPEAKER_02And and what, you know, it are we talking there's five employers, 10, how you know, how well attended are these? So, you know, as individuals are thinking about participating in them, what can they expect? A large room?
SPEAKER_01A very large room. So we had our summit at the South Bend Cubs Performance Center on Wednesday. We had 155 people register. Of that, 60 of them were veterans that registered to attend, and the rest were all companies or organizations. So we did have a ton of buy-in for that. Now, again, with a free event, you know, people register and we didn't have, we had about 90 people show up, which was still a good turnout. We have food, we have drinks, we have a small panel, we had uh Congressman Yakim's veteran liaison representative there, we had the county VSO there. So if people had questions about, you know, their VA claims, um, it's really just every summit's a little bit different and tweaked for the region that it's in. So our next summit is gonna be in Lafayette on May 7th, and we're gonna do the same thing. We always invite the local colleges, like we invited Notre Dame MBA veteran students, and so they showed up at my event on last week when we were in Lafayette. We're gonna have Purdue veterans there. Um, since our main goal is bringing residents into the state, we don't have as many veterans and spouses looking for work in the state. Because hopefully by the time we move them here, they already have jobs. But it's also opened up to the local veterans that are maybe not transitioning out of the military, but have been in the military and maybe looking to pivot to a new position as well. Like we stopped by and we let Troop Town know so they could come to the summit. And I went over to Miller's Vets, and if they were looking for work, they can come to the summit, you know, just really um connecting the community.
SPEAKER_02And I'm gonna have to ask you to give a little bit of background. I'm not familiar with Troop Town. What is that?
SPEAKER_01Meshawaka Troop Town, it is housing for homeless veterans, that it's a nonprofit that was funded. Uh Jim, I always mess up his last name. Jim Method is the president over there. So he brought some veterans over to the event and it was great. Oh, fantastic.
SPEAKER_02It sounds like too all levels of positions. Right. Yeah. This isn't just an entry level. Um, and and you know, for an individual that has been in the military for a substantial amount of time, um, transitioning over to a civilian role could be a little challenging. Are typically, do you see they're looking to come in at an entry-level role, or are they it does it the whole spectrum? They want to be a manager or we are open to anything.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, definitely a wide spectrum because we have people getting out after four, six years that are gonna be those entry-level roles, maybe more on the manufacturing floor. But we have people that have gotten out after 20 years, they're in senior leadership. We have colonels that are getting out that have led thousands of bodies in mass movements, you know. So the hard part on that is sometimes they're overqualified andor um looking for that managerial role, and they have to kind of start maybe mid-tier to learn the civilian way of things and then move themselves up once they're in the company. So, yeah, it's an entire spectrum from very basic entry to hey, they could walk in and be the boss if you had a position and willing to let them walk right on.
SPEAKER_02And I know Notre Dame's working with veterans um as well to find them uh different roles in the community as well. So there's a lot of efforts being um happening right now in this arena. It's fantastic to see.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, Notre Dame is one of our great partners. Uh Laney Williams and I work really well together. We I helped them do their Skillbridge program or approval. So they hosted their first Skillbridge candidate in December. He was one of my clients, and now they're hosting their second one. He just started last week. So um that's a great program to get into. And if they have positions open to get their foot into Notre Dame, uh Laney and I are actually going to do a lunch and learn for my clients too, talking about resumes and positions. It'll be virtual for that way when my clients want to move to the state, they know and can be set up.
SPEAKER_02Do you think there's anything, like, are you are you seeing anything in particular that that pe is really motivating people to move to Indiana? There's a lot going on here. I'm often trying to sell it to my um family back over in the East Coast because it is so much more expensive there. But I often talk a lot about like the quality of life is a lot different. Um, you know, it's kind of you talked about the cost of living, but some of the other things as well.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah. I love the fact that we a lot of people don't know what Indiana has. They're like, what does it have? Corn and snow? And I'm like, it has a lot more than that. It has a lot of different beautiful cities. We're really close to Lake Michigan. Um, but yeah, our main things are hey, we are a manufacturing state. There are tons of positions open. We're building more, you know, Microsoft and AWS are here, but also it's not just all cold. You know, a lot of people are like, I don't like the winter. But guess what? It's gonna make you appreciate it more when it's summertime, you know. Um that's kind of how our cell is, where you can have this beautiful home with land. You can have it out in the fields or you can have it in a neighborhood, you can have it in a subdivision. When I moved here from Tampa, my house here in South Bend is bigger, has three-car garage. I have an acre of land for the same price. As opposed to in Tampa, I had a quarter lot, very small, tight rooms, you know. I could see into my neighbors', you know, windows at night, you know. So it's just the quality of what you can get for your dollar can go a lot farther. And the kids can ride bikes, they can drive around. It's not 45 minutes to go 10 miles, it's 10 minutes to go 10 miles.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I always say the stop signs. You can, you know, back home in New Jersey. I grew up at the beach, it goes from 4,000 people to 25,000 people every um, you know, right after Memorial Day weekend, and it does not stop. It's insane. Um, and I just say, here, it you you might get like four cars at the stop sign in front of you, and and you know, just think of all of the time back. And you know, I I have to remind myself that sometimes when it would take two cycles to get through a traffic light, and I just think, oh man, it's this is so much better than what it could be.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, from the big busy city where everyone's go, go, go. But if people like big city cities, we have Indianapolis, we have Fort Wayne, even South Bend can be big, but we also can go to Chicago right up the road if you want that big city living, but you can then come back home into a comfortable setting where you're not always stuck in traffic.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and I love that we have the South Shore that you could just take over if you really don't want to even drive, you kind of land right downtown and and can take it from there. So absolutely. Well, I'm just thinking, as you mentioned, manufacturing, you know, is the is there other industries that you kind of you know try to work with? Obviously, as you said, we're a manufacturing state, but we also have a lot else going. Medical is one of our biggest things in St. Joe County. That is our number one employer, is um healthcare and we probably throughout the state.
SPEAKER_01We partner with them. Uh we're actually partnering with IU for their new facility in Fort Wayne, so we can start staffing their pipeline for that new building they're building for all positions. Um, even state troopers, we're partnering with the state police department to find out if we can get a quicker path where if even if they were in the military as a police officer or cop, how can it translate to a quicker conversion into state police? Um so we have police officers, medical, you know, linemen work. I just met a connection that you just made with me uh for AEP for lineman work, you know, um schools. We get people into education if they're teachers. I actually just partnered with ESS. They're part of the Pen Harris Madison and the Goshen schoolings and for substitutes andor full-time positions. So it is, it's a wide spectrum. And we will partner with anyone. Oh, biofarm. Uh, we're doing cohorts now to get them in people into the biopharmacy world. Um, and orthoworks. We are partnered with OrthoWorks down there in Fort Wayne or Warsaw area. I get them all mixed up sometimes. But yeah, it's definitely any company that's interested, we're interested in having a conversation with them as well. And how do they find you?
SPEAKER_02How you know someone's listening to this and they're kind of like, how do how's the best way to get a hold of Victoria?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so if you're local to my region, uh emailing me at Victoria at Invets.org. Um, that's the quick way, or you can obviously call me 325-370-6466. But um, either way, you can even just go to Invets.org, our website, and go to contact us and Jeremy, our IT guy, will get all of those responses through those contact us requests and he will push them out to the right region. So if you're in Indianapolis listening to this, he'll connect you with Braden. You know, if they're up here north, they'll connect you with me. If you're in Evansville, they'll connect you with Chaz, just so we can have that conversation.
SPEAKER_02Wow. So if we have a you know a veteran that's listening to this, what what advice would you give them?
SPEAKER_01I would give them the advice of don't do it alone. You know, reach out to your veteran community because someone can help you. We focus on transitioning of the of a five year window. However, even if you reached out to me, I can get you into the right direction of resources that can help you, whether it's Workforce One or DWD or you know, the VA. Or a VSO, we are here to help in any way. Whether you're a veteran, a spouse, you know, um a spouse that lost their uh their uh significant other in war and after the fact, um, but we are here to help in any way that we can.
SPEAKER_02So looking ahead, there's just a lot of conversation about workforce. You know, what what do you see for NVETs and and the veteran workforce strategy?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so right now we we partner with you know over 600 companies statewide, you know, different levels of partnership, but I feel that that is only gonna continue to grow. And veteran and spouse interest in Indiana is only gonna continue to grow. So having the real connection and companies interacting with us and open to having a conversation with our veteran for the positions they want to apply to is only gonna be a win-win on both sides. You're gonna get a great employee, and an em a veteran is gonna get a great position and a great employer to work for.
SPEAKER_02Wow. Thank you for your service. Thank you for what you're doing for veterans in our state and across the country. Really appreciate you taking the time to be here today with us, Victoria.
SPEAKER_01Yes, thank you so much for having me.
SPEAKER_00To learn more about the South Bend Regional Chamber and explore our interactive data dashboard where local economic and labor market data comes alive, visit sbrchamber.com. A special thank you to our sponsor, Old National Bank, where relationships and results matter. Discover what Old National Bank can do for you at OldNational.com.