The Atlanta Hawks and Georgia Power recently teamed up to provide career training and insight for U.S. military veterans. S.M.I.L.E. (Southern Hospitality, Make a Moment, Individuals Matter, Listen and Learn, and Empowerment) was a five-hour training session where veterans were offered career skills, job interview tips, and salary negotiations.
The Hawks and Georgia Power collaboration is apart of the “True To You Workforce Empowerment” initiative.
“We are working with Atlanta Hawks to teach veterans employability skills, how to negotiate salaries, how to interview, and how to translate their military skills into the private sector,” said Andre Person, talent acquisition recruiter at Georgia Power. “One of the key things we talk about is logistics. Are you a leader in an organization? What communication skills, leadership skills that are transferable that you can sell that to a hiring manager or company.”
Following the training session, Hawks player George Niang participated in a panel discussion moderated by play-by-play announcer Bob Rathbun.
Niang shared inspirational stories of finding success after failure.
“Sometimes you have to reinvent yourself and continue to keep growing and learning,” Niang said. “There’s constantly things that I have to do on a day-to-day basis to keep myself sharp in different aspects of life. Don’t ever be afraid to get out of your comfort zone and try new things. But also, don’t ever be too stubborn to learn new things. Because that may be your next passion. That may be your next new thing. And I think all of us here have the discipline, especially, with being in the military, to engage and continue to grow and learn new things.”
