By Diana Clendenin, Senior HR Consultant
The City of College Station received an Employee Services Award from the Texas Veterans Commission on Friday for its commitment to effective veteran employment initiatives. The city employs 125 veterans or reservists, comprising over 13% of its workforce.
The award was presented in a ceremony at the Hilton. City Manager Bryan Woods, Senior Generalist Diana Clendenin, Generalist Traci Perez, Recruiter Johnathan Baird, and city council members Dennis Maloney, Mark Smith, and William Wright accepted the award on behalf of the city.
| Representation by Service Branch | Representation by Department (% of veterans employed by city) |
| Army: 45% | Police: 36% |
| Marines: 25% | Fire: 14% |
| Navy: 14% | Electric: 12% |
| Air Force: 6% | Public Works: 12% |
| National Guard: 6% | Water Services: 9% |
| Coast Guard: 3% | Parks: 7% |
| Texas Guard: 1% | IT: 4% |
| Fiscal: 3% | |
| Planning & Development: 2% | |
| City Manager’s Office: 1% | |
| Human Resources: 1% |
The city’s efforts to recruit, select, and retain veterans and reservists:
| Attend veteran-focused job fairs through the Texas Veterans Commission/Texas Workforce. |
| Create veteran-specific recruiting materials distributed to local, regional, and national veteran agencies. |
| Extensive outreach to veteran groups through social media platforms. |
| Highlight veteran employees on the city’s cable television channel. |
| Share our veteran/reservist-focused benefits through our employee assistance program and benefit providers Blue Cross Blue Shield and Cigna. |
| Recognize veterans through employee events such as the Veterans Day picnic. Present all city employees with a commemorative pin recognizing their service or support of our veterans and reservists. |
The state has also recognized us as a “We Hire Vets” employer since 2018. The program recognizes employers for their commitment to hiring veterans. We are immensely proud of our employees who have served our country and are serving the residents of College Station.
About the Blogger
Senior HR Consultant Diana Clendenin PHR has been with the city since 2015. Before that, she was an employee relations administrator at Penncro Associations and a human resources representative at Mayfield Paper. Clendenin earned bachelor’s degrees from St. Andrews Presbyterian and Georgia State and is working on a master’s in public administration at Tarleton State.
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