Starting Nov. 3, Pennsylvania veterans searching for a job will have a strong resource available to them: limited free lodging at Hilton hotels. Veterans who enter the program will receive 100,000 Hilton Honors Points each year, which can be used for roughly three to five nights in a hotel, depending on the brand they choose. For job seekers, this may be a big boon.
The Morning Call newspaper reported that veterans may qualify if they are currently looking for a new job, attending job-related training or are searching for housing while transferring to a new location. If accepted, the benefits also translate to the immediate families of veterans.
This program is the result of a collaboration between the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, Hilton Hotels and the National Guard. According to Julia Hearthway, DLI secretary, there is no cost to Pennsylvania for the program.
Thanks to careful planning, veterans can access their Hilton Honors Points through Pennsylvania's CareerLink system that has a number of centers around the state. Each one generally serves as a hub of career information and resources available to Pennsylvania residents, but veterans can access them to have their information verified and their Honors Points bestowed.
"We are always looking at ways that we can assist, and we're particularly looking at those ways that maybe we can do it and it's cost effective," Hearthway said. "We've been examining numerous different veterans programs to add to the portfolio of services we have, and we ran across this program from Hilton and thought, 'What a wonderful idea.'"
The conundrum many job seekers run into is that it often costs money to find a job. If your funds are low or you're plain broke, the search can become much harder. Typical job-search costs include paper and ink to print resumes, travel expenses to attend job fairs and interviews, clothing expenses to present work-appropriate attire and, of course, lodging if travel is required.
Unfortunately, there aren't many programs that help job seekers alleviate their costs until new employment is found. In certain cases, the expenses of a job search can contribute to a tax write-off, but the IRS provides strict guidelines for this to occur.
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