In 2010, Landon McNaspy (and his twin brother) decided to join the Army. His father served in the Army during the Gulf War, his maternal grandfather served in the Navy during the Cold War era and great grandfather was an Army Engineer during World War II.
Along with keeping up the family tradition, Landon was drawn to the military because he feels it is an honor to serve his country. He also wanted to be an engineer like his father, and the education benefits from serving in the Army made that possible. Now, Nouryon gets to benefit from Landon’s education and military training after he joined our company in early July as a Logistics Specialist at our integrated services office in Houston, Texas (US).
Landon believes the skills he learned while in the Army will help him to be successful in his new role at Nouryon. “Serving in the military helps individuals to develop initiative, drive, work ethic and critical thinking skills, and also prepares them to be coachable. If a soldier allows it, the Army will push them to limits they could never imagine and their growth capacity is enormous,” says Landon. “With my role at Nouryon, my job is to make sure product is shipped and moved to the right destination to satisfy the customer – but it’s not that easy. In logistics, there are always issues in between and the challenge is making sure we as a team find common sense solutions to problems along the way. The Army helped me develop the skills to solve those complex problems fast and accurately.”
When Landon saw the job listing for the logistics position on LinkedIn, he was interested right away. A former colleague tagged him in a post on our Military Veteran Mentoring program shared on LinkedIn by Jennifer Podolak, Senior Talent Resourcing Partner at Nouryon.
“The skills that they receive during training in the military, their work ethic, organization and attention to detail make them ideal candidates for a number of positions within the organization. As part of Nouryon’s diversity and inclusion efforts, we are starting to find ways to recruit military veterans by using veteran-focused organizations and taking advantage of recruitment tools like LinkedIn,” said Podolak.
Nouryon is putting more of a focus on recruiting military veterans as part of our new Veteran Network Program, launched by Project Manager and Retired Navy Captain John Callaway.
In addition to our recruiting efforts, the Veteran Network initiative includes a Veteran Mentoring program that launched in May. The mentoring program connects young military veterans on the team with more seasoned employees who share their experiences to help our new colleagues transition into their roles.
Landon is looking forward to a long career at Nouryon. “Programs like this are huge for transitioning service members and veterans who have been out of the service for a while, like me. It gives you a sense of place and a warm welcome. Many service members go from a high position in the service, where they have purpose, respect etc., to a civilian job where they are just a number in the system. When I started at my first job out of the military, I went from a middle management position in the Army as a Sergeant to an entry level position. What helped me was having a lot of other veterans in the office who I could talk to and connect,” said Landon.
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