Wounded vets' training center gets software

A new career development initiative to help combat-wounded and disabled veterans acquire information technology skills has received an in-kind donation of $50,000 worth of training software.

WebSurveyor, a provider of online survey software for businesses based in Herndon, Va., donated the training materials to the Veterans Business Training Center, the company announced today.

Through the Internet and Web-based technology, the center provides online job training and placement for disabled and combat-wounded veterans. The goal is to train qualified veterans for high-demand IT careers that offer long-term job opportunities in government or the private sector. The course work takes advantage of their military training and refocuses their skills for the IT industry.

Accredited by Northern Virginia Community College, the training takes 600 hours -- eight hours per day, five days a week for 15 weeks. Trainees follow a detailed curriculum and attend virtual classroom discussions. At the completion of the program, the center certifies each veteran.

“Online surveys have become an integral part of any marketing, human resources or customer relationship management initiatives, said Jeff Beardsley, WebSurveyor general manager, said in a statement. “Thousands of businesses, nonprofit and government organizations are using them to reach their strategic goals. The veterans trained on this software will be a valuable asset to any company as they reenter the workforce.”

“Retraining veterans to work in both the private and public sector is a top priority of our organization,” said Richard Gallant, executive director of the Purple Heart Service Foundation, which oversees the program and has provided services to veterans and their families for more than 45 years.