A former vice president of Salute.com, who reported directly to Texas mogul and former presidential candidate Ross Perot, is looking for some revenue traction with a local firm that is the nation's only full-service military-to-civilian recruiting firm.

Drew Myers is the president of RecruitMilitary Inc., a Blue Ash-based firm that places veterans in job openings throughout corporate America.

Its client roster spans the gamut, too: from industrial titans to small businesses of five or fewer employees.

Other companies may flit about on military recruiting but none offer job postings exclusively for veterans to headhunting for corporations: from online products to contingency and retainer deals.

A former Marine captain assigned to artillery and recruiting units, Mr. Myers believes that a little spit-and-polish and a lot of military background is just what many companies are searching for when they seek job candidates.

Each year, more than 300,000 people separate from the Armed Forces and head out into the civilian world of work. RecruitMilitary wants to direct them toward companies that need their experience.

"My seven years on active duty absolutely convinced me that all things being equal somebody getting out of the military is head-and-shoulders above somebody who does not have that background," Mr. Myers said.

One reason why, he said, is that veterans are more experienced with creativity.

Though military training is almost always consumed with process, on a battlefield, chaos usually reigns. "Nothing ever happens like it's supposed to," he said.

So, too, with business: "Good leaders have to be extremely creative."

The company, which employs nine, has about 27,000 resumes in its database. All are veterans or soon-to-be veterans. The beauty of the Web is that now, for the first time, soldiers and sailors posted overseas can access jobs back home.

"Those vets have traditionally been at a disadvantage because they could not hop in a car and drive down to a job interview. Realistically, they could not make a lot of phone calls. But they can use a tool like ours," he said.

Oracle, L3, Cintas Corp., and General Electric are among the client companies. Another trend is the increasing number of women veterans. Of the 27,000 active job seekers in the database, about 12 percent are women.

"This is a great way to achieve diversity in the workplace," he said.

First-quarter hiring

Cincinnati area employers are likely to lag behind companies elsewhere in the United States on hiring plans for the first quarter 2003.

While 13 percent of firms surveyed by Manpower Inc. in Greater Cincinnati plan on hiring, the national outlook indicates that 20 percent of companies are going to increase their staffing.

The survey is based on interviews with 16,000 employers in 470 markets.

Hiring plans are slightly better in the northern quadrant than in the rest of Greater Cincinnati. In Butler and Warren counties, 17 percent plan to hire more people.

E-mail jeckberg@enquirer.com