City of Virginia Beach Wins Two Workforce Awards

Outstanding initiatives for interns and veterans are recognized by outside organizations

The City of Virginia Beach is a great place to work, especially for veterans and interns. This was reaffirmed recently when the City received two awards for outstanding efforts in internship and veteran workforce initiatives. 

“We want students and veterans to know the variety of occupations and opportunities they can pursue as part of our workforce,” said Monica Kopin, the City’s director of Human Resources for Talent Acquisition and Workforce Development. “These members bring energy and experience from their education and military service that help us move forward. We’re honored to have them as part of our organization and will continue to make these hiring initiatives a priority.”

VETS Indexes Recognized Employer 

For the first time, the City of Virginia Beach has earned the designation of VETS Indexes Recognized Employer in the 2024 VETS Indexes Employer Awards. This highly coveted award recognizes the City’s commitment to recruiting, hiring, retaining, developing and supporting veterans and the military-connected community.   

“Competition for the VETS Indexes Employer Awards was tougher than ever in 2024, as a record number of organizations participated. Even with hundreds of employers in the running, City of Virginia Beach demonstrated a strong dedication to veteran employment,” said George Altman president of VETS Indexes. 

This recognition program analyzes employers’ policies, practices and outcomes in detail, across five categories:  

Veteran job candidate recruiting and hiring 
Veteran employee development and retention 
Veteran-inclusive policies and culture 
Support for members of the National Guard and Reserves 
Military spouse/family support

The City currently has two active SkillBridge interns transitioning from active-duty Navy assignments. Two additional individuals recently completed their SkillBridge internships, one with the Information Technology Department and another with the Fire Department.

Top Employers for Interns Award 

For the second year in a row, the City of Virginia Beach is a recipient of the Top Employers for Interns Award from the Virginia Talent + Opportunity Partnership (V-TOP) and 757 Regional Internship Collaborative, Region 5. The annual award recognizes Virginia employers who provide high-quality internships to students.  

V-TOP is administered by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia in partnership with the Virginia Chamber of Commerce Foundation and the Virginia Business Higher Education Council.

More than 25 interns will explore occupations in the City by working with the City of Virginia Beach this summer. Human Resources, Information Technology, Public Works, Public Utilities, Emergency Management, Fire and Agriculture are among the departments employing students from Old Dominion University, Tidewater Community College, Virginia Tech, James Madison University, University of Virginia and many other colleges and universities.

In 2023, the City offered paid internships to more than 20 students across the spring, summer and fall semesters and hopes to double that number by the end of 2024.