Microsoft is continuing its efforts to help returning soldiers with the Elevate American Veterans Initiative, through which the tech giant offers several opportunities to help veterans transition back to civilian life. First, the company is actively hiring veterans who have learned technical skills while serving in the military. Although many are trained and certified on Microsoft products, the real strength of the new hires is their relationship to the military branch in which they served. Microsoft sees their role as sales and marketing techs who can sell products and services back to their respective branches. Returning veterans who haven't developed technical skills have an opportunity to get certified and then some. This year Microsoft is donating $8 million in cash, software, and services to returning veterans and their spouses for technology training, job placement, career counseling, childcare, transportation and even housing. The program is scheduled to run two years and has partnered with six providers to properly distribute money and services. Microsoft has also just launched WeStillServe, a platform that connects members to Microsoft's employee-veterans to help match their skills to available positions. Resources include:

• Live chats with Microsoft employees who've also served and can act as advocates.
• Integration with Microsoft social media communities to better teach veterans about targeting their job search.
• Tools to directly map military occupations to available Microsoft positions.

 -- Dino Londis