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The latest jobless figures show a slight drop in the nation’s unemployment rate. The rate fell from 10.2 in October to 10 percent for November, but as Whitney Ray tells us, the unemployment rate for veterans continues to soar above the national average.

First Lieutenant Adrian Smith returned from Iraq in September, eager to get a job. It became his main mission.

“Job search is like a full time job within itself, I’ve seen where someone sends tons of resumes, like 20, 30, and you get one call back,” said Smith.

Veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have an unemployment rate of 11.6 percent, well above the national average. Smith says a lack of job training and experience filling out applications and resumes haunts vets on their hunt.

“Some people don’t know that serving is experience within itself and they don’t know how to word that on a resume.”

There is help out there for those who fought bravely to defend our country. The only problem: many veterans don’t know where to turn or how to get started.

There are 91 One-Stop Career Centers in Florida, each with a staff member trained in matching veterans with state and federal assistance programs. There are also concessions for unemployed veterans seeking taxpayer funded jobs.

“Under Florida’s law public employers are required to give certain preferences to veterans in the job hiring process,” said Robby Cunningham, a spokesman with the Agency for Workforce Innovation.

Private businesses also have an incentive to hire a veteran, a tax credit of 24-hundred dollars. Employers can use the search engine on the Employ Florida Marketplace website to view resumes from unemployed veterans. The website is www.employflorida.com