When Steve Janke left the Marine Corps in 2000, he stepped off a plane in Madison and within hours was milking cows on the family farm.
He didn’t have to reckon with making a transition until 14 years later, when his family sold the herd and he needed to find a different line of work. He then spent 15 months learning the job search skills he now helps service members learn.
A mentor offered him a Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs job doing outreach to more than 80 veteran service officers throughout the state of Wisconsin.
“I went from physically shoveling manure to verbally doing it and got into government and politics,” Janke says.
It built on the strength of his networking skills and led to the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation asking him to create and lead an effort to recruit veterans and service members to the state’s workforce.
“I was everywhere talking about how we would always be there to support you,” Janke says, estimating that he spoke to more than 15,000 people in about 20 months. “So I took it a little bit personally when they ended the program and they said ‘they’ll just figure it out.’”
It led him in July 2020 to found Mission Wisconsin, a proof of concept business out of which grew Semper Forward, a private talent attraction business that serves companies willing to invest in recruiting and retaining military members, veterans and their families.
Semper Forward is uniquely positioned. It’s a model Janke believes can expand beyond Wisconsin. Semper Forward has recently partnered with Find the Good Life in North Dakota.
There are a handful of states that offer similar government-funded efforts as well as a few nonprofit agencies.
“We are not an agency; everything we do is relationship driven,” Janke says. “When we work with a partner we talk about how best to stock the pond that they’re going to fish in.”
New North, Inc. was the first partner, but he now works with major corporations such as Oshkosh, U.S. Venture, Kohler and S.C. Johnson as well as groups such as Mission Workforce Alliance, which helps connect with smaller businesses.
Janke visits military bases across the country to talk about why Wisconsin is a great place to live and work and “stock the pond.” Semper Forward Operation Officer Jen Griffis helps with marketing, scheduling and making connections for clients.
Janke says they offer wrap-around employment services (resume writing, interview prep, networking, etc.) at no cost for the military members, spouses and dependents. The business partnerships cover those costs, and clients even refer people to Semper Forward.
“Our partner companies are absolutely amazing,” Janke says.
Semper Forward’s retention consulting starts with quality hires and employee resource groups, making sure the company knows and has access to the services available to veterans.
Janke estimates they have helped 3,000 service members in four years and that has resulted in 500 new residents for a place Janke calls “the great state of Wisconsin.”
