Veterans Affairs Acquisition Academy (VAAA)
About the Warriors to Workforce Program
The Warriors to Workforce Program (W2W) is a program that offers Veterans an opportunity to transition into a career in the federal government by applying their military skills and experiences to the federal workforce. The program focuses on transitional support, mentoring, professional development, and foundational career training activities. Interns complete the program as a cohort, fortified by a built-in support system that mirrors the team environment and camaraderie that they experienced in the military. These relationships create a foundation for a lasting professional network throughout their career.
The W2W Program is the first training and development program of its kind for transition training and direct job placement in the civil service. Our hybrid program design shortens the learning curve and provides a career roadmap for our Wounded Warriors. Program participants are hired into W2W as GS-5 federal employees and complete four main program components: Business Education, Professional Development, Peak Performance Training and Mission Service:
| Business Education | Business courses from an accredited academic institution |
| Professional Development | Foundational training focused on professional skills most sought out by employers. Participants will receive training in a range of topics to include conflict management, written and oral communication, professional conduct, time management, cultural diversity and growth mindset. |
| Peak Performance Training | Interactive workshops to strengthen teaming cultures and fine-tune critical thinking skills; uses dynamic mobile training platforms to increase memory recall, cognitive agility and mental reflex; and leverages technologies used by Olympic athletes to maximize personal performance through heartrate regulation and breathing in individualized training sessions. |
| Mission Service & Industry Experience | Throughout the program, interns participate in Mission Service events to connect with the VA’s mission and Industry Offsite trips to gain an understanding of industry partners. |
The federal contract specialist career field requires 24 hours of college business credits. The W2W Program helps Veterans obtain that positive education requirement while providing a federal job with full benefits and a rewarding professional career path in federal contracting. Once participants obtain the positive education requirement and successfully complete the W2W Program, they are converted to contract specialists on a GS-7/9 career ladder track and matriculate to the Acquisition Intern Program (AIP). W2W serves as a foundation to AIP. There, participants learn the essential technical and professional competencies for contracting professionals in an experiential learning environment with real-world work scenarios. Upon successful completion of the AIP, interns are strategically infused into the Acquisition workforce to meet the needs of federal contracting organizations throughout the country.
