Last modified: Friday, July 6, 2007 1:45 AM EDT Employers want veterans BY MICHAEL GELBWASSER SUN CHRONICLE STAFF FOXBORO - The Proud are looking to be the Employed. An upcoming career fair at Gillette Stadium will target local veterans and their spouses looking for a few well-paying jobs. The free RecruitMilitary Career Fair will run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday in the Fidelity Investments Clubhouse in the Northeast Lounge of the Route 1 stadium. About 400 to 600 veterans and military spouses and 25 to 30 employers are expected for the job fair. The event is being produced by RecruitMilitary, the only nationwide, full-service, military-to-civilian recruiting firm, in cooperation with HireVetsFirst, a unit of the U.S. Department of Labor and the American Legion. It's the first military career fair that RecruitMilitary has done in the Boston area, Senior Vice President Larry Slagel said. The firm runs 45 of the job fairs across the country. About 200,000 veterans transition from active duty annually, Slagel said, and almost all of them enter the workforce. But there's no easy way for employers to find veterans to hire, he said. "It's really hard to put an ad in the paper," Slagel said. "Companies need to go and physically find them." Slagel said "a lot of companies are looking to hire people with those intangibles" that come with military service, such as leadership. Slagel expects interviews to occur during the fair. The salary range for most of the jobs is $30,000 to $85,000. About one third of the jobs are in and around Boston, Slagel said. Another third are in New England. And another third are national positions. RecruitMilitary surveys show that about 15 to 20 percent of the attendees receive a follow-up interview and a job offer, Slagel said. "We have companies that go to these things and hire five to seven people," he said.