Ready for duty

We hear a lot about returning veterans being out of work, but to many of us, the numbers — a 16.7 percent unemployment rate for New York veterans last year; an estimated 234,000 post-9/11 vets looking for jobs — are an abstraction.

Not to the five men and women featured below. These veterans and reservists have three things in common:

They’ve left their homes, risked their lives and sacrificed their time in the service of their country. They’ve picked up some impressive skills along the way. And now they’re looking for work post-service.

Looking to make some hires? Want someone who’s committed, resourceful, highly trained and has proven themselves under the toughest conditions? Read on. And e-mail vets@nypost.com to get in touch with any of the service members you see here; please specify their name in the subject line.

— Additional reporting by Gregory E. Miller.

Louis Corriea, 37, Newark, NJ

Branch: Marine Corps, active duty November 1998 to November 2003; reserves, November 2003 to August 2006

Rank: Corporal

Active Duty Deployment: 2001 to 2002, mobile deployment, assisting in multiple countries including Bosnia and Kosovo

Recent Work Experience: Director of training for Ginc Vision, a military training and solutions company

Dream Job: To work for a nonprofit organization that aids veterans, or head a company that does national and international logistics work

Skills: As a logistics officer running supply and relief operations — dealing with “what we call the beans, bullets and band-aids” — Corriea developed both advanced administrative skills and an ability to set priorities and work under pressure. Fluent in Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and able to read German, Corriea can work around numerous language barriers.

Why you should hire him now: Give Corriea a task, and he’ll have finished it five minutes ago. “Commitment: It’s more than just a word for us,” he says.

Corriea was responsible for bringing the first “Be A Hero, Hire A Hero” event to New Jersey, connecting more than 1,000 veterans with employers. No one asked him to do it, he just saw the task at hand and made it happen.

“My best trait is commitment: commitment to my job, commitment to my task, commitment to whatever it is I’m assigned to do,” Corriea says. “I see it to completion.”

Erik Swanson, 29, Summit, NJ

Branch: Army National Guard, September 2003 to the present

Rank: Staff sergeant

Active Duty Deployment: June 2008 to July 2009, at FOB Union 3 (Green Zone) in Baghdad, Iraq

Recent work experience: Military trainer