Hiring veterans is a great way to build a business. These brave men and women have learned skills that can be applied in the workforce and can make a huge difference when working with clients. Their leadership skills, teamwork, discipline, dedication, and work ethic make them an asset to any organization.
But hiring veterans can come with certain challenges. Veterans may have had to put their careers on hold or take a break from their education, which means they might not have the most recent experience. They could have served in an area of the military that doesn’t directly relate to the position you need filled. Even so, it’s worth going the extra mile to bring more veterans into an organization.
What to Know When Hiring Veterans
Hiring veterans is a great way to boost a company’s culture and skills, but it isn’t always easy. Veterans have a lot of experience and know how to work well in stressful situations, which can make them great in a variety of jobs. However, they also come with unique needs.
Veterans may have had experiences that make it hard for them to be around people who don’t understand what they’ve been through. They might not be used to the pace of a civilian office, or they might have trouble adapting to the corporate world. Veterans also tend to be older than most entry-level job candidates, which can make it harder for them to find positions.
Veteran Skills That Can Transfer to the Workplace
On a surface level, many military occupations don’t translate 1-1 to a civilian job. What does a machine gunner in the Army have to do with a customer service representative? It’s not always clear, but there is actually a connection.
For generations, the military has provided an exceptionally demanding work environment. Those who succeeded there did so by mastering a wide range of skills, from leadership and teamwork to motivation and adaptability. The military also emphasizes the importance of knowing your job inside-out, as well as the ability to work well with others in a high-pressure environment.
It’s true, many military jobs don’t have their counterpart in the civilian world. However, the skills developed in the military are highly transferable to any occupation or industry. The military has a knack for producing confident, highly motivated leaders, people who can take charge of a situation and make it happen. These traits make military veterans especially valuable in the business world, where leadership is often critical to success.
Moreover, military veterans are accustomed to working as part of a team, and they know how to communicate effectively with other people. This could make them excellent candidates for jobs that require a lot of interaction with others.
Why Veterans Make Great Employees
Veterans have many of the qualities employers look for in workers — they’re motivated, flexible, willing to learn, and love challenges. They also have a strong sense of duty, which makes them reliable employees. And for many companies that employ veterans, hiring military personnel is a mutually beneficial arrangement. It gives the company access to skills and experience it wouldn’t otherwise have in its workforce, while offering veterans access to job opportunities.
Veterans are often:
Highly Motivated
Because veterans have demonstrated their ability to work under pressure, they are highly motivated to succeed when they join a company. They often understand the importance of doing whatever it takes to get the job done right and on time. This can be a valuable asset when a business faces tight deadlines or other critical situations that require extra effort from employees.
Their level of motivation can also be helpful in training other employees and mentoring new hires. Mentoring is especially important for veterans because it helps them adjust to civilian life after leaving the military. It’s a way to help them cope with the transition from military to civilian life, and it helps them build new skills that they can use in their new careers.
Flexible
Veterans often possess excellent people skills; they’ve learned how to work well with others during long deployments abroad with little personal space or privacy. They understand how important it is to respect others’ cultures and customs while maintaining high standards of performance at all times.
This level of adaptability and flexibility makes veterans highly sought-after by employers, especially in the technology sector. Veterans are accustomed to working in a fast-paced environment and can easily adjust to new projects or assignments. They’re also adept at managing multiple priorities at once and meeting strict deadlines.
Willingness to Learn
Veterans have a strong desire to learn new things, which makes them ideal candidates for positions within an organization that require learning new skills or developing new processes. Veterans also have experience working in teams and can easily adjust to new environments and cultures.
This means that even when a veteran doesn’t know a certain skill, he or she can quickly learn it. Their background helps them to quickly become familiar with the company’s culture and procedures, making them ideal candidates for positions that require a lot of training or adjustment.
Love Challenges
Many veterans thrive on being challenged by difficult circumstances, because it helps them grow professionally as well as personally. Veterans who work with challenging projects often see these projects as an opportunity for personal growth, which allows them to improve their skill-sets even further while performing their duties at work. This can make them extremely valuable employees who take on more responsibility over time.
Companies can benefit from this by offering challenging projects to veterans and encouraging them to take on more responsibility within the company. This allows veterans to expand their skills while helping companies save money by hiring fewer employees.
Team Players
Veterans are trained to work as part of a team, which means that they have a strong sense of loyalty, dedication and respect for others. Veterans often enjoy working on projects with other people, because it allows them to learn from their teammates while also working together toward a common goal. They can bring this same mindset into the workplace, which helps them build strong relationships with coworkers.
That means that any business employing veterans can expect to have a more cohesive, productive team that’s willing to go the extra mile for the company. They’ll be more likely to take ownership of projects and responsibilities, which can help reduce turnover rates. This is especially important for small businesses that may not have the resources to hire additional staff members when they need them.
Are There Any Obstacles to Hiring Veterans?
It’s not always easy to actually find veterans to hire. Sitting around and waiting for them to apply is seldom a good strategy. Organizations need to put themselves out there, be proactive, and actively seek veterans who might be right for the job.
That starts by showing a commitment to hiring top quality talent and being vocal about it. It’s also important to fully understand what veterans bring to the table and how they can be used in the organization as a whole.
The things to keep in mind at this stage are:
- Veterans are a huge untapped resource.
- There are many ways to recruit veterans, and not all of them involve military treatment facilities.
- Organizations need to be proactive about hiring veterans, and they must use multiple methods to succeed.
- Recruiting veterans is not a one-size-fits-all solution; different veterans will bring different skill sets to the table.
Start by using local job boards and social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Offer flexible scheduling for veterans who may be transitioning from military life or have other obligations outside of work hours that may prevent them from working traditional office hours. Consider offering work-from-home opportunities if it makes things easier on them.
The U.S. Department of Defense does offer a Skillbridge program to help place veterans after their military service ends. Companies can interface with Skillbridge to identify qualified candidates and connect with the veteran. The Veterans Affairs Department also has a program called Hire Heroes USA that matches veterans with employers looking for military talent.
How to Bring Veterans Into the Workplace
A key takeaway from this should be that veterans are capable of great things and can be assets to any organization. They aren’t necessarily looking for handouts or give-backs; they simply want to be given a fair chance.
By making the extra effort to recruit, hire, and train veteran talent, companies can reduce their turnover rates and increase quality among their employees. Since this is in everyone’s best interests, it’s worth putting in the extra work and taking the first step toward honoring veterans through better hiring processes.
That can mean offering:
- A veteran-friendly benefits package, including health and dental insurance
- A flexible work schedule
- Training in their chosen field of expertise, and a mentor for their first year
- A clear path to promotion or advancement
- The opportunity to work with other veterans, which can be beneficial for both parties
Resourcing Edge has always taken a special interest in promoting the hiring of veteran talent and has worked with clients to develop veteran-friendly hiring practices. Contact one of our experts today to learn more about how any business organization can support military veterans and their families.
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