The Ultimate Guide to Hiring and Recruiting Veterans

According to some reports, as of November 2021,552,000 veterans were unemployed. 

If you’re looking for ways to fill positions at your company during the Great Resignation, hiring and recruiting veterans is a great place to start. 

Military veterans could be an untapped talent pipeline for your company. However, some businesses face challenges when trying to hire military veterans. We’ve come up with a comprehensive guide to make recruiting and hiring veterans easy!

Benefits

Aside from accessing a new talent pipeline, hiring veteran job seekers can bring many benefits to your company.

Often, they’re very qualified and can prove that they have strong leadership skills or the ability to follow leadership. They also see their work as a mission and will set out to complete it in any way possible. 

Many of them can easily work on teams to get the job done. However, they can also work well on their own and can take initiative. In fact, military veterans are45% more likely to create and run their businesses.

Veterans could bring security clearances to your company. Depending on your industry, the security clearances give you a larger opportunity to win federal contracts as well.

As if all that wasn’t enough, hiring veterans can also save you money. The U.S. government offersincentives for employers when they hire qualified veterans. The government can reimburse the employers for a certain amount of the veteran’s salary, but they could also receive tax breaks.

Challenges 

Most companies and recruiters that have tried to hire veterans may have realized that it may not be as easy as some people think. 

According to onesurvey , only 13% of HR professionals were familiar with resources to help veterans find work. Even more, recruiters may be unaware of how to read a resume with military experience and find a way to place veterans in the correct position. 

Some employers are also worried about being able to cater to veterans’ physical and mental health needs. While the American Disability Act (ADA) covers many health issues veterans face, additional resources can help both veterans and HR professionals. This will help to prevent future problems in the workplace.

How to Recruit Veterans

Suppose you’ve decided that you are interested in hiring military veterans. In that case, you’ll need to take a few steps toupdate your recruiting process .

To start with, you’ll need to learn some military jargon. 

Work Through the Military Jargon

When creating job descriptions, having someone who can translate the jargon of military skills and titles can be a great benefit. If you don’t have anyone skilled in that area, you can even find tools online to help you out.

Doing this will make it easier for veteran job seekers to find your descriptions. They’llsearch for jobs related to their military skills and field, and then the search functions will pull up your position to match that description. 

If you want to take it a step further, you can even list previous military jobs that would translate well into the position you’re hiring for. Or, use military occupational codes in the job description so that it’s easy for military veterans to understand.

Once you’ve written up your job description, post it on as many military job boards as you can find.

However, you need to do more than translate the jargon in the job description. You have to practice it in interviews as well. 

In addition to translating the jargon, ask open-ended questions as well. This is a great way to have veterans show their military skills and explain how they would transfer to the new role. 

Focus on Employer Branding

To attract veterans, you’ll have to focus on your employer branding and messaging. You need to have a good reputation and brand name to attract qualified veterans who want to bring their experience to your company versus your competitors. 

One of the best ways to level up your employer branding is to focus on aspects of your company that resonate with veterans. For example, veterans are used to working in a team environment, so advertise if you have a strong team environment at your company!

Attracting veterans can also happen when you have programs at your company dedicated to improving the veteran’s experience. Veterans might need special support that other civilian hires don’t need. 

These programs will label you as a military-friendly employer. Once you start attracting a few veterans, others will realize that your company is great to work for and start applying to jobs at your business. 

When you align yourself with the veteran community, you’ll be one step closer to finding the perfect veteran hire. 

Network

It would help if you also were networking with different military groups and companies. This can help your employer branding as well. 

You could try volunteering to attend veteran functions, host job fairs, or speak for a military group. These are great opportunities to network and talk about why your business is an excellent place for veterans to work. 

If you already have veteran employees, invite them to go with you as well. It can be a good opportunity for veterans to network and meet other veterans whom they could refer to your company.

Implement a Hiring Program for Veterans

If you are dedicated to hiring previous service members, you should consider creating a hiring program in your company that is specifically for veterans. Put someone in charge who is passionate about hiring veterans, and it’s even better if they have military experience themselves. 

Many companies don’t have a program dedicated to hiring veterans. Instead, this is lumped into a diversity initiative. When that happens, it can be harder to focus on veterans, and they may not get the candidate experience they need. All of this will prohibit your growth as a company.

Instead, try creating a program for hiring veterans. If you don’t have the resources for that, you canhire specialized recruiters . You can even start by educating your HR team on how to handle military candidates. 

When everyone is on the same page, you’ll be more likely to provide veterans with a positive experience, and you’ll boost your brand’s reputation.

Learn How to Retain Veterans

Once you’ve been able to hire veterans for your company, you’ll need to retain them. You can focus on retention by creating a group for veterans that will offer them all the resources they need to thrive in their job. 

This could help because48% of surveyed veterans reported that they were worried that a non-veteran manager wouldn’t understand the military culture and background. Another 32% of veterans said that they felt like their civilian coworkers would be threatened by them. 

A veteran employee group can make sure that veterans can connect and have their military community. This will help your company because when veterans are happy in a job, they’ll refer other veterans.

Learn More About Recruiting Veterans

Hiring and recruiting veterans is challenging, especially for a business that has had no experience. But if you’re determined to grow your business and create a diverse workforce, having veterans on your team is a must.

If you’re still struggling with finding veterans for your company, we are here to help! We have specialized recruiters that can help you fill your job openings with the best candidate.

Don’t waste any time, andcontact us today !