Here’s a staggering statistic: According to the House Committee on Veteran’s Affairs, there are nearly one million unemployed military veterans in the United States. For some veteran groups, unemployment is more than 20% higher than the national unemployment average. At the same time, it’s estimated that nearly 90% of new startups will increase their headcount this year, but will have trouble finding the workers they need to do so.
How are our soldiers – men and women who have made extraordinary sacrifices and who’ve received some of the most sophisticated leadership training and experience available – not return home to the job security and stability for which we’ve led them to believe they’re fighting for? And how are small businesses still struggling to find good talent when it appears to be so abundant?
As Americans, we have to be disheartened by these stats, but it would be foolish to believe that we could fix the problem simply by plugging all the hiring holes with veterans. Small businesses require specific talent, while vets often want the kind of stability that many startups are not in position to offer.
When I realized that these statistics were so high, I began to think about all of the many benefits there are to hiring our military veterans. Over the weekend, we posed the question on our social media accounts “What are some of the benefits of hiring veterans” – And the answers tweeted were abundant. Here are the top answers that we received.
Veterans come from a culture focused on mission accomplishment.
Very few cultures have been engineered similar to the environment that military veterans have been a part of and even fewer, focus entirely on mission achievement, cooperation and personal development. The fact is that there is no other culture in the world that shapes people quite like the way the United States military does.
Veterans have ingrained leadership talents
The average age of a Marine is 19. As early as age 20, many Marines become non-commissioned officers who are placed in leadership positions. As one advances through the military’s ranks, the burden of leadership becomes greater and greater, but so does their understanding of leadership. As your small business grows, a veteran is more capable to handle that growth and the future leadership you will need to place on them.
Veterans take their responsibilities seriously
Military vets understand responsibility because when they were very young in their careers, there were serious consequences to the decisions that they made,” wrote retired Marine Sergeant Davis in a recent Business Insider report. Veterans have passed through trials that most people haven’t, ensuring that they are responsible individuals who can successfully carry out their duties, even when confronted with difficult circumstances.
As an employer, your goal is first and foremost to find a solid employee that you can count on. Someone that you can trust will take their responsibilities seriously, and follow through every time. These characteristics are found in our U.S. military vets.
Intuition is a trained skill that the military teaches
What many people think is that leaders are born. Not in the military. The fact is that many people in military are faced with making life and death decisions in the blink of an eye. Military personnel have been trained to absorb as much information as possible from a variety of sources — so as to always choose the best options available to them.
Veterans are independent and extremely capable
“When given a proper framework and adequate training, veterans will amaze you at how hard they can work and what they can get done,” Davis writes. They are more likely than other demographic groups to start their own businesses, and possess a resourcefulness that can help companies grow quickly from the inside. The fact is, because of this training, a vet can take on tasks and responsibilities and run with them – Going above and beyond your own expectations because they expect so much from themselves.
Military personnel know the meaning of hard work
“When on deployment we also work every day. Every single day. There are no holidays, no weekends, no birthdays. It is the same thing every day,” notes Davis.
Think about that. Working every single day takes a special type of man or woman. What’s a 40-50 hour week to someone with that type of experience?
How Can Organizations Find, Connect, and Hire Veterans
Perhaps the biggest problem is not convincing employers of the value of hiring veterans, but equipping them with the strategies for finding and hiring veterans.
“It’s not simply a matter of posting a notice that you’re hiring veterans,” said Russ Hovendick, a strong advocate who works with transitioning veterans and the founder of Directional Motivation, a career-transition site. “Transitioning veterans, in general, are skeptical, and every organization is suspect until they prove themselves.”
The first step is making an organization-wide commitment to hiring and retaining veterans. From the top to bottom, and across all departments, a commitment to employing veterans must be ingrained into the culture of your organization, and often, hiring managers and HR staff need to be trained on the details of hiring veterans.
How do you build trust? Become — and state that you are — a veteran-friendly employer. Use your organization’s website to showcase your commitment to veterans. Create a section dedicated to veterans. Share your vision and commitment, tell success stories, and showcase that the organization welcomes and actively recruits veterans. Here’s a great example from Lockheed-Martin.
While we need to honor the fact that these men and women have sacrificed so much for you and I, the fact also remains that these veterans are likely the best employees you could ever hire.
If you need help locating places to find veterans who are transitioning, here are some helpful links.
U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs
Remember to mention that you’re a veteran-friendly organization, but start by becoming a veteran-friendly organization. You’ll be glad you did.
Here’s a staggering statistic: According to the House Committee on Veteran’s Affairs, there are nearly one million unemployed military veterans in the United States. For some veteran groups, unemployment is more than 20% higher than the national unemployment average. At the same time, it’s estimated that nearly 90% of new startups will increase their headcount this year, but will have trouble finding the workers they need to do so.
How are our soldiers – men and women who have made extraordinary sacrifices and who’ve received some of the most sophisticated leadership training and experience available – not return home to the job security and stability for which we’ve led them to believe they’re fighting for? And how are small businesses still struggling to find good talent when it appears to be so abundant?
As Americans, we have to be disheartened by these stats, but it would be foolish to believe that we could fix the problem simply by plugging all the hiring holes with veterans. Small businesses require specific talent, while vets often want the kind of stability that many startups are not in position to offer.
When I realized that these statistics were so high, I began to think about all of the many benefits there are to hiring our military veterans. Over the weekend, we posed the question on our social media accounts “What are some of the benefits of hiring veterans” – And the answers tweeted were abundant. Here are the top answers that we received.
Veterans come from a culture focused on mission accomplishment.
Very few cultures have been engineered similar to the environment that military veterans have been a part of and even fewer, focus entirely on mission achievement, cooperation and personal development. The fact is that there is no other culture in the world that shapes people quite like the way the United States military does.
Veterans have ingrained leadership talents
The average age of a Marine is 19. As early as age 20, many Marines become non-commissioned officers who are placed in leadership positions. As one advances through the military’s ranks, the burden of leadership becomes greater and greater, but so does their understanding of leadership. As your small business grows, a veteran is more capable to handle that growth and the future leadership you will need to place on them.
Veterans take their responsibilities seriously
Military vets understand responsibility because when they were very young in their careers, there were serious consequences to the decisions that they made,” wrote retired Marine Sergeant Davis in a recent Business Insider report. Veterans have passed through trials that most people haven’t, ensuring that they are responsible individuals who can successfully carry out their duties, even when confronted with difficult circumstances.
As an employer, your goal is first and foremost to find a solid employee that you can count on. Someone that you can trust will take their responsibilities seriously, and follow through every time. These characteristics are found in our U.S. military vets.
Intuition is a trained skill that the military teaches
What many people think is that leaders are born. Not in the military. The fact is that many people in military are faced with making life and death decisions in the blink of an eye. Military personnel have been trained to absorb as much information as possible from a variety of sources — so as to always choose the best options available to them.
Veterans are independent and extremely capable
“When given a proper framework and adequate training, veterans will amaze you at how hard they can work and what they can get done,” Davis writes. They are more likely than other demographic groups to start their own businesses, and possess a resourcefulness that can help companies grow quickly from the inside. The fact is, because of this training, a vet can take on tasks and responsibilities and run with them – Going above and beyond your own expectations because they expect so much from themselves.
Military personnel know the meaning of hard work
“When on deployment we also work every day. Every single day. There are no holidays, no weekends, no birthdays. It is the same thing every day,” notes Davis.
Think about that. Working every single day takes a special type of man or woman. What’s a 40-50 hour week to someone with that type of experience?
How Can Organizations Find, Connect, and Hire Veterans
Perhaps the biggest problem is not convincing employers of the value of hiring veterans, but equipping them with the strategies for finding and hiring veterans.
“It’s not simply a matter of posting a notice that you’re hiring veterans,” said Russ Hovendick, a strong advocate who works with transitioning veterans and the founder of Directional Motivation, a career-transition site. “Transitioning veterans, in general, are skeptical, and every organization is suspect until they prove themselves.”
The first step is making an organization-wide commitment to hiring and retaining veterans. From the top to bottom, and across all departments, a commitment to employing veterans must be ingrained into the culture of your organization, and often, hiring managers and HR staff need to be trained on the details of hiring veterans.
How do you build trust? Become — and state that you are — a veteran-friendly employer. Use your organization’s website to showcase your commitment to veterans. Create a section dedicated to veterans. Share your vision and commitment, tell success stories, and showcase that the organization welcomes and actively recruits veterans. Here’s a great example from Lockheed-Martin.
While we need to honor the fact that these men and women have sacrificed so much for you and I, the fact also remains that these veterans are likely the best employees you could ever hire.
If you need help locating places to find veterans who are transitioning, here are some helpful links.
U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs
Remember to mention that you’re a veteran-friendly organization, but start by becoming a veteran-friendly organization. You’ll be glad you did.