recruitDC - Military Hiring Panel Case Study A local Washington DC based company would like to launch a military hiring program. The company currently has up to 15 veterans working with the company in high level management roles and they have influence over the company’s operations. The positions that they would like to hire the veterans for in particular are operations and management. There is no set target of the number of veterans that they will be hiring. Some of their key questions are and the panelists answers:

What boards or services should we look at for advertising our positions - both free and with cost?

Chrissa:

I don't use a lot of websites to post jobs for vets but I do use some- sometimes Recruit Military http://recruitmilitary.com/employers but mostly I will post jobs in Military/Veteran targeted groups in LinkedIn. I find LinkedIn to be my best resource, Veterans and transitioning Military will see my profile and connect with me regardless of their field because I show I work with military people. If you set up a profile for one or 2 of your recruiters and just have them show some focus on military they will see an increase in vets connecting with them.

Also Military Spouses should be looked at as a candidate pool as they are more often than not the final decision maker for a job acceptance. If you show that you support Military Spouses that is a good selling point. Military Spouse Employment Partnership https://msepjobs.militaryonesource.mil/ is a group you can join, they have a career portal and you get emails about all the job fairs on the military bases around the US and outside.

Brenden:

I’m not sure job boards are the way to go. In fact, it may be better to invest in search engine optimization than to spend money on job boards. If job boards are in fact the direction you take, both CareerBuilder and Monster have targeted veteran programs. LinkedIn veteran groups a also a great resource, as is Military.com. Just like any other recruiting initiative, posting jobs isn’t enough. Be part of the community and the results will follow.

Mike:

Leverage the LinkedIn groups, GI Jobs, and local military newspapers.

What are the groups we should reach out to, to partner with and what level of involvement should we have with them?

Chrissa:

My other huge resource is Veteran Hiring Events, that is where I meet most of my Vets. Recruit Military also has those, so does MOAA, and Corporate Gray- with Carl Savino is good and he will invite you to smaller events too. We just went to the Westpoint Alumni Job Fair a few months ago that was

invitation only from Carl. When you are at these events you can really promote the awareness too and if you have Military Programs your company does this a good time to show that off. Examples- Veterans Day is celebrated at Living Social in some way, I send out Thank you cards to our Vets; Or you could send care packages to current military that are overseas 2x a year or something...things like that appeal to them. Also Military Spouses- that is a huge one- they are more often than not the final decision maker for a job acceptance. If you show that you support Military Spouses that is a good selling point. Military Spouse Employment Partnership https://msepjobs.militaryonesource.mil/ is a group you can join, they have a career portal and you get emails about all the job fairs on the military bases around the US and outside.

Brenden:

Find your local military installations and partner with the Transition Assistance Programs (TAP). You many even have an opportunity to speak at some of their transition training events. Wounded Warrior has a great outreach program as well. The level of involvement/partnership depends on your level of commitment and the return on that commitment.

Mike:

You need to partner with the local Transition Centers on the bases, MOAA, SACC, Veteran Organizations, and American Legion

How do we engage?

Chrissa:

I find LinkedIn to be my best resource, Veterans and transitioning Military will see my profile and connect with me regardless of their field because I show I work with military people. If you set up a profile for one or 2 of your recruiters and just have them show some focus on military they will see an increase in vets connecting with them. Also have someone connect with Milly Strodtman of Military Matters, she will blast out your jobs to her huge network of Vets.

Brenden:

Get out there with other veterans if you can. They can relate. If you don’t have other veterans, get out there anyway. Talk with everyone. Let the community know you are interested in veterans as a valuable candidate resource and you value the traits and skills veterans possess. You’ll find a welcome community willing to put you in touch with the right people.

Mike:

Research, network, connect, maintain contact

What types of things should we be asking of current vets in our organization?

Chrissa:

Veterans can be a big help in supporting your networking with their community and to help train you in better understanding the military culture and resume. They should be part of a mentoring program and outreach.

Brenden:

You should be asking them to participate in career fairs and veteran recruiting events. You should be asking them to partner with new veterans to assist in the transition. They are ambassadors to the veteran community for your organization and will be trusted and respected because of their prior service. They have valuable knowledge of making the transition successfully to the civilian workforce and this will greatly assist your veteran hires.

Mike:

Ask them to be involved with veteran networking and mentorship

Other Best Practices?

Chrissa:

Once you get some of these things in place you should promote it on your website and show that you are Veteran friendly. My company is small so I am still working on getting the website integrated into the Veteran hiring more but companies like Amazon http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=2895924011 have a separates site dedicated to Veteran hiring, it highlights their veterans and talks about what they have to offer a veteran. One of the most important things is to work with your hiring staff on not discounting a Veteran resume because they don't understand it. Veterans speak military and a lot of times their resumes are still in military speak and it doesn't make sense to a civilian. Take the time to understand what the resume actually says, Google is a good source as well as Career One Stop- they have a page that translate Military Jobs into Civilian Occupations http://careeronestop.org/militarytransition/ . Veterans are still figuring out social media, they weren't really allowed to use it until recently so I wouldn't put too much focus on Twitter or Facebook to start. LinkedIn is good because they are now being told in TAP classes that LinkedIn is where the hiring managers are. TAP classes are another resource but really not going to give you much ROI (and it's free!), they just don't target transitioning military the right way.

Brenden:

Provide training to both your recruiters and hiring managers on veterans and military resumes. This is the area of biggest disconnect because most people evaluating military resumes don’t have military experience.

Be sure your organization understands and is committed to the value of veterans. The more committed you are to the program, the greater your success. If you have leadership that doesn’t truly believe veterans can add value, it can undermine the success of the program. Onboarding is key - preferably with the support of other veterans already within your organization. If you don’t have other veterans, consider a coach or other resources to help the veteran transition. Veterans are coming from a very different environment and it’s naive to think the transition is an easy one.

Mike:

You need to invest in becoming a valued business partner with all veteran organizations as well as transitioning Service Members.

Once you get some of these things in place you should promote it on your website and show that you are Veteran friendly. My company is small so I am still working on getting the website integrated into the Veteran hiring more but companies like Amazon http://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=2895924011 have a separates site dedicated to Veteran hiring, it highlights their veterans and talks about what they have to offer a veteran. One of the most important things is to work with your hiring staff on not discounting a Veteran resume because they don't understand it. Veterans speak military and a lot of times their resumes are still in military speak and it doesn't make sense to a civilian. Take the time to understand what the resume actually says, Google is a good source as well as Career One Stop- they have a page that translate Military Jobs into Civilian Occupations http://careeronestop.org/militarytransition/ . Veterans are still figuring out social media, they weren't really allowed to use it until recently so I wouldn't put too much focus on Twitter or Facebook to start. LinkedIn is good because they are now being told in TAP classes that LinkedIn is where the hiring managers are. TAP classes are another resource but really not going to give you much ROI (and it's free!), they just don't target transitioning military the right way.