Posted on Mar 22, 2022
3 Big Reasons Why Organizations Should Hire Veterans
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"What our servicemen and women want, more than anything else, is the assurance of satisfactory employment upon their return to civil life. The first task after the war is to provide employment for them and for our demobilized workers… The goal after the war should be the maximum utilization of our human and material resources... We must make provision now to help our returning service men and women bridge the gap from war to peace activity. When the war is over, our men and women in the Armed Forces will be eager to rejoin their families, get a job, or continue their education and to pick up the threads of their former lives."
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Message to Congress, November 23, 1943
Much like the case at the end of World War II, our nation is the current recipient of large numbers of trained members of the military departing their final duty station (~200,000 every year) following conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The experience and skills these veterans bring with them are precisely what today’s organizations seek in experienced hires. But not nearly enough are taking advantage of the opportunity. Why should they? Here are three critical reasons they might consider:
1. Veteran employment is critical to both the national economy and the country overall. Although veterans make up only ~8 percent of the nation’s adult population and just over 6 percent of the civilian labor pool, they have an outsized influence over the future of the country’s all-volunteer force that defends our freedom, protects our liberty, and enables capitalism to thrive. If military service is not seen as providing a gateway to successful civilian careers, future participants in the nation’s all-volunteer military may be dissuaded from serving. It is thus a matter of national security: “The success of veterans after service, and the positive perception of veterans as assets to their employers and communities, is vital to the success of our military.”
2. Even more directly, the Department of Defense (DoD) must pay Unemployment Insurance for Ex-Servicemembers (UCX) to states whose veterans are not employed. These funds, whose amounts have varied from $300-900+ Billion in recent years, subtract from DoD’s operating budget and thereby sacrifice funds that could otherwise be spent on our common defense. Bottom line: everyone wins when you hire veterans.
3. Skilled, sufficiently educated labor with a superior work ethic is routinely cited by most organizations as one of their most needed resources – and one they routinely find in inadequate supply. Veterans of the United States armed forces have the skills, training, character, and work ethic that most organizations overwhelmingly desire. In fact, veterans are perhaps one of the most valuable components of an organization’s diversity and inclusion efforts. Not only do they emanate from an already diverse talent pool (40% of active duty service members come from racial and ethnic minority groups), they bring a bevy of transferable skills and are readily available. With more than 200,000 of them matriculating from the military annually, they represent an ongoing just-in-time talent play. And their impact is palpable. Cumulative Gallup Workplace Studies uncovered a 22% increase in productivity at organizations that create inclusive environments that include veterans.
About me: Matthew J. Louis is the President of Purepost, Inc. and the author of the HarperCollins book Mission Transition: Navigating the Opportunities and Obstacles of Your Post-Military Career, a practical guide for veterans and service members in career transition. Louis holds an MBA in operations and finance from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University and a BS in mechanical engineering from West Point. He is a graduate of the US Army Command and General Staff College. Louis served in the Southwest Asia combat theater and on the staff of the US Army’s Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations. He is a retired Lieutenant Colonel.
Attribution:
The public papers and addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt. 1943 volume, The tide turns: compiled with special material and explanatory notes by Samuel I. Rosenman, “Message to Congress,” November 23, 1943, 523-528, accessed August 17, 2018, https://rly.pt/3N9v7WC
Call of Duty Endowment and ZipRecruiter, “Challenges on the Home Front: Underemployment Hits Veterans Hard,” accessed February 26, 2019. https://rly.pt/3L903o3
Nathan D. Ainspan and Kristin N. Saboe, Military Veteran Employment: A Guide for the Data-Driven Leader (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2021), 2.
Mark Kaplan and Mason Donovan, The Inclusion Dividend: Why Investing in Diversity & Inclusion Pays Off (Brookline, MA: Bibliomotion, Inc., 2013), 37.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Message to Congress, November 23, 1943
Much like the case at the end of World War II, our nation is the current recipient of large numbers of trained members of the military departing their final duty station (~200,000 every year) following conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. The experience and skills these veterans bring with them are precisely what today’s organizations seek in experienced hires. But not nearly enough are taking advantage of the opportunity. Why should they? Here are three critical reasons they might consider:
1. Veteran employment is critical to both the national economy and the country overall. Although veterans make up only ~8 percent of the nation’s adult population and just over 6 percent of the civilian labor pool, they have an outsized influence over the future of the country’s all-volunteer force that defends our freedom, protects our liberty, and enables capitalism to thrive. If military service is not seen as providing a gateway to successful civilian careers, future participants in the nation’s all-volunteer military may be dissuaded from serving. It is thus a matter of national security: “The success of veterans after service, and the positive perception of veterans as assets to their employers and communities, is vital to the success of our military.”
2. Even more directly, the Department of Defense (DoD) must pay Unemployment Insurance for Ex-Servicemembers (UCX) to states whose veterans are not employed. These funds, whose amounts have varied from $300-900+ Billion in recent years, subtract from DoD’s operating budget and thereby sacrifice funds that could otherwise be spent on our common defense. Bottom line: everyone wins when you hire veterans.
3. Skilled, sufficiently educated labor with a superior work ethic is routinely cited by most organizations as one of their most needed resources – and one they routinely find in inadequate supply. Veterans of the United States armed forces have the skills, training, character, and work ethic that most organizations overwhelmingly desire. In fact, veterans are perhaps one of the most valuable components of an organization’s diversity and inclusion efforts. Not only do they emanate from an already diverse talent pool (40% of active duty service members come from racial and ethnic minority groups), they bring a bevy of transferable skills and are readily available. With more than 200,000 of them matriculating from the military annually, they represent an ongoing just-in-time talent play. And their impact is palpable. Cumulative Gallup Workplace Studies uncovered a 22% increase in productivity at organizations that create inclusive environments that include veterans.
About me: Matthew J. Louis is the President of Purepost, Inc. and the author of the HarperCollins book Mission Transition: Navigating the Opportunities and Obstacles of Your Post-Military Career, a practical guide for veterans and service members in career transition. Louis holds an MBA in operations and finance from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University and a BS in mechanical engineering from West Point. He is a graduate of the US Army Command and General Staff College. Louis served in the Southwest Asia combat theater and on the staff of the US Army’s Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations. He is a retired Lieutenant Colonel.
Attribution:
The public papers and addresses of Franklin D. Roosevelt. 1943 volume, The tide turns: compiled with special material and explanatory notes by Samuel I. Rosenman, “Message to Congress,” November 23, 1943, 523-528, accessed August 17, 2018, https://rly.pt/3N9v7WC
Call of Duty Endowment and ZipRecruiter, “Challenges on the Home Front: Underemployment Hits Veterans Hard,” accessed February 26, 2019. https://rly.pt/3L903o3
Nathan D. Ainspan and Kristin N. Saboe, Military Veteran Employment: A Guide for the Data-Driven Leader (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2021), 2.
Mark Kaplan and Mason Donovan, The Inclusion Dividend: Why Investing in Diversity & Inclusion Pays Off (Brookline, MA: Bibliomotion, Inc., 2013), 37.
Civilian Career
Transition
Employment
Economy
DoD
Posted 3 y ago
Responses: 8
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Preaching to the choir here, COL. As a repentant Director level HR wienie, to include Fortune 500 companies, first certified PHR in 1996, I would opine the low hanging fruit impeding veteran hiring is the Society of Human Resource Managers (SHRM). Particularly since the early '90s, as a group, they have established their prominence within companies to an equal footing with operators. They have a vision of "diversity" and "multiculturalism" that is not, to use their phraseology, " inclusive" of veterans. To be more specific, they neither train for, nor are appreciative of, the myriad transferable skills veterans have to offer and this is best represented during the hiring process. While most companies come to appreciate the qualities of their veteran employees, "getting their feet through the door" is largely through networking or serendipity. Until SHRM is brought on board, they will always remain a sticky gate in the hiring process. Which puts the onus on those veterans who DO get hired, especially at higher levels, to champion the potential of veterans.
IMHO
Yes, I'm opinionated.
BTW. 1st I've heard of #2. Like it.
IMHO
Yes, I'm opinionated.
BTW. 1st I've heard of #2. Like it.
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CPT (Join to see)
CWO4 Terrence Clark CWO4 Terrence Clark Agreed and well said. To your point, actually multiple points, about nine months after I was hired at one place and fixed/improved everything (and more) that had been tossed my way, the SHRM certified (sic) Manager sheepishly came up to me and said she had been hesitant to sign off on my hiring because she had thought that my “background” might not fit in; but, she now wanted me to know that she was glad I was on the management team. I returned serve by letting her know I was glad to be here. Presume the reason for her confession was she didn’t want someone ratting her out that she had not been onboard with me joining the team. No harm, no foul and she and I got along fine. I wasn’t a transitioning service member and my resume only included work experience in private industry. The “red flag” had been a few lines indicating that many years prior I had served in the Reserves. For sure, transitioning active duty service members face much harder unspoken biases and challenges in the hiring process and once in, climbing the ladder.
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CWO4 Terrence Clark
CPT (Join to see) I am still on SHRM's email list and have portal access. Like any organization, members are across the spectrum, but the bell curve is clearly left of center, IHMO. The present CEO, Johny C Taylor Jr. seems comfortable strengthening ties with their Chinese subsidiary, SRHM Management Consulting (Beijing) Co. and others such as Council for Global Immigration. Hmmmmmm. There are certainly some organizations that seriously seek out veterans and are to be applauded. Many more are checking boxes on the identity politics sheet. A story similar to yours: in the early 2000s Safeway was rolling out their(our) Lifestyle format which greatly increased bakery offerings. We were having a hell of a time hiring cake decorators. At the same time, residential construction had slowed way down. I championed a guy I knew from the VFW for a cake decorator position. Our hiring manager wanted to know what experience he had. He is a top drawer stucco finisher, I said. (Here we get to inability to comprehend transferable skills) I had to flex my position and go over her head and the Divisional HR Manager's head, but he got the job. And was an outstanding decorator. Smearing stuff on vertical surfaces is smearing stuff on vertical surfaces.
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CPT (Join to see)
CWO4 Terrence Clark - Yes, the spectrum varies and sad to say it does tend to lean. On the plus side, have worked with some HR superstars over the years. To recognize one, got her to gown up in a bunny suit under the pretext there was an issue in the FAB that needed immediate attention. When she arrived the entire shirt applauded and she was awarded a strap (in clear shrink wrap to ensure no clean room particle count issues) for being “the people’s champ.” As for Safeway, wife still has her club card and kudos to the team on Branham Lane in San Jose for having Elvis appear during the grand opening!
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"Mission Transition: Navigating the Opportunities and Obstacles of Your Post-Military Career" is one of the best transition guides out there. Fascinating research and great guides for success!
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I did not know number 2. Is that just recently released veterans, or people who are veterans who are on unemployment 30 years later?
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1SG Craig Dimeler
For recently honorably discharged military service members (Unemployment Compensation for Ex-service members - UCX). Each state has their own policies for payment amounts, length, qualifications, etc.
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