Over the past few years, hiring has become incredibly difficult for many organizations. With the US unemployment rate hovering around 4 percent and widespread shortages of key technical and soft skills, many employers are struggling to make the hires they need to keep growing.
But there is a huge population of well-trained but often overlooked talent readily available to employers: veterans. More than 450,000 of them are unemployed, but they could be filling some of the more than 6 million US job vacancies.
As of last year, there are more than 20 million veterans, almost 60 percent of whom are of working age. Altogether these veterans comprise a group of highly trained, highly talented people ready and willing to help your organization achieve its goals. Here’s how.
The valuable skills of military veterans
Veterans possess a valuable collection of skills, aptitudes and training that make them especially well prepared to thrive in civilian roles of all kinds. Here are just a few of them:
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Veterans are experienced leaders and decisive thinkers.
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Veterans know the value of teamwork in achieving shared objectives.
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Veterans have a growth mentality. If they don’t have a crucial skill, they will learn it.
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Veterans believe in accountability and take their responsibilities seriously.
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Veterans are gritty and tenacious and will work tirelessly to overcome obstacles.
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Veterans are results-oriented and know how to achieve difficult objectives.
Many companies have incredibly complex hiring protocols to find people who possess just a few of these skillsets and traits, yet veterans represent a talent pool where many of these skillsets have been established by years of training and personal development.
How to find them
Like many other groups, veterans can be found online in every possible social media network but you have to know what to look for. Entelo Diversity, for instance, uses an algorithm to identify veterans online, giving you the insight to craft targeted outreach that is more likely to catch their eye.
For hundreds of years veterans have formed the backbone of the American workforce. In the modern job market, their technical skills, leadership experience and dedication make them uniquely valuable to employers looking for a leg up on the competition.
If you’re not sure where to start, consider our upcoming webinar How to Recruit and Hire Military Veterans with Patriot Boot Camp COO Josh Anderson. Josh, a veteran himself, will share the tools and tactics you can use to find, connect with, and hire talented veterans.
