A Salute to Veterans and Their Families

As June is quickly approaching, let’s finish celebrating May (Veterans Month) by checking out Monster‘s latest articles with tips and resources for Veterans and their families.

As businesses look to restructure and recover from the impact of the coronavirus crisis, there’s one group that’s uniquely qualified to do the job: the veteran workforce. There are so many benefits of hiring veterans and Monster.com will make it a lot easier.

Hiring veterans isn’t just good for the military—it’s good for companies who want to add talented and extremely qualified workers to their staff. Veterans of the U.S. military offer unique and diversified skill sets that make them ideal candidates.

Hiring veterans: 5 things you should know.

1. Understand basic military culture

A basic understanding of the values, structure, policies, and expectations of the military promotes a stronger working relationship between employers & employees who are veterans or family members of veterans.

When it comes to recruiting, it can be very helpful to have an existing employee veteran — if you have one — involved in the process in order to better understand and communicate with your veteran candidates. This is especially true if you plan to recruit on a military base where the number of service members you’ll interact with is higher than normal.

2. Write veteran-friendly job descriptions

Even if you’ve already written an effective job descriptions for your open position, it may need to be adjusted to attract veterans. This is especially important if the job is specifically relevant to a candidate with a military background.

Ensuring that your job description explains responsibilities in detail, uses relatable language, and lists familiar skills will allow the veteran to understand how their skills and experience are applicable and transferable to the position. For example, your job posting could emphasize the need for candidates with leadership or problem-solving skills, adaptability to change, communication skills, experience working with diverse groups, or technical skills.

3. Ask the right interview questions

Learning how to hire veterans also requires a conscientious approach to interviewing. Ask about relevant military and civilian training as well as their experience and why they believe they are qualified to do the job. Avoid asking directly about the type of discharge they received, whether they will be called up for duty, or about specific deployments (which could be construed as trying to determine if the veteran has any type of medical affliction like post-traumatic stress disorder).

4. Tap into recruiter resources

There are many resources available to help recruiters and hiring managers find qualified veteran candidates. For example, O*NET’s Military-Civilian Crosswalk can help you find military occupational classification codes for the job you are looking to fill. Using these codes in your job description can help veterans understand the available job. Other resources include:

• The Department of Labor
• The Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Hiring Our Heroes program
• The Department of Veterans Affairs
• Military.com’s Employer Resource Center

These sites include information on how to find qualified veteran candidates, attending career fairs, retention strategies, and more.

5. Hire veterans for the right reasons

While some employers want to understand how to hire veterans because it feels patriotic or for the tax break, it’s crucial to ensure that your veteran applicant is in fact the right candidate for the job. Just as with any candidate, you’ll need to assess things like their technical and soft skills, cultural fit, expectations regarding work life balance, and career goals.

Military spouses could be the solution to your talent shortage.

It’s no secret—the current labor market is stronger than it has been in years. Companies are in hot pursuit of the right fit for their open positions but may be overlooking one of our most capable and untapped talent communities: military spouses.

How to hire veterans: 5 quick tips.

It’s no secret that members of the military make countless sacrifices and gain many skills during their time in service to the country. And yet, many veterans still have a difficult time finding work that matches their capabilities. Read further for tips to help you hire.

1.Market your mission of hiring veterans

A strong leadership commitment is essential to any veteran hiring program. But, in order to reach veteran job seekers, your company must convey its intent to prioritize veteran hiring. Veterans are passionate about serving a purpose in their civilian careers and want to work for employers that truly understand what hiring veterans means. When you attend networking events and market your company, be sure to articulate the greater purpose of your veteran hiring initiatives. Similarly, when posting job ads, write descriptions that speak directly to veteran job seekers and specifically highlight your need for leadership skills and a strong work ethic.

2.Assemble a veteran recruitment team

To bolster your recruitment efforts, consider assembling a team specifically dedicated to hiring veterans. Many best-in-class companies, such as those on Monster’s annual Best Companies for Hiring Veterans list, have entire departments dedicated to veteran recruitment and support. It can also be very beneficial to have an existing employee veteran—if you have one—on your recruitment team. As a veteran themselves, they’re best equipped to communicate with your veteran candidates and will understand the pay package differences, military occupation codes, skill sets, and resources to help them transition from military to civilian life.

3.Understand military job skills and codes

Veterans exit the military with great mission focus, self-discipline, work ethic, integrity, passion, and drive, along with leading-edge training and skills. However, it’s often challenging for veterans to convey those skills and translate their military job codes when seeking civilian employment. According to Monster’s Veteran Hiring Survey, 81% of veterans say their military rank doesn’t translate well to civilian jobs.

Skills translators like the one at Military.com can help both veterans and employers easily translate military skills into skills applicable for civilian jobs. Additionally, O*NET’s Military-Civilian Crosswalk can help you find military occupational classification codes for the jobs you are looking to fill. These tools can help veterans find meaningful work and ensure you are using a veteran’s skills and qualifications in a way that best contributes to your company’s success.

4.Provide resources to set veterans up for success

A company’s efforts to hire veterans shouldn’t stop after a job offer has been made. Employee retention is just as important to ensuring veterans find success within your organization. This starts with creating a workplace culture that welcomes veterans right from the start. Provide resources to support and honor your veteran workforce, such as veteran support groups and recognition ceremonies in months dedicated to military-service appreciation like May and November. Some companies also incorporate displays like a Wall of Honor, in which they showcase veteran employees and thank them for their service. Supporting local military organizations and events can further help demonstrate your company’s commitment to veteran hiring.

5.Don’t forget military spouses

When hiring veterans, it’s likely he or she has a spouse that has relocated from duty assignment to duty assignment. As a result, military spouses often have scattered resumes and—without careful consideration—can appear to be “job hoppers,” causing them to miss out on prime opportunities. In your veteran hiring initiatives, look for ways to help military spouses find gainful employment, too. Similar to their veteran counterparts, military spouses come with unique skill sets and abilities that can make them an asset to any workforce. By having to move frequently and start over each time, military spouses learn to adapt, maintain focus, and are very self-sufficient when it comes to getting the job done.

Monster veteran employment resources

Monster applauds the efforts of every public and private sector organization that hires veterans and is proud to offer veteran employment resources for candidates and employers.

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