Hiring America’s Heroes

Matching Skills

7-Eleven, which joined other U.S. companies in a 2012 pledge to hire one million veterans by 2020, is well on its way toward achieving the goal.  The company has hired more than 300 veterans and military spouses in the past four years alone. To align the resumes of veterans with needed business skill sets, the company has created a presentation called “Military 101” that translates military assignments into corresponding business tasks.

“It ensures our recruiting team has a firm understanding of how military experiences and skill sets translate into roles within our team, and enables our transitioning veterans to be set up for success,” says Dave Strachan, chief of staff and a former Army officer.  7-Eleven CEO Joseph DePinto also is a former Army field artillery officer and West Point graduate.

Other companies tout the extraordinary range of abilities that soldiers attain over their own military careers. “People don’t think of veterans as having finance, operations, HR, IT or project management skills in a business context,” says retired U.S. Army Brigadier General Carol Eggert, a recipient of the Legion of Merit, a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart and head of Comcast NBCUniversal’s eight-person Military and Veteran Affairs organization (see sidebar). She says that misconception is fueled by a lack of understanding of the breadth and scope of leadership positions in the military.

Many companies are doing just that, creating an array of programs designed to match military community skill sets with business needs.For example, Citi, cofounder of the Veterans on Wall Street recruitment initiative and corporate sponsor of Military.com’s mobile app, launched Citi Salutes to centralize its 17 military veteran employee networks under the oversight of an executive steering committee. The firm also created a Veterans Recruiting Toolbox for recruiters.

Dow Chemical implemented a program where four or more years of military service meet the company’s minimum job requirements. The company also is running a pilot Military Engagement Program, in which a current employee-veteran coaches service members and military spouses through its hiring process.

Many companies, including 7-Eleven, Starbucks and Comcast, are corporate partners in the Hiring Our Heroes fellowship program. The 12-week operations management internship is designed to provide the skills needed to succeed in the civilian workforce. “We make an offer of employment to fellows who complete the program,” says Strachan, citing 7-Eleven’s recent hiring of a dozen graduates.

Smoothing Transitions

For many veterans, their first job in the private sector can be dislocating. The management structure is different, the vocabulary of business is arcane and the processes are atypical. Easing the transition of this talented group of employees improves the chances of retaining them. A 2016 survey by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation found that 44 percent of veterans left their first post-military job within a year.

Job vacancies at the Black Knight, a fast-growing company of 5,000 employees, are being filled with veterans at a 10 percent rate. For good reasons, too, since the company pledges full-wage continuation and medical and dental benefits to employees called up for active duty in the Reserves or National Guard. Returning employees are placed in the same position, or another position they might have attained had they remained continuously employed. “We’re ensuring their career paths remain productive and promising,” Circelli says. “You need to make hiring veterans a priority and then have the dedication to fulfill that commitment.”

At construction giant. Cushman and Wakefield, a military transition roadmap helops veterans acclimate to the corporate environment. Deloitte sponsors the Career Opportunity Redefinition and Exploration Leadership Program, helping veterans and active duty service members identify their unique strengths to better direct their careers. Every Deloitte business has a partner, principal or managing director as a Champion for Military and Veterans. GE partnered with the U.S. Army Reserve Medical Command in a pioneering externship program providing eight months of biomed and imaging training to Army Reserve biomedical technicians.

Another Opportunity

According to research compiled by Blue Star Families (BSF), 43 percent of military spouses are unemployed, compared to 25.5 percent of civilian spouses. Eggert suggests employers shun this talent pool for outdated reasons. “Employers know they often need to relocate,” Eggert explains. “This makes no sense in an era where Millennials are job-hopping every three or four years.” Comcast not only proactively recruits military spouses, but also helps those forced to relocate find jobs elsewhere in the organization or with other employers through its partnerships with different veterans coalitions.

Booz Allen Hamilton welcomes military spouse employees with personal emails from other military spouses at the vice president level and has developed a specialized handbook for their use. And Starbucks is a member of the Defense Department’s Military Spouse Employment Partnership program, composed of more than 360 employers vetted and recognized by the Defense Department as portable career options.

Certainly, companies looking for skilled, hard-working and motivated employees would benefit from giving more thought and effort to hiring veterans and military spouses. “Every branch of service espouses specific core values like loyalty, dedication, respect and integrity,” says Eggert. “Military personnel live by these values, forging people with remarkable character, self-reliance, tenacity to get the job done and leadership.”

Service Brewing’s Kevin Ryan is certainly happy he’s hired so many vets. “One of the first things the military teaches you is to take orders—you’re given a task and you do it,” says Ryan. “Working in a brewery is a physically demanding job. You’re pulling and pushing and shoveling all day long, and then putting on your best face to pour a draft for a customer. I’ve never heard a single complaint.”

Read more: Hire Our Veterans And Tap Into Their Extraordinary Leadership Skills