Understanding the Greater Value of Bringing Military Veterans from the Battlefield to the Boardroom |
Understanding the Greater Value of Bringing Military Veterans from the Battlefield to the Boardroom
Transitioning military personnel constitute the second largest renewable candidate pool in the US. Think about that for a moment . . . an estimated 250,000 men and women transition out of the Armed Forces every year. Now, think about what types of candidate pools your organization or department taps on a regular basis for attracting quality employees to your business.
Chances are, the military isn’t one of those candidate pools for your company. In fact, chances are your company might not want to hire transitioning military and veterans. This happens more than you’d think and it happens for a variety of reasons: in spite of the transferable skills and training on the most sophisticated and technical equipment in the world, in spite of the relocation assistance provided by the federal government when personnel transition out, in spite of advanced leadership capabilities and in spite of a veteran’s ability to adapt to an organization’s culture, some enterprises see veterans as an unknown quantity, as someone whose skills and proficiencies do not translate into a civilian resume and subsequent interview.
What does an E-7 mean to you or to a hiring authority? Probably nothing. And even if you know that it’s a military title, beyond that, it still probably means little or nothing. The fact that HR and Recruiting staff usually don’t know what E-7 signifies, well, it pretty much guarantees that that resume as well as that veteran’s chances of getting a job are going to the same place and in a hurry: the trash.
But that’s the last place it should go. An E-7 can typically lead upwards of 250 personnel, providing them with expert training, direction and leadership in a way that few other people have had experience to do. And think of this, if US troops are deployed abroad, that E-7 military job seeker – whose resume was thrown in the trash because no one knew what that job entailed in the military – was probably saving the lives of his or her troops prior to returning to a base in the U.S. and transitioning out. Chances are, had the company’s recruiting staff known the experiential wisdom that veteran had gained from his or her military experience, the last thing that would’ve happened was that job seeker being turned away. Rather, that E-7 probably would’ve gotten the job. And this happens throughout the ranks of military job seekers: E-4’s have technical expertise in myriad areas and with the most advanced technology available; they are verifiable experts in specialties ranging from aircraft repair and maintenance to medical research to communications to operations support. And while the rank of E-4 or the title Specialist don’t indicate to HR types that a particular veteran has a specific skill, the veteran still has that skill.
But rather than review a resume from a civilian context and as a result eliminate some of the most qualified candidates for that job, maybe there’s another way to look at this. Take, for instance, a candidate freshly graduated from college. Now, this candidate’s resume will tell you where he or she graduated from, what he or she studied and what extracurricular experiences were gained, but what it won’t directly say is that this person has had little or no proven leadership experiences, no technical prowess outside of an educational setting and no professional experience whatsoever. In this case, then, having only a degree means that this candidate won’t have the same experiential knowledge and capabilities that a military job seeker has.
The problem, then, is one of perception. Rather than discarding an unknown quantity from a candidate pool, employers need to become conscious of what the quantity is – in this case, the quality and skills of a military job seeker and veteran. They bring dramatic proficiencies and traits to the table, and at bare minimum they’re worth giving the opportunity to interview for a civilian career.
Now, ask yourself, would you get the same traits from a freshly graduated college degreed job seeker? Probably not; and that’s where military experience shines through. The fact that military personnel are trained in a specific skill, subsequently master that skill, then learn to supervise, motivate, train and consequently lead others in that skill, certainly offers an employer a unique type of candidate, and it has nothing to do with a degree. If Human Resources and Recruiting professionals can come to understand this framework of military structure and training, they will concurrently understand the greater value of bringing military veterans from the battlefield to the boardroom.
Harold (Hal) E. Fischer, Jr., Chief Executive Officer, has developed and launched MilitaryStars, headquartered in Sarasota, FL, and has grown it be the largest military career expo company in the country, solely dedicated to creating an environment of opportunities for military veterans.
About MilitaryStars: The nation’s largest military career expo company, veteran-owned MilitaryStars furthers its mission to assist transitioning military and veterans in finding civilian jobs via regional career expos throughout the United States. All career expos are military-exclusive events, and are free to active and transitioning military and veterans. Clients range from small businesses to Fortune 500 employers.
For more information, please visit www.militarystars.com, or call (800) 775-1415.
MilitaryStars
6497 Parkland Dr. Ste. G
Sarasota, FL 34243
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