By David Dobson, Senior B2B Marketing Manager
According to the 2022 Military Friendly® Employer Survey, the average employee retention among veterans was 78%. That’s big news, and a statistic that can definitely help the bottom line of your organization since having to replace talent costs the organization a significant amount of money and time.
Each year, an estimated 200,000+ service members transition out of the Armed Forces and search for civilian opportunities. These service members leave the military with unparalleled leadership skills, have a knack for transforming any project into a success, and have a plethora of soft skills that can impact the organization. They possess discipline, values, and integrity – which are all building blocks for great success.
Now, to attract these highly qualified people, it’s beneficial for companies to promote their support for the military community through their veteran programs and community support. Organizations must work to understand how to translate military skills into civilian ones, provide a culture that welcomes veterans, and provide flexibility to military spouses and Reserve/Guard members who can deploy when needed. We believe this flexibility, support, and investment is worth it because the return is a highly trained and dedicated veteran or military spouse employee.
5 Tips to Help your Company Stand Out in the Veteran Community
1. Develop a Unique Veteran Recruitment Strategy
Expand your reach beyond the usual job boards and develop a robust omnichannel recruitment campaign that consists of custom messaging, ad sets, landing pages, job board profiles, and first-party data targeting.
AECOM, a Fortune 500 firm, launched its first-ever social media talent acquisition campaign and was able to reach veteran job candidates that they were not able to find on any other recruiting platform. They used first-party military audience data, lookalike audiences, and personas to help them acquire 221 job applicants in just 60 days, all while significantly reducing their cost-per-applicant.
2. Market Your Company As a Military Ready Employer
Solidify your company’s reputation and brand as an employer that embraces the military community by featuring your company and veteran hiring initiatives in military-focused publications and communities such as G.I. Jobs, Military Spouse, and Military Friendly®.
G.I. Jobs magazine is the number one choice of service members for advice on career and education opportunities. New veterans look to G.I. Jobs for advice and tools to help them find the right jobs after leaving the military. G.I. Jobs is distributed to 200+ Military Transition (TAP) Classes, VA and military hospitals, base libraries, MWR offices, VA and USO centers, military job fairs, American Job Centers, and hundreds of active-duty commands worldwide. It is distributed to all G.I. Jobs registered users, shared on all social networks, and cross-distributed by external networks.
Military Spouse magazine is a monthly full-color magazine and online community that addresses the unique needs and interests of the almost one million military spouses. Articles cover topics spanning deployment issues, consumer products, moving duty stations, career tips, celebrity interviews, relationship building, budgeting, and family planning. It is distributed to all Military Spouse registered users, shared on all social networks, and cross-distributed by external networks.
3. Leverage Unique Military Job Boards
Attract veteran candidates by posting open positions on job boards or job apps unique to the veteran audience, such as the G.I. Jobs job board and the G.I. Jobs Hot Jobs app. These are great networks for finding qualified veteran employees. Websites such as GIJobs.com, Military.com, HireVetsFirst.gov, TurboTap.org, HelmetstoHardhats.org, and USAJobs.gov, are great resources for recruiting top veteran applicants.
4. Utilize Existing Initiatives
Promote the fact that your organization invests in programs that improve the lives of veterans. “Military friendly” and “veteran-friendly” should be more than just recruitment marketing and military talent acquisition terms. These are very specific promises you are making to a potential veteran hire.
Veterans are leaders who work well in teams and are truly mission-oriented. They are graduates of the premier training institution in the world. Employers know this, which is why they compete to attract military candidates as employees. However, veterans are finding that some businesses are using the term “veteran-friendly” yet don’t have a clue as to what the term means.
Explore opportunities to legitimately promote your organization’s commitment, effort, and success in creating sustainable and meaningful benefits for the military, veteran, and military spouse communities. Learn how the Military Friendly® designation creates better outcomes for veterans.
5. Translate military jargon into civilian skills
The cliche example of what veterans have to offer is leadership and hard work. That’s a given. What’s not a given is the second-to-none experience and extensive job training they received while being in the military. They offer skills to jobs such as operations manager, sales representative, and technical assets to your company that no one else can. So, peel back that resume and dive deep into what that veteran can offer you. Have them explain what they did in the military to help you better understand.
Find tools and resources that can help connect military skills to the skills that you are looking for. Organizations must work to understand how to translate military skills into civilian ones. Utilize sophisticated soft skills matching and career mapping to map beyond MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) codes, and help the perfect candidates find your jobs.
Veterans Have a Lot to Offer
Here’s the deal – we aren’t suggesting that you hire veterans because it feels good, or it’s the patriotic thing to do. We’re suggesting that veterans have a lot to offer the civilian workforce, they deliver tangible results for your organization, and they offer skills and experience that no one else can. They offer a different perspective with things like everyday meetings, business problems, and they can offer solutions that maybe no one thought about before.
If you’re looking to hire veterans, we can help you find the right military veteran candidate, with the right skills to fill your jobs. We help agencies, companies, schools, and brands accelerate their recruiting, enrollment, and growth goals using our first-party data across 3 trusted brands – G.I.Jobs®, Military Spouse®, and Military Friendly®.
Contact us today to learn how we can help you effectively reach the military audience.
