The Secret to Creating a Successful Veteran Recruiting Strategy

Learn more about best practices in recruiting veteran and military job seekers by joining a Talent Circles sponsored webinar on 2/13/14 at 9:00 PM PST. Click here to register & learn more. 

By Jessica Miller-Merrell  

In doing research for our upcoming webinar on Veteran and Diversity hiring for my site Blogging4Jobs.com in combination with TalentCircles, I’ve done a great deal of research, analyzing and my own personal reflection on how we can hire military veterans more effectively while also helping our exiting military who are entering the job search today. You’ll learn more by registering for the full webinar on February 13, 2014 at 12 AM EST by clicking here.

Unfortunately, there is no one size fits all solution, which is what we (recruiters and business leaders) often gravitate towards. This is the foundational challenge with developing a military recruiting strategy. Each individual service member’s experience, training, skills and attitude are different and unique. You can’t lump every service branch or job title into the same category.  Their transitions from military to civilian are all very different. Some do very well in the job search in transitioning from military to civilian life as shown in Marylene’s interview with 24 Hour Fitness CEO, Lance Sapera.

Your recruiting team must include former military.  

As a former military wife, I understand in a small way what it is like for those that are leaving the military and transitioning to the civilian world. He lived it. I watched him struggle and through it all did my best to help. He found work, but he wasn’t fulfilled and encountered many personal struggles including depression, alcoholism and finding his identity outside of the military.

Aside from having personal and relatable stories, having a recruiter who is former military on your team provides you with a constant compass to help your organization moving in the right direction. This individual speaks the language of the military and has his/her own personal experience to draw from. This is extremely powerful on a personal level while providing your team a subject matter expert 24/7.

You must recruit military differently.

The fancy tools and gadgets for recruiting military like the MOS skills translator, they are not enough in effectively recruiting former military.  Without a separate military recruiting program or an organizational focus on these efforts, it is not enough. Military members are extremely networked with one another, and organizations must create a veteran recruiting program where your recruiters talk, teach and engage veterans individually. This means phone calls, job fairs and talking at military events every chance your organization in combination with building a military focused talent network.

You must focus on measuring your success of your military recruiting.

For military and diversity recruiting efforts to be successful, they must be focused on metrics and analytics from the beginning. This means measuring turnover numbers of those that are military and non-military, time in position, and even their performance reviews. We have to look beyond recruiting metrics like cost of hire and go deeper to really understand how a focused recruiting campaign and strategy truly impacts the overall organization.

In my experience, our former military are some of the most loyal employees. It’s one thing for me to just say this. It’s another when I have the metrics and numbers to back up my gut feelings.

HR and recruiting technologies TalentCircles provide a way to continue to engage the job seeker community online especially when you have spent so much time, money and effort working to reach them in real life. The experience within the talent network is customized for your veteran job seekers, STEM candidates, diversity recruiting or other focused recruitment activities that you choose.

You must get creative.

A simple job board advertisement and a couple of press releases while attending a military job fair is not enough to effectively recruit military veterans to your company. The strategies you employ are unique to your organization. You must be focused on the long term. Maybe you find a military internship or training program is best for both your job seekers and your organization allowing them to learn about the civilian working world while both parties take a test drive.

Called “Returnships” companies like Goldman Sacs are offering 8-week career transition programs for exiting military. Programs like this are one of the best ways to successfully recruit while also helping transitioning military. Bottom line is that you have to get creative.

Building a successful recruiting strategy to engage and attract our former military takes research, planning and a lot of effort. It’s evolving and ongoing, but the most important thing is that you take the time to understand your military job seekers so that you can provide resources and conversations that help them through their transition with the goal of filling your organization with the best talent you can find.

Jessica Miller-Merrell, SPHR is a leading voice in HR and workplace technology. She’s an author and founder of  Blogging4Jobs. You can follow her on Twitter @jmillermerrell.

Photo Credit. 

American Disabilities Act & Military Veterans: Know the Rules

Learn more about best practices in recruiting veteran and military job seekers by joining a Talent Circles sponsored webinar on 2/13/14 at 9:00 PM PST. Click here to register & learn more. 

By Jessica Miller-Merrell  

Each year, thousands of military personnel stationed around the world leave active duty and return to jobs they held before entering the service or begin the job search looking for new work. The transition from military to civilian life can be difficult for any active duty military member regardless of the time they spent serving our country. The time spent serving our country, in my opinion, is the ultimate American sacrifice.

A growing number of veterans report high rates of service-connected disabilities. These are disabilities that were incurred in, or aggravated during military service and the service of our country. About twenty-five percent of recent veterans report having a service-connected disability, as compared to about thirteen percent of all veterans. Common injuries incurred by these veterans include missing limbs, burns, spinal cord injuries, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), hearing loss, traumatic brain injuries, and other impairments. For employers, it’s important to understand how service-connected disabilities are protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

The ADA defines an individual with a disability as a person who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities; has a record of an impairment; or is regarded as having such an impairment.” An individual with a disability is qualified if he/she is able to meet an employer's requirements for the job, such as education, training, employment experience, skills, or licenses, and is able to perform the job's essential or fundamental duties with or without reasonable accommodation. This includes military veterans and individuals returning from deployment, active duty military or national guardsmen and woman serving our country.

The ADA defines major life activities such as seeing, walking, hearing, concentrating as well as activities that involve bodily functions like the neurological system.

A request for reasonable accommodation under the ADA usually begins with a request from the individual or family member with the disability. Keep in mind the request doesn’t have to formally mention the ADA or a request for accommodation under the ADA.

A reasonable accommodation request can be one of the following: (This is not a comprehensive list.)

• Anti-glare monitor
• Footrest
• Raised desk or work station that is wheel chair accessible
• Braille materials or special computer programs for the seeing impaired
• Permission to work from home
• Special work lighting
• Job coach
• Reassignment to an open position of the same level
• Request to leave work for treatment as well as part time or modified schedule work

One of the biggest misnomers is surrounding what is considered reasonable as “reasonable” is not defined according to the cost to a facility or an employer. While an accommodation of lowering or raising a cash register might cost an employer several thousand dollars, it is considered a reasonable expense especially when you also consider the cost compared to a large operation or company.

Although the ADA isn’t specific to military members, there are a number of veterans who qualify under the law to receive accommodation as a result of disabilities sustained during their time in the military. These disabilities don’t mean they are any less productive or important as an employee of your organization. They are loyal, dedicated and productive employees regardless of visible or invisible disabilities.

Employers looking for more information about the Americans with Disabilities Act can visit the EEOC’s website as well as the Job Accomodation Network. JAN provides free and confidential resources for workplace accommodations and disability employment issues including former active duty military.

Jessica Miller-Merrell, SPHR is a leading voice in HR and workplace technology. She’s an author and founder of  Blogging4Jobs. You can follow her on Twitter @jmillermerrell.

Photo Credit.