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.
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.
