This Week’s HRI “Lightbulb” – Hiring Veterans
This sentence in the WSJ from February 21, 2012 (p.B9), stopped me as I looked at it, “Hiring veterans isn’t something we should do to make ourselves feel better; it’s something we should do to make our companies better…”. While translating military skills to civilian job needs is a hurdle, there are proven benefits of hiring employees with military experience. The SHRM Poll, Military Employment 2012 surveyed organizations that have hired a veteran within the last 36 months. Its key findings are noted in the graph below.
Benefits of Hiring Employees with Military Experience1
1 Source: SHRM Poll, Military Employment, 2012.
So, do something advantageous for your business while at the same time giving back to those who have given us so much.
I agree with this statement, however as a hiring manager it is difficult, as the article states translating military skills to civilian skills. It would be helpful if the military/government could provide some additional skills that could assist the vets in finding a civilian job. I have been looking for Maintenance Technicians for a client and have interviewed several vets that have military maintenance experience but unfortunately their experience is in a specialized area ( I can see why the military would want individuals that are specialized in one area – this way, they are, the best of the best) and in many cases in the civilian world we need someone with a varied maintenance background.
I was struck by the honsety of your posting
That’s an expert answer to an interesting question