As businesses nationwide struggle to find qualified talent to fill openings, many companies are seeking a variety of talent pools for new hires. Military veterans are often stereotyped as “firemen” rather than for their talents. Companies who see beyond the movie inaccuracies of veterans see the unmatched talents and experiences this workforce has to offer.
Movie Inaccuracies of Military Veterans
What’s the first stereotype that comes to mind when thinking about military veterans? Oftentimes our brains go straight to a movie we have seen that includes a man with a rifle traveling exotic terrain. Although there are veterans who had this role, there are more than 7,000 jobs across more than 100 functional areas unaccounted for in these films. Some military occupation skills include the following, according to Insperity:
- Human resources (HR)
- Doctors
- Nurses
- Police
- Security
- Firefighters
- IT
- Mechanics
- Pilots
- Engineers
- Linguists
- Administration
- Intelligence
- Logistics
- Communications
- Finance
- Legal services
- And more!
As you read through the list, which ones caught your eye? With such a wide variety of skills taught in the military, there is a very high chance you found multiple listed above that would be beneficial assets for your team. Now that you see your company’s potential connection to hiring military veterans, let’s take a look at additional considerations.
Veterans Benefit Your Business
Your company is looking for high end talent. Someone with experience who can onboard and be a valued member of the team in record time. Each service member is extensively trained in their specialty. They have hundreds of classroom and training hours already under their belts on top of their on-the-job experience. Additional personality traits that military veterans often have include:
- Mental resilience
- Ability to cope with stress
- Mission oriented
- Adaptive to change
- Trustworthy
- Clear communication
- Team players
- Strong leadership skills
- Non-discriminatory (Remember this blog that talks about how important diversity is!)
Address the Misconceptions
According to SHRM, despite the positive results that many employers have experienced, 80 percent of organizations lack veterans recruiting programs. This is often based on the lack of knowledge about the military or how to address the misconceptions from film stereotypes. Employers are not familiar with how military skills translate to civilian jobs. These limitations, as well as military veterans often being too humble to use “I” statements in interviews instead of “we” statements, are why many companies miss out on great candidates for a job.
This post was written in dedication and honor of our nation’s veterans. We are beyond humbled and thankful for their selfless sacrifices each and every one of them make. As a very small token of our appreciation, we at Vinna Human Resources want to help bridge these gaps of misunderstanding to asset veterans to transition back into civilian life. If you are a company needing help with how this looks for your business, contact us.