How Hiring a Veteran Can Help Your Small Business Thrive

Increasingly, organizations are starting to see the value of hiring veterans in key roles across a business. Indeed, unemployment rates among U.S. veterans dipped to 3.8 percent in 2018, an all-time low. Still, some companies are reluctant to work with veterans; it seems some stigmas take time to remove.

However, despite improvements in military veteran employment, many vets are finding themselves in roles for which they are overqualified. This means business owners in need of skilled workers can miss out on a perfect employee.

Organizations need to realize the benefits skilled veterans bring to a company. Whether it’s programming skills for creating online casino games, skilled labor, or administration-level roles, veterans are often ideal candidates.

Here are some tips employers can use to find vets with qualifications that bring a meaningful contribution to a company.

Know the Skills Veterans Provide

Veterans come with defined and unique skillsets, such as amazing leadership abilities and organizational capacity. Furthermore, vets are hugely adept at problem-solving and critical thinking in a high-pressure scenario.

In the face of challenges, military veterans will remain calm and develop the best path for success. One misconception of veterans is that they have simply been programmed to follow orders. While following orders is a skill veterans possess, they are also able to be flexible and solve problems under testing conditions.

Additionally, when a vet tells an employer that they are a “team player”, they mean it. This is not some interview fluff to impress a company but has been tested in the harshest of environments. Such a trait is perhaps best defined by a veteran’s willingness to work to achieve goals and not seek personal credit for completing day-to-day tasks.

Get the Right Vets

Oftentimes, a company will employ an ex-military person simply to fill a quota of equality. However, this is a mistake and organizations should hire veterans based on the tenants they would any other employee. That is a strong fit between the company, the candidate, and the position available.

Veteran-specific job websites are probably the best place to look for veterans that have qualifications that meet the demands of a role.

When preparing to interview a veteran candidate, it is a good idea to tap into any existing knowledge within your company. If there is already a veteran on staff, have them look over the candidate and help highlight the skillset of the vet and how those skills would translate to the available job.

Give Veterans Room for Success

One of the core skills veterans possess is the ability to take a piece of information or organizational goal and help translate it into a scalable and actionable result. A great way to utilize vets is to be clear about the goal an individual task is trying to achieve.

Career advancement is as important to a veteran as it is any other employee. Perhaps it is even more important considering the military hierarchy is built on potential progression when successful. However, only a limited number of vets pursue career development through ongoing education. Organizations can help increase this number by promoting workplace education programs for vets.