With Veterans Day fast approaching this coming weekend, we wanted to devote some attention to tactics you can use to attract veteran and military talent to your organization.
You’ve likely noticed that more and more organizations are devoting a considerable amount of time and attention to military hiring.
Many employers have launched high-profile initiatives and public pledges to hire veterans and military spouses, backed by dedicated recruiting teams and specialized programs from apprenticeships to leadership development.
Why is this? It’s because military and veteran talent make great hires!
Veterans bring management experience, communications skills and technical training, as well as the ability to learn and adapt quickly, collaborate effectively in teams and achieve goals under pressure.
Here are some ways to get your employer brand in front of veteran and military hires:
1. Attend careers events at military bases or American Legion posts
If there are military bases or American Legion posts near any of your office locations, connect with someone there to find out if there are any upcoming career fairs or professional development events. You can browse a list of military base locations on this Military Installations site and look up American Legion posts on their Find a Post page.
This can be a great place to introduce your employer brand to this demographic. Plus, building some in-person events into your strategy is likely to result in stronger connections and impressions than taking a solely digital route.
2. Host a virtual military talent career fair
As a supplement to in-person events, or if your offices aren’t located near any military bases or Legion posts, you might consider hosting a virtual career fair. Veteranrecruiting.com offers up the digital tools and a database of veterans to host successful fairs to attract veteran and military attendees.
If you already have a database of veteran candidates in your system you can reach out to, you could also host a virtual career fair yourself for free using your careers or company Facebook page. You can find out more about hosting virtual career fairs on Facebook in the Rally blog, How to Host Virtual Careers Fairs on Facebook.
3. Connect with leads on LinkedIn or RallyPoint
Like many other talent groups, veterans and military talent can typically be found on LinkedIn. If you have a LinkedIn Recruiter seat you can filter your search to help identify talent who have served in the military. From there, you could consider InMail campaigns to get your candidates attention and encourage them to take a look at your careers site and apply for open roles.
You might also think about exploring RallyPoint, a social networking site for veterans and members of the U.S. military. They have a range of employer services to help with veteran hiring.
4. Build and deliver professional development resources for military talent.
The transition from military to corporate life can be very challenging. Consider if there are ways you might be able to give back to this community by offering free learning resources. This will also serve the added benefit of getting your brand in front of military talent while providing them with info to help them excel in their new careers.
Examples here might include professional branding workshops at military bases (as Dell Technologies has done), webinars breaking down how your industry works and tips for how to optimize the job search process.
5. Create a landing page for veterans and military talent
Consider building out a specific page that describes the veteran and military hiring experience at your organization. This page might feature veteran employee stories and testimonials. This will showcase your veteran friendly culture to candidates and encourage them to consider your organization for their next employment opportunity. You can then link out to this page from any social media posts or InMails to this demographic to create a personalized journey.
6. Post jobs with military job boards and partner with veteran associations
There are many veteran and military geared sites where you can post your jobs. Some places that offer free postings include Military.com, Helmets to Hardhats and USAJobs.gov. In addition to posting jobs, Hire Purpose also allows you to create a The Muse style company profile that can spotlight your employer brand to members.
You can also partner with not-for-profit organizations like American Corporate Partners and Hire Heroes USA that help veterans and military members transition to a corporate career. You could partner with these types of organizations in a number of ways, such as through sponsorship, by encouraging your current veteran employees to volunteer as mentors, or by creating and presenting professional development resources with their communities.
7. Find and join in on conversations happening on Twitter and other social platforms using veteran hashtags!
On Veterans Day, Women Veterans Day and Military Spouse Appreciation Day, you can join in the conversation and connect with veterans by sharing your organization’s veteran stories using the event-specific hashtags to reach talent. Some hashtags for these days include #VeteransDay, #WomenVeteransDay and #MilitarySpouseAppreciationDay.
Want more tips to improve your veteran and military hiring strategy?
Take a look at our Case Study featuring Dell Technologies, 4 Proven Tactics to Attract Veterans.
