How to Train Your Team for Veteran Recruiting
Many recruiters struggle with veteran recruiting for a few reasons. Some may not have a clear understanding of military culture, many aren’t well-versed in transferable skills or experience, and a few haven’t mastered their veteran communication strategy.
It’s important for veteran job recruiters to keep building their skills in this area with solid recommendations, veteran recruitment training, and key insights – all of which you’ll find below. So, if you’re on a mission to increase veteran hires, you’re in the right place.
The top veteran-friendly companies are no stranger to the benefits of hiring this select group of highly skilled, driven all-stars. Going beyond the military training and expertise they’ve gained as a member of the U.S. Armed Services; veterans excel in the civilian workforce for several reasons. An accelerated learning curve, outstanding leadership skills, the ability to thrive under pressure, and a team-oriented perspective, only scratch the surface of what veterans bring to the table.
According to Military.com and Monster’s Veteran Hiring Guide, out of the top veteran employers on our list, 70% have a team dedicated to hiring veterans alone. Giving a recruiter this kind of laser focus has its benefits, but not every team can manage that type of divide. Setting up a recruiter team training on the fundamentals of veteran hiring is a great place to start.
Train Your Team on the Fundamentals of Veteran Recruiting:
Here are a few key elements veteran recruiters have employed to boost applies and expand their veteran recruitment programs:
1. Create a Veteran-Focused Resource Group (ERG)
Supporting your veteran employees is a crucial part of becoming a veteran-friendly company, and a benefit former service members search for on the job hunt. An employer resource group for military families and veterans can provide stronger collaboration and camaraderie among former service members, career coaching to navigate professional life in the civilian workforce, and special discounts and opportunities unique to veterans and military families. Nothing says “we support you” like an ERG.
2. Implement Action-Based Goals
Veteran Hiring Programs can do wonders. Create benchmarks around your veteran recruiting efforts – aim to increase everything from veteran hires and applications, to social media activity, to career site visits. Then, watch your recruiters take action to get it done – uncovering more transferable skills, increasing engagement efforts on social platforms, developing a more robust veteran-branded career site, and looking for new opportunities to become one of the veteran-friendly companies in your area.
3. Deliver on Your Commitment to Veterans – No Matter What
Don’t let budgets get in your way. Simple gestures like writing thank you notes to service members, honoring veterans on military holidays, or flying the flag outside your office building, can often speak louder than the grandest efforts. But these small acts tend to snowball, redefining your company culture and helping to establish your workplace as a veteran employer of choice.
4. Advocate for the Military Community
You’re connecting with a community that knows how to give its all, so you must meet them with the same effort. Work with regional and local chapters of Veteran Service Organizations (VSO), connect with military bases in your area, and sponsor local volunteer and veteran events. Be present and spread the word with social media to demonstrate your commitment.
5. Understand Qualifications and Military Equivalents
One of the most powerful ways recruiters can single-handedly make a sizeable dent in this initiative is to keep an open mind when it comes to required qualifications. When veterans enter the job market, their skills and experience, in many cases, surpasses those of their civilian counterparts. But without proper training, veteran job recruiters can overlook star candidates – simply because they are unfamiliar with the keywords, unique certifications and skills that come standard with a military career.
The Veteran Hiring Guide found that 79% of veterans look for employers that accept military training in place of civilian credentials. But in Monster’s Special Report, recruiters cited their top recruiting challenge as “finding candidates with the right skills.” What if more recruiters did accept military training in place of standard civilian credentials? What if more recruiters were well-versed in identifying transferable competences? Having more recruiter education on this topic could address the deficits in both camps.
6. Attend a Formal Training on Veteran Recruitment
Understanding the military experience and its impact on a veteran’s entry to the civilian workforce is a big part of every recruiter’s job. Educating your team on military culture, training, collateral duties, and more, will shift their thinking when it comes to vetting resumes, building a rapport with former service members, and creating a veteran-friendly employer brand. Monster’s training, Veteran Recruitment Webinar Training: Approaches to attract, evaluate and communicate with this unique talent pool, shines a light on all this and more, including:
- What to look for on a veteran resume and how to recognize transferable skills
- How to tailor email messages, career sites and benefits to attract veteran candidates
- Strategies for more engaging and productive interviews to better understand the scope of their experience
This veteran recruiting training will help your team recognize and understand the value veterans will bring to your organization, implement strategies to screen veteran candidates more efficiently, and develop stronger connections that will lead to better-informed hiring decisions – and the right fit. Connect with our training experts to see how it can be tailored to your team’s experience with veteran hiring.
Are You Ready to Develop Your Veteran Recruiting Efforts?
The fight for top talent isn’t getting any easier. But, if veteran job recruiters are better equipped to attract, identify, and qualify veteran candidates (who are begging for their skills and experience to be accepted in droves), you just might be able to move the needle when it comes to your veteran hiring initiatives.
All the elements listed above will help your entire organization become part of the effort to attract and welcome highly skilled veterans. But you don’t need to implement them all at once to develop a team of expert veteran recruiters. Monster recommends starting with a Veteran Recruiter Training Session to get everyone within your recruiting team prepared for a steady and successful path to veteran hiring.