Diversity Recruiting

Your Company Needs a Veteran Recruiting Strategy. Here’s Why.

It’s no secret that a veteran recruiting strategy can bring a ton of value to your business.
But, if you’ve been in talent acquisition for a while, you’ll probably agree that many recruiters often overlook vets when working on tough-to-fill jobs.
Whether it’s because you don’t have the right tools to properly identify veteran candidates or maybe don’t quite understand how military experience translates to civilian careers, the truth is this:
You might be spending your days digging for that purple squirrel, when the perfect veteran candidate has been sitting right under your nose all along.
In this post, I’ll show you exactly how veterans benefit your business and what you can do to jumpstart your veteran recruiting strategy today.
But first, let’s dive into the value veterans bring to your organization:

Why Hire Veterans?

There are plenty of reasons to implement a veteran recruiting strategy, but perhaps none quite as powerful as this one:
Hiring veterans feels good.
Think about it: You’re providing opportunity to someone who risked their life to fight for our freedom and protect our rights.
Who doesn’t want that?

But, it’s not just about good vibes — hiring veterans also benefits the productivity of your business as well.
That’s because veterans possess skills and experience that can have a positive impact on the bottom line of your organization.
Here’s how:

#1. Veterans have proven leadership experience.

Look, everyone wants to hire a leader.
Even if you’re not hiring for a “leadership position,” I’m sure you want all of your employees to know how to delegate work, team up with various personalities, and inspire others toward results.
And that’s precisely why including veterans in your diversity hiring strategy is such a good idea:
By design, the military teaches these leadership skills. And they learn it in the most high-stress environments possible.
It explains why the majority of companies who partook in a veteran hiring research study said they perceived veterans to have especially strong leadership skills.
And also why 93% of post-9/11 veterans are interested in serving as a mentor to your other employees.
It’s because soldiers in the armed services learn important leadership skills faster than in the common workforce.
As Sergeant Jon Davis, US Marines, explains it:
“The military doesn’t just educate their members on the practical ways to manage behavior, such as the discipline and communication methods. Leadership is truly studied on the academic and theoretical level. More so than in other organization, this theoretical and practical leadership are put in practice as a matter of survival.”
So, in short: veterans learn how to lead for survival. And they can translate those skills to help lead toward your business goals, too.
But, it’s not just their experience as leaders that should draw your attention — their ability to work as part of a team is pretty amazing, too.

#2. Veterans Have Top-Notch Teamwork and Collaboration Skills

In business, teamwork and collaboration often play a critical role in the success of a project.
But in the armed forces, the lives of your fellow soldiers can depend on it.
And as a result, the communication skills of veterans are generally best-in-class. The ability to motivate a team and give direction is part of it. But, veterans also know how to understand complex team dynamics and drive results through clear, concise actions.
Lieutenant Colonel Stewart Welch sums it up nicely over at The Strategy Bridge:
“Effective leadership hinges on conveying trust in subordinates and peers. If people understand the importance of the mission, and they know the importance of their individual contributions to the mission, then they will perform beyond expectations. Joint teams operate at the speed of trust, where the whole becomes greater than the sum of the parts.This is what the American military does better than anybody on earth, and it demands effective communication.”
The demand for great communication comes from the need to make fast, smart decisions under some serious pressure in the military. Which leads to our next reason you need a veteran recruiting strategy:

#3. Vets Understand Responsibility and What It Means to Deliver Under Pressure

Look, we’ve all been there before: you make a bad hire and all of a sudden have an employee who never seems to take their job seriously.
They show up late…
They’re lackadaisical when it comes to completing assignments…
Their attention to detail sucks…
And they just make you want to do this:

Well, here’s the good news:
Veterans are often the exact opposite.
That’s because the military instills responsibility in soldiers by forcing them to follow a strict code and adhere to policy.
There’s no room for slacking off — and veterans bring that same focus and responsibility to their jobs after their service has ended.
It’s the reason why 20% of veterans in the workforce are director level or above: their skills and experience help them accelerate into leadership.

(image source)
So, hiring a veteran today means hiring a leader for tomorrow. And not just any leader — a leader with a deep understanding of how the world works:

#4. Veterans Offer a Unique Global Perspective

It’s a simple fact: whether a veteran was a combat soldier, engineer, or in operations, they were all taught the same thing: achieve the goal above all else.
That means overlooking differences and working alongside team members of a different race, religion, gender, or ethnicity in the name of completing the mission.
The task at hand is the one and only priority and veterans understand that in order to accomplish their goal, they need to work together as one.
And it’s precisely that global point-of-view that makes veterans so conducive to an increasingly diverse workforce: their mission-first attitude means they look at the skills and experience people bring to the team before their race, gender, or any other differences.
Convinced that veterans can add tremendous value to your organization?
Wondering why you haven’t been hiring them all along?
Well then, read on:

Here’s Why You’re Missing Out on Veteran Hires

Sure, there are already plenty of companies making a big push to hire veteran talent across the U.S., but here’s the good news:
If you don’t have a veteran recruiting strategy yet, it’s not too late to start.
But to get there, you need to first understand some of the reasons why you’re missing out now:

#1. You’re Not Sure Where Veterans Fit or Which Questions to Ask

Remember when you started recruiting and first learned how to interview candidates?
You probably had a specific set of questions you learned to help you identify whether a candidate has the right skills for the job.
Well, guess what?
It’s no different with veteran hiring. But, you do need to learn a different set of questions.
Think about it: instead of asking job or task-specific questions, it makes sense for you to ask questions about a veteran’s background that draw out their experiences, and then spend time analyzing how those experiences might add value to your work environment.
Try these questions to get you started:

• How would you describe your military roles in civilian terms?
• Looking at your recent military work experiences: what key knowledge, skills, abilities, and experiences would you say are most valuable?
• What was your primary mission and what did it take to accomplish it?
• Give an example of a time something didn’t go as planned and what you did/learned from the experience.

(Need a few more? Here are some additional questions.)
You might also try checking out the amazing skills translator from Military.com to find out how a veteran’s skills match up with a job within your organization.

(image source)
And it’s not just the hard skills you should be looking for, but the soft skills veterans have developed, too:

#2. You’re Focused Too Much on Hard Skills (Instead of Paying Attention to a Veteran’s Valuable Soft Skills)

If you read our previous blog post, you know there’s a big difference between a traditional recruiter and a true strategic talent advisor.
And one of those differences is that a talent advisor takes time to sit with their hiring manager to understand the “must-have” skills versus the skills that can be taught to the right candidate.
Those conversations become even more important when it comes to a veteran recruiting strategy. Many vets may not have the “hard skills” that qualify them for an open position at your company. But that doesn’t mean they can’t learn them.
Part of a successful veteran hiring strategy is understanding that if a skill can be taught, it’s worth investing the time in training and developing veterans with big potential.
This is especially true considering that the military pays for education, so veterans have the resources available to learn any of the necessary skills.

#3. You Don’t Have the Tools to Efficiently Uncover Veteran Talent

Of course, in order to hire veterans, you actually need to find them first.
Sure, you could go through the laborious task of writing out long, military-focused Boolean strings to identify service members.
But frankly, it’s too time consuming. And now that SeekOut allows you to identify military veterans from over 100 million U.S. profiles with just the click of a button, it’s unnecessary, too.
Take a look:

Pretty cool, right?
So now, with the tools and skills in place to build a successful veteran recruiting strategy, there’s really only one other hurdle to overcome:

#4. Your Company Needs to Prioritize a Veteran Recruiting Strategy

If you know your company doesn’t already have a game plan for recruiting veterans, take it upon yourself as a talent advisor to speak to your leadership team about making veteran hiring an initiative.
And then, with leadership approval, promote your company as one that welcomes veteran talent.
Why?
Because your biggest problem might be perception.
Veterans are concerned about their own job hunt. In fact, 74% believe it would take them longer to find a job than a non-veteran with the same level of work experience.
When it comes to not applying to or accepting jobs, common conceptions for veterans are:

• Disappointment with salary or benefits
• Doubting their own education or relatable experience
• Selling themselves in an interview
• Discrimination
• Negative reviews about the company

(image source)
So, the more you can advertise that your company welcomes veteran talent, the more likely they will be drawn to your organization.
Your brand matters. Make it a point to highlight that you offer the resources, tools, and environment that will allow military veterans to thrive.

Conclusion

Veterans offer both the hard and soft skills that can drive the results your business needs.
And that’s why the best thing you can do for your business right now might be to hone in on your veteran recruiting strategy.

With competition for top talent at an all-time high, you probably know that diversity hiring is one of the best ways to expand your candidate pool.
Think about it: focusing on skills and experience above race, religion, gender, age, sexual preference, or physical disability means you get a leg up on finding the best possible person for the job. Period.
And that’s not even the best stuff: Diverse candidates open your business up to new perspectives, opportunities, and better connections to the communities you serve.

Oh, and did I mention diversity hiring makes your business more profitable, too?

That’s right — here’s the first diversity statistic for you:

#1. Companies with a diverse workforce are 35 percent more likely to outperform those without diversity initiatives.

[Source: McKinsey]
I’m sure you intuitively understand that diversity hiring is a good thing. But seeing the actual impact really cements the idea that establishing a diverse workforce can have a dramatic impact on your business.
According to a study conducted by McKinsey, companies in the top 25 percent for gender diversity are 15 percent more likely to outperform companies in the lowest quartile. When looking at ethnic diversity, that gap expands to 35 percent.

Your action for 2018:

Start the conversation. If you’re in a leadership position at your company, sit down with your talent acquisition team to find out what you can do to target more diverse candidates. If you’re not in leadership, bring these statistics to your boss and make a case for why diversity hiring needs to become a bigger piece of your recruitment strategy.

#2. 72% of tech founders believe in the importance of diversity, but only 12% have five or more diverse employees in tech roles.

[Source: Techstars]

Most tech companies recognize the importance of establishing a diverse workforce. But, there’s a clear gap between understanding and action.
As Techstars notes in their recent Diversity & Inclusion Report, many young tech companies struggle in finding the most cost-effective ways to attract and retain employees from underrepresented groups.
Of course, sourcing tools that help recruiters identify diverse candidates are one simple solution. But, there are also larger initiatives at work to help organizations with a commitment to diversity hiring succeed.
Organizations like Tech Inclusion and Paradigm for Parity are working to improve access to diverse candidates for forward-thinking companies around the world. And it’s working: this next diversity statistic demonstrates that we’re taking steps in the right direction.

Your action for 2018:

Get involved with organizations like Tech Inclusion and Paradigm for Parity. Research the tools and strategies diversity leaders leverage to promote a more diverse workforce at their companies. Turn ideas into action in 2018.

#3. 70+ companies published gender diversity hiring targets in 2017.

[Source: Forbes]
If last year was any indication of the way diversity hiring is headed, 2018 should be an exciting year, particularly when it comes to elevating women in the workplace.
According to Forbes, there are now 70+ companies across all industries that made pledges to gender diversity hiring in 2017. Here are some highlights:

• AOL set the goal of women making up half of their leadership team by 2020.
• Twitter upped their diversity hiring targets in all categories (including women in tech roles and women in leadership) after some big success in meeting 2016’s goals.  
• BHP Billiton — the world’s top mining company — wants women to comprise 50 percent of its entire workforce by 2025.

Of course, these are just goals — not quotas. There’s no guarantee AOL, Twitter, or any of the other 70+ companies will actually hit these targets. But, as Georgene Huang, CEO of Fairygodboss puts it:
“Quantifiable goals, transparency and measurement are all important signals that an employer takes diversity seriously.”
And taking it seriously is a tremendous leap forward for diverse candidates.

Your action for 2018:

Based on these diversity statistics, set a goal for your own company’s diversity hiring in 2018. Publish it on your company blog, promote it on your social channels, and get the word out that your organization values diverse talent.

#4. 92 percent of tech founders know about unconscious biases in hiring. But, only 45 percent are doing anything about it.

[Source: Techstar]
The average job opening receives 250 applications.
And your average recruiter spends just six seconds reviewing each of those resumes.
Crazy, right?
With numbers like that, even the most well-intentioned recruiter is likely to have some unconscious bias dictating who they move forward to an interview and who gets left behind.
(Think you’re immune to unconscious biases? Try out this test from Harvard and see how implicit biases exist even where you least expect them.)
The good news is that most companies recognize that. The bad news is, less than half of them are doing anything about it.
And that’s a big problem. As Christine Del Castillo explains it over on the Workable blog:
“Due to human nature, we’re all unintentionally biased and more skilled at hiring people who are similar to us. If we don’t put the right processes in place, bias can snowball into discriminating against qualified people and undermining diversity initiatives.”
There’s an interesting study that came out of Harvard and Princeton about unconscious bias in symphony orchestra auditions.
The study put auditioning players behind a screen so that they would be judged solely on their playing ability and not who they are.
The results?
The screen increased the hiring of female players by 30 to 55 percent.
And while you may not be able to put a literal “screen” between you and the candidates you source, there are definitely some easy ways to reduce your unconscious bias in recruiting.
Case in point: SeekOut’s Blind Hiring Mode.

Recruiters searching the 100 million+ profiles within SeekOut have the option to hide information on a candidate’s profile that may reveal their gender, race, or ethnicity with the flip of a switch.

Here’s what a search for software engineers in San Francisco looks like before turning on Blind Hiring Mode:

And here’s what it looks like after:

We replaced profile photos with adorable, gender-ambiguous kittens. We abbreviated names down to the initials. And we dramatically reduced the opportunity for unconscious bias as you give each profile your standard six-second scan.

Your action for 2018:

Face the facts on unconscious bias: every talent acquisition leader needs to put defenses in place that give all candidates an equal opportunity regardless of their gender, race, ethnicity, religion, sexual preference, or disability. If you’re looking for a good place to start, request a demo of SeekOut and see how Blind Hiring Mode works.

#5. Military veteran unemployment reached a historic low in 2016 of 5.1 percent. But even still, 74 percent of post-9/11 veterans believe a civilian candidate with the same work experience would get hired before them.

[Source: Bureau of Labor and Statistics; iCims]
Military veterans face many of the same discriminatory biases that have historically plagued women and minorities in the workforce. And yet, until very recently, veterans weren’t often a part of diversity hiring initiatives.
In 2011, the unemployment rate for post-9/11 veterans was 12.1 percent. Luckily, that number has dropped dramatically on the back of veteran hiring initiatives from companies like:

• Amazon, who pledged to hire 25,000 military veterans and their spouses by 2021.
• Starbucks, who made a similar pledge of 25,000 hires by 2025.  
• Sprint, who joined forces with 50 other U.S. telecommunications companies in pledging to hire a combined 100,000 veterans by 2021.

[For a full list of the 25 best companies for veteran hiring, check out this blog post from Diversity Journal.]
However, despite initiatives from top companies and the dropping unemployment rate, many veterans still feel insecure about their post-service job prospects and the existence of negative biases in the recruitment processes of many companies.
A report from iCims showed that many veteran insecurities about getting hired center around a recruiter or hiring manager’s lack of understanding about their experience or how their military background translates into valuable skills in the workplace:

(image source)
And according to Hiring Our Heroes — an initiative from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation — those fears aren’t entirely unfounded:

Only 9 percent of companies formally train recruiters and hiring managers on how to relate to military veterans in the hiring process.  

And 49 percent of veterans said they have experienced bias in a hiring process before.

Your action for 2018:

Include veterans as part of your diversity hiring initiatives and implement specialized training on how to understand military experience and relate to veterans with your recruiting team.

Now it’s your turn:

These five diversity statistics should help give you an idea of the current landscape for diversity hiring. While many companies are doing great work in an effort to increase the number of diverse candidates in their recruitment pipeline, there’s still a lot of work to be done.
What are your diversity initiatives for 2018?
 
Sources:

• “Why diversity matters,” Mickinsey; https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/why-diversity-matters
• “Diversity and Inclusion in Technology,” Techstars; http://diversity.techstars.com/the-data
• “Seeking Women: 70+ Companies That Have Set Gender Diversity Targets,” Forbes; https://www.forbes.com/sites/georgenehuang/2017/02/14/seeking-women-40-companies-that-have-set-gender-diversity-targets/#3678d8deb112
• “Employment Situation of Veterans,” Bureau of Labor and Statistics; https://www.bls.gov/news.release/vet.toc.htm
• “The Veteran Hiring Report: What US Employers Need to Know” iCims; https://www.icims.com/sites/www.icims.com/files/public/Hiring%20Insights%20-%20Veteran%20Survey%20Report%20Final%20.pdf