Build a Veterans Brigade in Your Workforce

Incorporating military veterans into your workforce is a strategic decision that can boost your company’s skills pool. 

Often private organizations equate veterans’ backgrounds to careers in management or leadership. 

Military veterans operate with complicated equipment, make mission-critical decisions in high-stress situations, work with culturally diverse teams, solve complex issues with scarce resources, and sacrifice time to perform. 

Considering these points, talent management teams hiring for roles across industries would be well served to consider veterans. 

Why Military Veterans Can Become Valuable Tech Talent 

Military veterans have the soft skills that talent management needs and many have expertise in technology. 

For this reason, veterans comprise 15% of Boeing’s workforce as they have been hiring them for years. Veterans bring in the technical skills, diverse viewpoints, and unique experiences that make them valuable for Boeing and tech-intensive organizations. 

As per Draup’s research, here are a few traits that may come in handy for talent management: 

1. Veterans are disciplined and resilient taskmasters. Give them a deadline and watch them complete the task. 
2. Veterans understand collaboration and teamwork as their work necessitates coordination between functions and ranks. 
3. Veterans have an eye for detail and understand the value of following a process. 
4. Veterans have an agile and entrepreneurial mindset. They complete tasks due to a strong sense of determination and consistency. 
5. Veterans can function under stress and pressure, invaluable to staying on target, even in challenging circumstances. 

Why Hire and Manage Veterans in Your Workforce 

Fostering a workforce that embraces military veterans can lead to:

1. Enhanced adaptability and problem-solving skills:

Veterans have traits such as adaptability and teamwork. By connecting them with the specific requirements of tech roles, reskilling allows them to reach their full potential. 

They can adapt to their new positions and minimize the time it takes for them to become productive. 

They gain the knowledge and tools to feel secure and increase their self-assurance and job satisfaction.

2. Strengthen company culture:

When you have a well-defined talent management policy to bring veterans on board, it will be a force multiplier for your company’s missions and goals and strengthen company culture. 

Candidates seek to work at organizations with well-established corporate cultures. You will be able to attract and retain the talent you need to grow.

3. Improve employee morale and engagement:

A strong company culture and collaborative teams boost employee morale, leading to increased job satisfaction, productivity, motivation, and work quality. 

High morale fosters greater employee engagement, making it easier to attract and retain top talent, ultimately enhancing your company’s profitability.

4. Enhance your Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts:

Hiring veterans brings diverse experiences to your team. Diverse companies, particularly those with diverse leaders, tend to be more profitable. 

Veterans, having worked with diverse groups during service, enhance inclusivity. This attracts and retains talent while aligning with DEI efforts. 

Up/Reskilling Veterans to Augment Your Workforce 

Talent management must support veterans and provide up/reskilling opportunities to realize their full potential: 

1. Recognize the existing skills: Talent management teams must assess each veteran employee’s unique skills and talents to know their relevance. This assessment will assist in creating training courses to fill in knowledge gaps.
2. Customize training programs: Talent management must address the gaps between military service and responsibilities in various roles. They must create courses that augment their technical knowledge, skills, and industry-specific expertise and skills.
3. Provide on-the-job training: Talent management must assign veterans to tech experts to accelerate their learning and integration. Veterans’ learning curves can be sped up by this practical approach, which enables them to put their training to use on the job.
4. Assign online courses and certifications: Talent management must provide access to online learning opportunities to give veterans essential next-generation knowledge and abilities.

The objective of talent management must be to inspire veterans to succeed in their new careers and make significant contributions in various tech roles. 

When talent management involves veteran-inclusive policies, veterans can align their military experiences with the demands of various tech roles. 

Talent management teams can leverage Talent Intelligence platforms like Draup for Talent to assist veterans in their reskilling and upskilling journeys. 

Its data-driven insights, personalized training materials, and market-specific knowledge can help them flourish in tech roles and provide a mutually beneficial scenario for both veterans and organizations.