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A Strategy for Veteran Hiring

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A strategy for veteran hiring may seem difficult to develop, but you don’t need to create one from scratch. However, first your company needs to commit to employing veterans and realize the added value this population of jobseekers can bring to your organization.

Veterans bring unique and sought after qualities to an organization. After leaving their domestic and/or international deployments, veterans conclude their military careers with a wealth of job skills and professional experience that successfully translates to the civilian world. If your organization does not have a strategy for veteran hiring , now is the time to create one.

Why Hiring Veterans Makes Sense

Not only is hiring veterans good for an organization’s culture, but there are also financial benefits to hiring veterans. First off, employers that hire veterans might be eligible for the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC). But there other veteran employment programs as well, such as:

Non-Paid Work Experience Program

The Non-Paid Work Experience program allows local, state, and federal government offices to temporarily employ a veteran without having the position count against the agency’s full-time equivalent allocation.

Veteran Readiness and Employment

Veteran Readiness and Employment (VR&E) pays the veteran a monthly subsistence allowance while the veteran learns valuable work-related skills and experience. Through this Special Employer Incentive program, employers receive an incentive to hire veterans who face extraordinary obstacles to employment, which includes reimbursement of as much as 50 percent of the Veteran’s salary for up to six months.

VR&E can provide specialized tools, equipment, and workplace modifications to eligible veterans allowing them to perform their duties. Through the on-the-job training program, VR&E subsidizes veterans’ salaries so employers pay an apprentice-level wage while training veterans. As the veteran progresses, the employer pays a larger portion of the Veteran’s salary, until the training program is completed and the employer is paying the full salary.

Veteran Hiring Events

There are various events that can help introduce an organization to this skilled jobseeker population. Connect with your state government’s workforce development board to learn what hiring events are held for veterans in your state and in the states where you hire. The National Labor Exchange has an interactive map that will connect veterans and employers to employment resources.

Follow the events going on within the Department of Veterans Affairs. Consider having your organization participate in a federal resource program such as the Department of Defense’s SkillBridge program, which connects soon-to-be-discharged veterans with employment opportunities. VETS2INDUSTRY also offers employer strategies for veterans recruitment and support for profit and non-profit organizations.

Building a Veteran Hiring Process

Ideally, an organization should have a dedicated member of the HR team focused on veteran and veteran family recruiting and support – bonus if the dedicated HR team member is a former military member or military spouse. If senior management is unsure of the need for a dedicated veterans recruiter, here are ten reasons why your organization should hire veterans. The Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) understands the need for HR specialization and education towards veterans so SHRM, in partnership with Comcast NBCUniversal, created the SHRM Veterans at Work certificate program.

Translate Veteran Skills into Civilian Skills

Resume writing can be cumbersome even for the most linguistic jobseekers. Translating military responsibilities into civilian language can be challenging for veterans. HR resume screeners need to review veterans’ resumes with supportive resources, if needed, since veterans’ accomplishments might be communicated in military lingo. To help novice and seasoned HR staff better understand the accomplishments and successes of a veteran in their particular military roles, CareerOneStop offers an online civilian/military occupation translator.

Recruiting Veterans

Recruiting veterans can be completed in a variety of ways. Ensure that your organization vocalizes and adheres to the mission of providing support to veteran employees. This can be done by boldly expressing your organization’s commitment through your organization’s website and social media channels. Coming from a team focused environment, veterans will be more interested in finding another team-based culture.

Onsite and virtual job fairs are excellent recruitment events to help connect with prospective veteran employees. Promote your jobs on veteran specific job boards and on social media. Get involved with the veteran community to connect with candidates. PsychArmor offers online training modules to learn about veterans’ needs. Specifically, they provide organizations a robust training module specializing in creating a veteran hiring program.

One item to keep in mind is that not only is an organization recruiting the veteran themselves, but also the veteran’s spouse. Don’t forget to include military spouses in recruitment. The United States Department of Labor provides specific resources to recruit and support military spouses. For active duty military families in particular, remote jobs are of primary interest to military spouses as a military family might be relocated often for new assignments; however, remote jobs offer the ability for the spouse to work uninterrupted anywhere.

It’s About More than Hiring

Veterans have risked so much for our daily freedoms. They have sacrificed safety and comfort so we can have that. We can never fully return the favor to veterans for their sacrifice and courage; however, let’s support them in their civilian endeavors and provide them with an opportunity to utilize their skills in a role that fits both the company and the jobseeker.

 

ExactHire HR Software offers the ability to streamline the applicant process and tag applicants’ skills and characteristics, such as applicant veteran status, for you and your team’s convenience in applicant screening and candidate communication. For more information about our solutions, please contact us.

 

 

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

Should I Ask This on the Employment Application?

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Useful Employment Application Guidelines

Whether the positions an organization is seeking to fill are temporary or permanent, it is important for Human Resources representatives to reflect on the content included in their organization’s employment application(s) to determine if the content is within the scope of fair hiring practices. In this blog, I’ll identify a few employment application audit ideas to help you determine whether you need to eliminate or rephrase any questions that could lead to discriminatory hiring practices.  Please note: ExactHire does not provide legal counsel. If you are in doubt about the compliance of your employment application, please speak with your organization’s legal team.

Download our hiring process questions guide

Background Check Guidance

Many companies complete background checks on the individuals who have been offered employment. For a background check to be completed accurately, the social security number and date of birth are necessary to properly identify the individual. However, an individual’s social security number and date of birth should NOT be included in the application in any format; this highly sensitive information can be collected from the individual at the time of background check consent. If a minimum age is necessary for employment in a particular position, an organization may ask if the applicant is 16, 18, 21 or older (or whatever the legal requirement may be for that position type). No questions regarding the years of attendance should be asked on an application or in an interview.

Avoid Questions Related to Religion

Religious affiliation is one element that should not be asked or discussed in the hiring process. Even though many religious organizations have events and practices which occur regularly throughout the year, for certain religions, there are increased numbers of worship activities in the winter season. An employer can specify the hours/days/shifts for the vacant position but also include that the employer provides reasonable accommodations for religious practices that do not pose an undue hardship towards the employer.

Language Fluency and Employment Applications

Another component that needs careful phrasing within an employment application involves any questions related to language(s) spoken. If relevant to the position for which the applicant is applying, an employer can ask about language(s) spoken, read or written. If speaking, reading or writing another language(s) are irrelevant skills for the position, there is no need to ask for that information so it is best to omit that question. One of the many features of ExactHire’s HireCentric applicant tracking system is that you may create groups of job specific screening questions where an organization can ask applicants questions focused and relevant to the particular position.

Asking About Prior Military Experience

Military veterans offer a tremendous amount of knowledge and skill that can provide long-term benefits to your organization. These brave men and women are seeking to use their skills to enhance an organization’s growth, and if you are looking to start a veteran-focused hiring initiative within your organization, the Department of Labor is ready to help. Organizations can benefit directly in the social and interpersonal capacity, along with the financial capacity, when veterans are on the organization’s payroll. On an employment application, an employer can ask if an individual was in the military but dates and type of discharge should not be asked. An applicant should include the training and skills acquired through the military as professional experience.

Restrictions on Applicant Criminal History Information

With the Ban the Box movement, many cities and states have enacted some form of legislation that affects how and when an employer can ask an applicant any questions related to convictions. The following states listed below have enacted both public and private sector Ban the Box legislation which means an applicant typically cannot be asked about convictions on an employment application or prior to the interview stage of the hiring process.

  • Hawaii
  • Massachusetts
  • Minnesota
  • Rhode Island
  • Illinois
  • New Jersey
  • Oregon
  • Connecticut (Effective January 2017)
  • Vermont (Effective July 2017)

There are exceptions within the legislation that may allow an employer to ask an applicant about convictions early in the hiring process so please consult your organization’s legal team to see if you qualify. To keep abreast of the Ban the Box movement, visit the National Employment Law Project (NELP).

Professional Organization Membership

Many employers view membership in professional organizations as beneficial to the growth of an individual. It is important to encourage individuals to pursue lifelong learning opportunities; however, these opportunities should not negatively impact an applicant’s pursuit of employment. On an employment application and during the interview process, it is important for an employer to seek only job-related memberships and service and avoid asking anything about memberships that could reflect ethnicity, gender, religion and other protected information.

Test Your Own Employment Application

Organizations periodically need to take a moment to reflect on the content of their current employment application(s) and peruse it from a potential applicant’s eyes. We encourage our clients to periodically test their employment applications so they can determine if any changes need to be made. Changes to the content of your HireCentric ATS employment application(s) must be made by a member of the ExactHire Support Team.

ExactHire: At Your Service

At ExactHire, we take pride in doing our best to ensure our clients’ satisfaction.  After you speak with your legal counsel, and if you and your legal team decide changes need to be made to your employment application(s) for compliance, the ExactHire team will work with you to create a new application with the verbiage you specify. Also, one of the benefits of using ExactHire’s HireCentric software as your applicant tracking system is that you can create multiple employment applications, each specific to your needs or hiring practices within a particular state. If you are an existing client looking for more information about updating your current employment application(s) and/or creating additional employment applications, please email support@exacthire.com, and let us know your needs.

The Benefits of Hiring Military Veterans as Employees

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Veterans. Men and women who proudly serve our country and sacrifice for the freedoms in which we hold dearly. Once these brave individuals complete their overseas or domestic service, often they return to the United States to seek employment in the full-time or part-time capacity. With plans to reduce the number of soldiers deployed overseas by approximately 50%, many returning soldiers will be seeking employment, and this population of highly qualified jobseekers is not to be ignored. Veterans are a population of jobseekers that bring unique and sought after qualities to an organization. The benefits of hiring veterans are numerous, and here are a few of the main reasons to hire a veteran for your company’s vacant position.

Some employers are afraid of hiring veterans because of fears of future deployments or negative stereotypes (can’t take orders, PTSD, etc.); these fears can be appeased. Military cutbacks are reducing the number of deployments so military members are not leaving nearly as often. Reserve and Guard members should inform you of their current status of military membership and potential deployments so plans can be made to lessen any inconveniences to a company resulting from a deployment. Military soldiers are accustomed to taking orders and also demonstrating leadership skills from their training and on-the-job experience. They understand rank and demonstrate respect to management.

Not only can veterans enhance company productivity with their specialized skillsets which can lead to increased company profit, there can be financial perks from the federal government for hiring veterans as well. Another piece of legislation to familiarize oneself with is the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA) which requires covered federal government contractors and subcontractors to take affirmative action to employ and advance in employment specified categories of veterans protected by the Act and prohibits discrimination against such veterans. For a more thorough explanation of the provisions of this act, please visit http://www.dol.gov/compliance/laws/comp-vevraa.htm. Did you know that in ExactHire’s HireCentric ATS software, employers can collect EEOC and Affirmative Action data information easily to simplify the hiring and reporting processes?

Where to Find Veterans to Employ

There are various events that can help introduce you to this skilled job seeking population. Talk with your state government’s workforce development board to learn what hiring events are held for veterans in your state and states where you hire. Follow the events going on within the Department of Veterans Affairs. Have a member of your HR team actively recruit job seeking veterans. For employers in the Central Indiana area, consider attending Operation Hire a Hoosier Veteran on April 16th at the Indiana State Fairgrounds.

Veterans. They have made many sacrifices for us. We can never fully return the favor to them for their sacrifice and courage; however, let’s provide them with an opportunity to utilize their skills in a role that fits both the company and the jobseeker. When job matches of this sort occur, productivity is not the only thing that increases. Patriotism thrives as well.

ExactHire provides web-based applicant tracking software, as well as onboarding software and employee assessments. For more information about our solutions, please visit our resources page or contact us.

Image credit: Remembering the 65th Anniversary of Operation Market by The U.S. Army (contact)

Have You Thanked a Veteran Lately? Have You Hired a Veteran Lately?

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It’s no secret that I have a huge amount of respect and admiration for the men and women – past, present, and future – that make up our Military. You will see that every opportunity I have to pay back our military, I will do it without complaint. It boils down to this one sentence, “They risk their lives so that I may be free.” There are very few instances where I would willingly go into harm’s way to save those I do not know. These men and women do it every day.

As we approach Veterans Day, it is a good moment to stop and think about how you thank Veterans for what they have done, are doing, and will do in the days to come.

Have you ever considered hiring a Veteran? Yes, it is wonderful to personally thank any Veteran that you may see. And it is valuable to host charity collections for Veterans. But how about considering a Military person as an employee?

Maybe you are hesitant because of their experience level. In one of our recent Facebook shares, the article discusses hiring ‘under-qualified’ employees. Many military members have been taught skills that are transferable; however, some of them may seem underqualified at first glance because they may have used military-type language on their resumes that doesn’t necessarily translate well for hiring managers with civilian workplace experience. Keep this in mind when looking at their application. Do you need someone who is able to keep calm and think strategically when things are going haywire around them? Does this sound like any experience the military may have taught a potential employee? If you have ever thought about bidding for a government contract or need employees with government clearance (particularly if you are subject to affirmative action plan reporting), hiring veterans helps your company distinguish itself from others.

Did you also know that many applicants will not market themselves as having served in the military? Some find it an honor and part of their duty to serve America and therefore do not want to put it “front and center.” Others are worried about any negative connotation an employer may have about veterans. If you find that there is a break in employment history, you may want to ask if they served because military service is not always obvious. Many of our clients ask if an applicant has ever served in the military as part of their standard employment application in their applicant tracking software portal. This can help identify a veteran who has not made his/her service known in other parts of the application.

Forbes released an article November 9th titled, “5 Reasons Leaders Hire Veterans”. The author, Meghan Biro, did an excellent job at pinpointing and expanding on these skills: leadership, grace under pressure, performance and results-oriented, self-sacrifice, and communication and goal-setting.

A program that was started last year by JPMorgan Chase called the 100,000 Jobs Mission helps connect companies and Veterans. Their goal is to hire 100,000 veterans by 2020. You can sign up on their site to help with the mission. Your company’s logo will be displayed on their page and it will be linked to your career site.

Hiring a veteran can be a great opportunity to gain a loyal, dedicated, hard-working employee. But make sure you are hiring for optimal job fit first and foremost. It is not good for you or the veteran to hire the wrong person for the wrong job. Taking a second look at a veteran’s application is a good way to say thank you on this Veterans Day.