Recruiting Veterans: An Employer's Guide to Tapping Military Talent

Why Hire Veterans? 

Veterans bring a wealth of skills and qualities to the civilian workforce that can benefit employers significantly. Ex-forces personnel often possess skills that set them apart from their peers. Soft skills such as organisation, timekeeping and discipline are hard-coded by military experience and culture. In addition, almost all have NVQ or degree accreditations and often have practical experience in subjects like engineering, easily transferrable for similar civilian roles.

Military personnel develop a diverse range of capabilities during their service. They can be surgeons, dentists, cartographers, HR and payroll experts, logisticians, drivers, vehicle mechanics, aircraft engineers, analysts, security specialists, IT professionals, communications experts, and more. This diversity of skills makes veterans adaptable to various civilian roles.

The business benefits of hiring veterans include:

1. Strong technical skills - With over 200 trades in the Army alone, many veterans are trained and experienced in a range of technical roles, including engineering, project management, HR, policing, transport, logistics, IT and communications – all transferable to the civilian workplace.
2. Valuable attitudes and adaptability - Veterans bring valuable attitudes and behaviours to the commercial workforce, such as loyalty, mission focus, willingness to accept responsibility, strong work ethic, resilience and a positive 'can-do' attitude. They are accustomed to working in highly pressurised environments and know how to act decisively and calmly.
3. Lower turnover and absenteeism - Many employers report increased loyalty and engagement amongst their ex-military employees. A survey of 50 employers carried out by Deloitte showed that 76% of employers said that veterans tend to have lower rates of sickness absence when compared to their non-veteran workforce and are likely to be promoted more quickly. 40% also said veterans stay for longer.
4. Skills gap solutions - Recent research strongly suggests the skills which many veterans possess are a close match for skill shortages that employers face today.

Challenges in Recruiting Veterans

Despite their valuable skills, veterans face unique challenges in transitioning to civilian employment:

Barriers that hinder recruiting ex-forces often appear at the first stages of the recruitment process. Many armed forces have limited knowledge of the working world outside the military bubble. Some ex-services personnel won't have written a CV or experienced an interview since they joined the armed forces at the age of 16. And challenges such as translating some of the transferable skills they've learnt in the armed forces into something that would appeal to an employer are not to be underestimated.

According to Ethan Diver, a solicitor at Taylor Walton, employers should consider reviewing their recruitment processes to ensure they remain accessible to veterans. A recruitment campaign targeted at veterans can be useful. However, businesses should remain conscious of their duty to operate recruitment practices in a non-discriminatory way.

Creating a Forces-Friendly Recruitment Strategy

Here are key steps to establish an effective veteran recruitment programme:

1. Preparation and Outreach

• Partner with specialist organisations: Engage with the Career Transition Partnership (CTP), which provides support to individuals leaving service and connects employers to those looking for work. This includes support to employers in advertising vacancies in a way that is accessible and understandable to service users of the CTP.
• Become 'forces friendly': Organisations may choose to sign a voluntary pledge, known as the Armed Forces Covenant, to demonstrate support for veterans.
• Host insight days: Hold regular events where veterans can learn about your industry and available roles. For example, NHS England runs a series of 'information days' across the country advertising the 300+ career paths available in the NHS.

2. Adapting Your Recruitment Process

• Create clear job descriptions: Draw on the expertise of HR staff and veteran employees to create clear, transparent job descriptions to ensure you get the right candidates for your positions.
• Train recruiters: Ensure that hiring managers and recruiters understand how to interpret military experience. Standard Life runs a series of 'teach-ins' where ex-military personnel and charities help the recruitment team to understand the skills and talents that veterans offer.
• Focus on potential, not just experience: Assess military candidates based on ability and potential, not experience. Develop competency-based assessments that focus on transferable skills.

3. Supporting Veterans After Hiring

Once an employer has recruited a veteran into their workforce, they should then consider how they can best support their wellbeing, alongside their career development. This minimises the risk of associated problems – such as sickness and absenteeism – and maximises the prospects of retention. It also helps ensure that the employer meets its duty of care to do all that it can to support its employees' health, safety and wellbeing.

Key retention strategies include:

• Mentoring programmes: Mentoring is an ideal way to help veterans transition into civilian life, while simultaneously providing them with workplace support and guidance.
• Peer networks: A strong internal support network – such as a peer network – can also go a long way to helping veterans transition into the civilian workplace. It also provides them with an opportunity to share their experiences and provide their own support for the benefit of other staff.
• Mental health resources: Employers should ensure that appropriate mental health assistance is always available, for example, through an employee assistance programme or counselling services. A confidential and external resource such as this may be particularly beneficial given the number of veterans who say they find it difficult to ask for mental health support.

Success Stories and Best Practices

Many organisations have successfully implemented veteran recruitment programmes:

Virgin Money's veterans’ network, Vets@Virgin, runs several 'Strive2Thrive' workshops each year in conjunction with CTP to support veterans' transition into the civilian workforce. These external workshops include CV reviews and individual advice, along with introductions to some of the cultural differences between the civilian and military workplaces.

Fujitsu has spent time reviewing its recruitment process to identify and remove any potential barriers that exclude ex-military talent. This has led to the creation of a capability matrix, which helps hiring managers to match military skills and qualifications with civilian employment opportunities.

BT's Chairman, Sir Mike Rake, is publicly and proactively supportive of the Armed Forces community. According to BT's veteran hiring programme reports, veterans applying to field engineering roles have a 60% pass rate compared to 50% for non-veterans, demonstrating higher retention rates, lower sick absence rates and fewer early leavers due to performance or discipline issues.

Final Thoughts

Recruiting veterans represents both a social responsibility and a strategic business opportunity. By understanding military skills, adapting recruitment processes, and providing appropriate support, employers can tap into this exceptional talent pool while helping veterans successfully transition to civilian careers.

The key to success lies in recognising that veterans don't just offer technical expertise - they bring leadership skills, resilience, adaptability, and a strong work ethic that can transform workplace culture and performance.