As Americans, we tend to treat our veterans as heroes. Unfortunately, many of us don’t pay attention when it comes to veterans reintegrating into the workforce. While the economy has grown significantly over the past few years, too many veterans still remain among the numbers of unemployed. This is due in part to a failure of employers to properly recognize the expertise and diverse skill sets that veterans hone during their terms of service. However, those recruiters who do routinely hire veterans understand that the unique skills imparted by military service have many applications in the civilian world.
Why Hire Veterans for Non-Military Positions?
There are a number of reasons to hire veterans for civilian roles upon their return home. People tend to view veterans as soldiers only, who, while they should be commended for their bravery, do not possess transferrable skills. In fact, due to the often harsh and hazardous nature of their service, veterans are conditioned to be quick thinkers, ready to embrace challenge sand focus on mission-critical problem-solving. Below are just a few reasons you should consider when weighing the option of hiring a veteran:
- Natural Team Players
- Ability to Be a Good Follower/Leader
- Fit Well With Diverse Teams
- Ingrained Tenacity and Determination
- Excellent Organizational Abilities
- Proven Capabilities in High-Pressure Situations
Let’s take a closer look at these below.
Natural Team Players
If there is one characteristic that active military service instills in a person, it’s teamwork. During the hazardous nature of their service, veterans learn to rely on their teammates amid the backdrop of some of the harshest and most inhospitable places on the planet.
As military service comes with several very real occupational hazards, the ability to trust another person to the highest extent, and to reciprocate that trust, is very hard to create outside the high-pressure environment of active duty. However, because veterans learn to rely on others while sharpening their own competencies at the same time, this makes them natural team players and positive, valuable additions to a group environment.
Reading Suggestion: The Benefits of Working with a Veteran Staffing Agency
Ability to Be a Good Follower/Leader
Veterans aren’t just natural team players; they’re capable followers as well. Many times throughout a term of service, mission success depends on orders being followed to the letter. Veterans pride themselves on being consummate followers, surrendering pride in the spirit of the mission. This is a skill that translates well in the civilian world, in which every business leader requires competent and disciplined followers. But it doesn’t end there.
Military service can be hazardous, and in high-pressure situations, the rules can change very quickly. Under these changing circumstances, military personnel are expected to show initiative and quickly transition from follower to leader. Being able to follow an external vision, and to believe in it completely, often make the difference between “good” and “great” – two further reasons to hire veterans.
Fit Well With Diverse Teams
The United States military is one of the most diverse organizations in the world. It recruits talented and capable individuals from a myriad of backgrounds and ethnicities. While serving, veterans learn quickly to rely upon the people with whom they work, including those from different cultural and societal backgrounds. Not only does this experience broaden veterans’ overall exposure, but it also makes them ideal candidates to lead ethnically, racially, and culturally diverse teams with impartiality.
Ingrained Tenacity and Determination
Serving in the military is not easy. From boot camp to active duty, every aspect of service involves rigorous mental and physical training. From learning hand-to-hand combat to carrying out reconnaissance missions, it takes perseverance, grit, and sacrifice to be successful in the military. In short order, these traits become permanently ingrained in veterans-providing them the tools necessary to tackle business challenges in the civilian world.
Excellent Organizational Abilities
Military life can prove a challenging existence, and one defined by the meticulous organization. To the military mind, everything from uniform lapels to footlockers needs to be properly organized and well cared for. A fast-growing mortgage firm from Pittsburgh hires veterans exclusively for their attention to minute detail.
In the hustle and bustle of everyday business, a calculated and organized mind is a useful asset for any employer to have on the payroll.
Proven Capabilities in High-Pressure Situations
When you hire veterans, most of them have likely experienced highly-charged situations throughout their military careers. Moreover, many of them have proven their ability to make quick and accurate decisions under inscrutable pressure. In the military, high-pressure environments are a way of life. This foundational truth conditions many veterans to maintain their ability to lead in the midst of adverse situations. In the business world, where crises of a different sort develop every day, no one is better suited to leadership or middle management roles than a veteran.
Charlie Gulf Tango is a national, full-service, veteran-owned staffing firm that aims to ensure no veteran is ever left behind on the homefront. With a veteran-first approach, the firm intends to become one of the most passionately referred to staffing solutions provider, while offering our veterans the chance to transition over into civilian life as gratitude for their service to our great nation.