When service members return to civilian life, they bring a unique set of skills to the workplace. Depending on the veteran's military service and deployment, he or she may have mastered hard skills like coding, financial analysis and technical operations. More importantly, many veterans also have the sought-after soft skills that can be difficult to "teach" on the job, such as clear communication, composure under pressure, team loyalty and a relentless drive to achieve.
Despite these skills, veterans can still face barriers when re-entering civilian life, and some struggle to find meaningful employment. Thanks in part to veteran hiring initiatives, veteran unemployment rates are continuing to fall. Companies are realizing that hiring veterans is not just a patriotic decision, but also a smart business decision.
These are some reasons to consider making your next hire a veteran:
- Leadership excellence. Veterans have a strong grasp of leadership fundamentals and teamwork. Veterans understand that to be successful leaders, they must clearly define and communicate goals for themselves and their team. They are quick to assess risk and develop a game plan to achieve the mission at hand. Whether the goal is moving supplies or bringing a team together to hit a deadline in the corporate world, veteran leaders can build, inspire and mobilize teams to achieve results.
- Composure under pressure. Feeling anxious about an upcoming negotiation or worried about a big client deal? While these events may seem stressful in the day-to-day business world, they can't compare with what veterans have experienced while serving our country. On a mission, a single mistake could be the difference between life and death, and the ability to maintain composure is essential. Consequently, veterans have become adept at remaining calm under tremendous pressure, including tight schedules and limited resources, in order to accomplish the task at hand.
- Diversity and inclusion. Veterans have served side-by-side with individuals from all backgrounds. They have learned how to achieve success as a single unified team, regardless of their teammates' race, gender, religious or ethnic background, economic status and mental capabilities. Having been deployed all over the world, veterans bring a global mindset to business and a keen awareness of international trends pertinent to their industry.
- Respect for organizational structure and procedures. In the military, your life — and the lives of your unit — depends on your ability to follow orders. Consequently, veterans have a deep respect for organizational hierarchy and the importance of procedures. They understand how these policies keep everyone on track toward performance goals and quickly grasp their place in a company's structure. This means veterans tend to operate with efficiency and focus, with fewer excuses or missed deadlines.
