Simple hand-out for speaking with potential stake-holders in hiring Military Talent.

1.
Benchmarks for Veteran Hiring
Some of the items I touched on
at TalentConnect in Anaheim this
past October. When building a
Military Talent program....
LOOK INSIDE YOUR LIFELINES​. It's critical to identify the veterans already working for your company
and engaging them in the process of attracting, assessing, selecting, and retaining military hires. This
may take some social media and internal communication skills, since your self-identification rates could
be low. Knowing who is/was enlisted vs officer, Guard, Reserves, and Retired is critical. If they carry a
DoD ID, then they can go on/off military installations and represent your program. It's also important to
know, so you can pair candidates and new-hires with the right internal mentor.
HIRE, or SELECT, a MILITARY TALENT REPRESENTATIVE​. Your program will take flight if you park an
internal or external hire into the HR/Talent Acquisition team with real goals and numbers to achieve.
Know your hiring needs and get the right representation, ie; if you hire technicians across the country,
select a Senior NCO who can get on and off bases at will, to engage with the correct NEC/MOS's. If you
hire consultants or technical PM's, then you may want a previous JMO for their networking ability within
the alumni associations and websites.
EXECUTIVE SPONSORSHIP​. It's very difficult for the hiring of veterans to flourish without someone in
the exec ranks helping you create the buy-in, and the Demand for the talent. They also come to play
with several events, and publications. CEO preferred. It also helps to recognize that Military Talent
programs should not be singularly focused on transitioning vets, but should have percentage goals up
and down the chain of command. It would not make any sense to flood an org with military hires, if
you didn't have vets in the Dir, VP, SVP/EVP ranks to help mentor and support.
RETENTION​. Retaining military hires is a challenge, but similar to Early Career talent...you need to plan.
Mentorship, rigorous on-boarding, career path design, and continuous feedback all have to be in place.
RESUMES.
http://www.slideshare.net/militarytalent/a-good-template-f
or-military-resumes​. Too many recruiters and hiring
managers, new to hiring veterans, get stuck on the resumes
and translating skill-sets. Stick to open-ended behavioral
questions, or prove-your-craft exercises, and listen carefully
to the answers in order to shape the competency. If you're a
data-driven culture, then listen for the proper answers laced
with analytic thought process and data. You don't have to
understand the language 100%. A competency is a
competency, and a value is a value in both the military and
the corporate world.

2.
BENCHMARK. Hundreds of companies are now hiring veterans and doing a good job at it. Grab a GI
Jobs Magazine, US Veterans Magazine, or look at the companies attending SACC and MOJO to reach out
and do some benchmarking. A great organization to tie into is the Direct Employers Association.
VALUE PROPOSITION - BRANDING. Screaming Eagles, Red/White/Blue, stock photos of military who
clearly are not military in the all the wrong ways.....These websites and ads in magazines really crack
me up. How about the skill sets, values, and success stories from within. Don't try to entice vets to
your org with the flag waving...entice them with world class value proposition for TALENT!
OVERWHELMING HELP​. At last count, there are over 4,000 organizations that "help vets with jobs."
Know your talent needs, geographies, and be careful in selecting your partners. Also, you don't need a
huge budget to grow a program. There are several amazing programs that will feed your funnel - PaYS,
ESGR, H2H, MSEP, Joining Forces, Veterans Job Mission, Hire Our Heroes, etc. ACAP/TAP events, and a
few others - pretty much free. Grabbing your vet employees to get busy on linkedin, facebook, and
twitter is also free.
PAID PARTNERS​. When it makes sense to put some resource$ into the program... MOJO, SACC,
HirePurpose, RecruitMilitary, Hire our Heroes, Agencies (Orion, Lucas Group, Bradley Morris), Hiring
America, and Vet+ with Linkedin, Direct Employers, Monster, CareerBuilder, etc. may all help fill your
funnel.
Looking forward to seeing you on the battlefield for talent. There is plenty of it, as it's the second
largest refreshed talent pool (next to Campus), and a rich source of diversity and leadership. Go Navy!
Philip Dana
@​Recrew2
www.linkedin.com/in/militarytalent
philip@thehonorfoundation.org
www.thehonorfoundation.org
(760) 585-6390