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TweetSo, your company realizes the value of hiring veterans—the leadership skills and values they bring as well as the racial/ethnic diversity and cultural competence. But where do you find them? What are the best ways to recruit talented veterans?
To offer real-world advice, we recently convened a panel of corporate and military experts.
Our experts are:
- David Casey, former vice president of workplace culture and chief diversity officer for WellPoint and a former U.S. Marine
- Susan Hamilton, assistant vice president, diversity, and chief diversity officer for CSX
- Chris Collier, director, talent acquisition for Southern Company, formerly in U.S. Army
- Capt. Tony Barnes, former chief diversity officer, U.S. Naval Academy
- Vice Admiral Gerry Hoewing (retired), president and CEO, Naval Aviation Museum Foundation*
*Could not be present for roundtable, answered questions in separate conversation with DiversityInc
Also present from DiversityInc were Luke Visconti, CEO and former naval aviator, and Barbara Frankel, senior vice president and executive editor.
Recruitment Tip No. 1: Use recruiters who are experts on the military
Use recruiters, both internal and external, who understand the military culture and have connections to both current and former troops. At CSX, for example, military recruiters find both management and for staff members and establish relationships all across the United States at military bases. Hamilton tells us that the recruiters, and CSX's strong military employee-resource group, have created access for the company at bases and military locations that previously were closed off.
This recruitment has dramatically impacted CSX's racial/ethnic diversity. Work-force recruitment of Blacks, Latinos and Asians is up more than 10 percent in the last three years. The work force now is 14 percent Black, Latino and Asian, while its former military employees (25 percent of all workers) are 26.5 percent Black, Latino and Asian.
Recruitment Tip No. 2: Create a military employee-resource group and use it to find and nurture veterans
Veterans' employee-resource groups are one of the two fastest growing types of groups (the other is generational). Five years ago, there were only a handful of military employee-resource groups in DiversityInc Top 50 companies; last year, almost half of the DiversityInc Top 50 had them, and this year, the number is closer to 60 percent.
CSX has one of the most effective military employee-resource groups anywhere: its Military Affinity Group (known as MAG). The group formed four years ago and, as Hamilton puts it, they 'have made it their business imperative to help us recruit. They have opened the doors for us through their relationships ... the MAG also supports all of our folk who are deployed, and when they come home, they remember that and they want to work for the company that supported them. We just got finished sending $10,000 worth of Girl Scout cookies to our troops in Iraq, Afghanistan and other areas of war.'
The group is charged with helping the company develop and implement its military recruiting strategy in partnership with the company's staffing department. More specifically, MAG is involved in the community and, therefore, opens doors to relationships that lead to recruitment opportunities. For example, MAG works with the Wounded Warrior Project to provide mentors for interns and designs and produces an annual 'Veterans Day CSX Salute to our Military,' a major CSX event held at the company's Jacksonville, Fla., headquarters and simulcast to remote locations. MAG also participates in annual parades and assists the USO and the Youth Crisis Center in Jacksonville.
Casey notes that there are many military job fairs and also recommends developing strong relationships with area military bases and using veterans' resource groups to manage those relationships.
Recruitment Tip No. 3: Word of Mouth Is Critical
Collier says Southern Company's No. 1 source for recruiting former military talent is through referrals. As we see with many groups, word of mouth spreads and people want to work for a company they perceive as inclusive, especially to others from their own 'tribe.'
Like any traditionally underrepresented group, veterans want to feel welcome. A company's web site should send out the clear message that veterans are appreciated and feature information on the employee-resource group.
