Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/234597
Recruitment Placing Heroes Combating higher unemployment rates among post-9/11 veterans. By Bill Hatton Do your hiring managers know how to translate a military veteran's resume into civilian language? If not, they're not alone. Veteran unemployment rates remain high, so many companies are taking a pass at military veterans. In fact, the numbers are daunting: Post-9/11 military veterans are unemployed at rates two percentage points higher than the general population, and have been consistently outpacing the average for years. These numbers are higher even though military veterans are much more likely to be high school graduates (99 percent are versus 91 percent of the general population) and are well-trained workers who have proven themselves in a variety of stressful environments. These percentages add up to about 250,000 unemployed military vets. Another one million veterans are expected to be mustered out in the next few years, offering companies a steady source of talented individuals in a variety of fields—but also the potential for a frustrating job search for many of them— not to mention hiring managers' missing opportunities to find good people. Translating Military-speak Part of the problem: the language of the military. There's frequently not an obvious match between military job titles and civilian job descriptions, between military experience and civilian needs. Plus, in recent years, high unemployment often meant hiring managers could wait for someone with previous experience [52] HRO TODAY MAGAZINE | DECEMBER 2013 (and previous track record) that was a close fit for what they are looking for. So it was usually easier for a hiring manager to pick up the next resume in a stack than translate "battery commander," "assistant G-3 training officer," "army ground liaison officer," or "mobilization and plans officer." Translation often involves looking at the following: • Transferable skills. Leadership is a big one. Even though post-9/11 veterans are younger than the average jobseeker, they often have superior leadership training and experience than others of similar age. • History of results. Accountability is big in the military— they can often point to specific tasks they were given, steps they took, and results. Being able to tell a story involving specific goals, limited resources, thinking through a solution, acting on it, and what the results were—that all goes a long way in the private sector, too. • Specific skill sets that may not be apparent. For example, a veteran may have more experience with skill sets like budget management or safety compliance than they think. Because many are young and have only been employed by the military, they may not realize just how many skills they have, perhaps in materials handling and disposal, inventory management, equipment inspections, and IT/communications. Bottom line: Veterans—and companies seeking to place them—need some help talking to each other.