New research shows that military talent seek career paths, competitive compensation, and clear communication.
By Maggie Mancini
When it comes to leveraging employer brand to attract military talent, HR and talent leaders should focus on embedding core values at every level of the business. At the same time, it’s important for organizations to understand the perspective of military and veteran talent and what they’re looking for in their next employer.
In Orion Talent’s ongoing veterans survey, respondents listed “a career path” as their top priority in a job. However, the top reason currently employed respondents provided for taking their most recent job is compensation.
“What this tells us is that in a dearth of information about potential career paths at potential employers, candidates, somewhat predictably and understandably, use the easiest common denominator to choose, which is pay,” says Laura Schmiegel, SVP at Orion Talent. “Employers who want to attract and retain veterans should promote how they are helping to develop talent over their careers in order to tap into veterans’ desire for career mobility.”
Candidates also expressed a strong desire for clarity and communication in the job process. According to Schmiegel this likely stems from the fact that most job seekers still utilize employer websites and online job boards to search. Research shows that these methods yield the lowest probability of landing a job or speaking with a recruiter.
“Veterans’ number one piece of advice for attracting more veterans is ‘clearer job descriptions,’” Schmiegel says. “This isn’t surprising given the challenge of translating military skills to civilian credentials. Veterans are often told they need to be clearer about their military skills when creating their resume so that employers can better match them to jobs. Employers who want to attract veterans should adopt a similar strategy. If employers break down their roles into easily understandable skills and credentials, more veterans will understand when they qualify and apply.”
For HR and talent leaders seeking to reposition their talent acquisition strategy to improve the hiring experience for this cohort of job seekers, Schmiegel says that matching military experience with civilian experience is crucial.
“One of the most interesting dichotomies in our responses came when we asked veterans what employers misunderstand the most about their military experience,” Schmiegel explains. “Their number one response was ‘my leadership.’ However, research from RAND and SHRM indicate that employers’ top reason for wanting veterans is their leadership.”
Over the last 35 years, Orion Talent has seen that many employers value veterans’ general teamwork and leader training. The biggest challenges still come from matching the many skills that veterans learn from their service to the huge variance in job titles and descriptions out there—even for similar roles.
“Orion spends a lot of time with employers helping them break down and clarify their job descriptions to make them easier for our candidates to understand,” Schmiegel says. “Now, we are building a technology platform that will equally break down a veterans’ military experiences into skills that directly map onto civilian credentials.”
If more employers create clarity and a more uniform taxonomy for job titles and skills, she adds, it will be much easier for veterans to find them.
