3 Keys to Finding Your Ideal Veteran Candidate

Are you unsure how to evaluate the experience and skills of Veterans? When considering a Veteran applicant, it is essential to treat them just like any other hire. Every candidate who walks through your door should be evaluated based on their skills and fit with your company. This evaluation can, however, be guided by assessing Veterans more specifically based on achievement, attitude, and ambition.

What Are Their Past Achievements?

Achievement can be the most difficult aspect of a Veteran’s resume for a hiring manager to evaluate. This is especially the case when you’re not familiar with military rank structure and culture. Just as civilian applicants can be reviewed based on their past performance, a Veteran’s past performance should be based on their achievements as well. This review is multi-faceted and should include any major aspects of Veteran achievement while in service. This may vary from a civilian’s past achievements, so we’ve created this table to assist you with the process:

How Much Does Attitude Matter?

Attitude is another quality that’s difficult to assess in civilian candidates. It can be even more challenging with Veterans. The culture of the military workplace will force you to look hard to identify the differences between confidence and hubris, humility and self-effacement, and gratefulness and entitlement.  Veterans will undoubtedly shine in the areas of teamwork, leadership, and mission orientation, which will be an undeniable asset to your organization.

Here are some skills that Veterans showcase more of in the workplace and may align with your goals as an organization:

The Role Their Ambition Plays

Ambition will often be more up-front in Veterans than their civilian counterparts. Veterans are used to advancement as a function of leadership and may not fully understand the advancement structure of your organization. It is essential that you give them patience as they learn about your company’s structure. When their motivating ambitions match your needs and your culture, you can help them acclimate to your company’s culture with ease, knowing they are a fantastic fit to allow you to continue to grow.

Want to learn more about how valuable Veterans can be to your organization? Subscribe to SAVI’s free newsletter today to receive information on exclusive webinars, topical information, and more insider-perspective on how to best leverage Veteran support in your company!

A career dedicated to the military is one deeply embedded with training, organization and purpose. However, when the time presents itself, a post-military life can be intimidating. We can begin to doubt ourselves both personally and professionally. It’s important to take a step back and assess where you are and want to be so you can make the most of your life post-separation.

Here are some of our favorite ways to find your purpose after transitioning out of the military.

Find Your Focus
Finding one’s focus in post-military life should be an exciting opportunity that inspires you to refresh your goals. In order to find your focus and passion, we recommend asking big questions first. This will help you identify your passion and where your true interests lie. Some things to ask yourself include:

• What are the most important things to you? Is it your family? Financial security?
• How would you like to spend your time? Giving back to your community or volunteering? Or pursuing a new career?
• What excites you most about living life as a civilian? Access to education? Achieving a regular schedule with other civilians?

Once you determine the answers to these questions, you’ll achieve a clearer focus regarding your goals. This, in turn, will help motivate you to achieve success, no matter what path you choose.

Investigate Opportunities
Once you find your focus, it’s imperative to investigate how you can best achieve your post-separation goals. This process can include contacting fellow service-members, reaching out to a mentor for guidance, attending a seminar, participating in an internship or apprenticeship, or asking to shadow a professional in your field of interest. It may also include travel to a new location or seeking new employment opportunities. Whatever your path, do not be afraid to seek advice or help–you never know what new opportunity could present itself by just asking a simple question. Above all else, this process will ensure that you’re always taking the right steps to achieve the goals you set for yourself.

Evaluate and Pursue
The information you have gathered on your way to finding your purpose is powerful, necessary and important. You have the ability to take charge and make positive changes in your life. There is no wrong answer or question. If you truly want to find your purpose after transitioning out of the military, you have to practice patience. Simply take the time to evaluate the information and resources you have collected. Eventually, you will be right on track to discovering and pursuing purpose.

Finding your post-military purpose is vital to your success as a civilian. If you need help finding or achieving your true life’s purpose after separating from the military, let us know. We have specially designed programs to help you, free of charge. Plus, we offer mentorships and guidance on VA benefits to make sure you have the tools and resources you need to go after your goals.

Visit www.savivets.org/veteran to learn more and get free resources to aid in your transition today!

In many ways, the military prepares its members for service well beyond the parameters of its branches. The leadership skills alone that are pushed upon soldiers are unparalleled in the civilian world. And with a quick Google search, it’s easy to see how these particular skills can specifically translate to the world of big business. Just type in “US military has more training than CEOs” and you’ll find studies and stories of former military personnel who have gone on to become highly successful in the world of business — mostly due to their military leadership training.

You, as a Veteran, are among this crowd of elite leaders. Here are a few ways in which the military taught you to be a leader in business.

Be, Know, Do.
Though the Be-Know-Do method is an Army-specific leadership mantra, this mentality can apply to military training across the board. In the service, you are taught that your subordinates will follow what you do far before they’ll follow what you say. The same rules apply to business. As a leader, if you set the precedent of being late to meetings, talking negatively about company leaders, or dress below standard, the rest of your team will follow suit. If your objective is to motivate, you must first become what you want them to emulate, know the right thing to do, and then do it.

Lead instead of manage.
The military is run with a top-down organizational approach, meaning there is one centralized leader who is responsible for all successes and failures of the team. Often, the civilian workplace runs in a bottom-up capacity, which also comes with its pros and cons. Though you aren’t there to revamp the company hierarchy, your top-down experience gave you valuable lessons in leading others that can still translate well on business teams. When tasked with leadership, you’ve been trained to develop your team members both professionally and personally. If one is failing personally it often affects their ability to succeed professionally. When that happens, you take the heat as their leader. Mentoring them to succeed in all aspects of their lives, not just the one at work, is also a true relationship-building technique that will win you trust and respect.

Loyalty.
Your time in service has bred in you a sense of pride and loyalty to your order of business. You were a part of something big, whether fun or not, and you knew where your commitments stood. Use this mindset in the business world. No matter what you do, do it with all your attention. That’s what the military taught you and it will serve you well with your civilian peers.

It’s impossible to cover all the ways in which Veteran skills are translatable to the “real” world. Visit SAVI to learn more about how we can help you reach your full potential on the other side.

What’s Important to You in a Post-Transition Location?

From Austin to Colorado Springs to Seattle to Boise, there are so many U.S. cities that cater to the Veteran community in a way that makes them desirable for a post-separation dwelling. But as with each of these cities, every Veteran is different. What is it you’re looking for in a post-military location? Maybe it’s proximity to extended family, your chosen career path, or a pretty landscape. Maybe you have no idea. That’s OK. To help get you thinking, here are a few things to consider when deciding where to put down your roots and actually stay a while.

Cost of Living — This is an important one. Though Forbes ranks Seattle as one of the best places for Veterans to settle, it’s worth noting that this city also ranks as one of the most expensive in the country. This may not be a deal-breaker for you, but it’s always wise to know how much your location will cost you. In every city you consider, we recommend looking up median mortgage and rent payments, sales tax, average salaries, and school tuition rates. These are all good indicators of what your financial quality of life will be once settled.

Community — If you’re retiring and not just shifting career paths, your interests may be something you can actually plan your choice around. If you’re an outdoorsy, trail-biking, fly-fishing mountain man at heart, a look at Colorado Springs could be a good place to start your search. Likewise, if you’re more interested in a city lifestyle with art and music and restaurants, oh my, Austin could be the place for you.

Family Career Goals — If you’re in a relationship, your next move isn’t just about your career anymore. Talk to your spouse and determine what their career goals are now that you’re getting out. If they’ve had to put their dreams on hold while living the ever-mobile military life, this is a chance for them to blossom in a career track. As you have these discussions, look specifically for areas that offer the best opportunities for your spouse to reach those goals.

For more reading on where to live after the military, check out our June blog post on “10 Veteran-Friendly Cities to Consider.”

Having a military background has trained you in many ways for a future on the outside. We’ve already told you about the many skills that transfer with you into the civilian workplace — effective communication is one of them. Yet, no matter how trained you are in this area, speaking civilian can come with its challenges for any military Veteran.

Here are our top three tips for becoming an effective communicator among your civilian peers.

Style matters. How you say it is just as important as what you say as a communicator. Working with civilians, you have to learn to be more diplomatic with your tone. The military taught you direct, mission-focused, and maybe even slightly aggressive speak. There’s often little time or patience for ambiguity. But in the civilian workplace, it’s as much about relationship building as it is getting the task done. An overtly direct and to-the-point email may come across as cold and detached. Likewise, an “order” to get something done will not be seen as “business-as-usual” as it was in the military. In essence: friendlier is best with civilian communication.

Follow their lead. Every business is going to come with its own set of rules you must adhere to as a communicator. In the military, decisions are made from the top down. Out of necessity, there is no negotiating this type of approach. In the civilian world, it may be top-down, bottom-up, side-to-side, or everything in between. It’s important to learn these guidelines and play along. Although decisions may come at a slower pace when more voices are involved, collaboration can often lead to better outcomes — especially in the business world. This is also a great opportunity for you to get your own ideas heard.

Learn the why behind the way. It’s crucial to your success as a civilian professional to learn the ins and outs of your new industry. As mentioned above, each business comes with its own style of doing things. In the military, you had little room for expression. The civilian world, on the other hand, is full of individuals with all types of backgrounds, allowing communicators to develop a unique style. And every single industry can look different. Find a mentor at your new place of work, learn your business handbook, invite trusted colleagues out to lunch, and ask thoughtful questions. The more you seek to learn the why, the faster you’ll learn your way.