8 Ways to Attract and Keep Veterans

1. Create a welcoming environment. When former Marine Victor Szeligowski interviewed for a job at AT&T earlier this year, the hiring manager arranged for him to talk with an employee who is a veteran. That clinched the deal for him.

2. Educate HR and hiring managers to understand military resumes, job titles and language. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Hiring Our Heroes program provides in-person training and online resources for employers seeking to hire veterans.

3. Visit local military bases and partner with military assistance groups. Collect e-mail addresses and touch base frequently with transitioning military personnel before they depart the military. Aleyda Meyers, who recruits service members for the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority, makes about 60 such visits a year.

4. Provide training. Ryder trucking company partnered with the Army’s Soldier for Life Transition Program to provide 12 weeks of diesel technician training for those transitioning out of the Army.

5. Create a veterans employee resource group. More than 9,000 employees belong to AT&T’s employee resource group, which has 42 chapters around the country.

6. Create a veterans buddy program. Former U.S. Army intelligence officer Amber McCollum appreciated being assigned a peer advisor from the 1,000-member EY Veterans Network to help her transition to the corporate world.

7. Don’t forget military spouses. AT&T recruits military spouses for its retail stores because they can easily transfer to another store when the service member is transferred to a different base, says JoHanna Martinez, AT&T’s military talent attraction manager, who is both a former Marine and a military spouse.

8. Help the veterans community at large. EY veterans help homeless veterans through The Jericho Project and lay wreaths at Arlington National Cemetery through Wreaths Across America.