SHRM Report Highlights Barriers and Solutions for Hiring Veterans

Approximately 200,000 U.S. service members leave the military and enter civilian life each year, representing a significant source of talent for employers. Most organizations say they want to hire veterans. However, despite some successful efforts to integrate veterans into the civilian workforce, recent research from SHRM shows that there are persistent challenges and obstacles that both veterans and employers face in this process.

According to Completing the Mission: Best Practices for Recruiting and Hiring Veterans, a report based on a survey of 1,075 HR professionals conducted earlier this year by SHRM and the SHRM Foundation and sponsored by USAA, an overwhelming majority of HR professionals (90%) agreed that hiring veterans is appealing to their organization. Nearly the same number of HR professionals (89%) said their organization has hired from this talent pool. Still, less than a third of respondents (31%) agreed or strongly agreed that they are effective at hiring veterans.

The report, part of the SHRM Foundation’s Untapped Talent programs and Military Community at Work initiative, sheds light on the obstacles HR professionals encounter in veteran hiring and provides actionable strategies to help organizations overcome these challenges.

“Although we know veterans leave military service with a host of essential workplace skills, from leadership and problem-solving to technical expertise, there is a persistent disconnect between veterans and potential employers that leads veterans to struggle with finding post-military careers that match their experience and abilities,” said Eric Eversole, president of Hiring Our Heroes and a vice president at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C. “Veterans consistently report challenges identifying civilian opportunities that align with their skill set, and most companies and their hiring managers lack a working understanding of military service and struggle to anticipate how military talent will perform in the civilian workplace.”

Wendi Safstrom, president of the SHRM Foundation, said that veterans bring a wealth of skills, resilience, leadership, and service that enrich the civilian workforce in profound ways. “Our report highlights the critical need for employers to support them as they navigate their new environments and careers,” she said. “By offering thoughtful strategies, we’re helping organizations create workplaces where veterans can thrive, feel valued, and continue to make a meaningful impact beyond their military service.”

Formal Programs Make a Difference

HR professionals from organizations with formal programs aimed at recruiting and hiring veterans (65%) were 1.5 times more likely to agree or strongly agree that their organization is effective at hiring veterans than those with informal programs (42%) and three times more likely than those without a program (21%).

“Informal programs can still yield results, but the distinction between formal and informal programs is crucial because formal programs are more likely to demonstrate success,” said Kerri Nelson, director of mission research at SHRM. “Organizations that implement formal programs are more action-oriented, have more targeted strategies, and reported higher effectiveness in their hiring efforts.”

Eversole added that formal veteran recruitment and hiring programs work because they provide hiring managers and recruiters with both internal and external pathways to identifying, evaluating, hiring, and retaining top veteran talent.

“These programs provide focused support to clear internal hurdles that can derail veteran hiring efforts—like reluctance to incorporate self-identification processes for veterans due to discrimination concerns—and cultivate the external networks that create the veteran talent pipeline needed for sustained veteran hiring,” Eversole said.

SHRM found that the top strategies used in formal recruitment and hiring programs were providing targeted outreach and communication to veteran networks; actively participating in veteran job fairs or recruitment activities; and adopting hiring pledges to actively recruit and hire veterans.

“These strategies are utilized by both formal and informal programs, but the key difference lies in their effectiveness,” Nelson said. “Organizations with formal programs for veterans are significantly more successful in implementing these strategies, leading to more effective recruiting and hiring.”

Common Challenges and Solutions

HR professionals listed the top challenges their organization faced when trying to recruit and hire veterans. They included:

• Lack of veteran self-identification during the application process.
• Lack of awareness about where to post jobs to target veterans.
• Challenges accessing and engaging veteran talent pools in the local area.
• Difficulty aligning military experience and skill sets with civilian job requirements.

If veterans are not given a chance to self-identify during the application process, employers likely won’t be aware they have even applied.

“Review your job application process to see if there is an opportunity to better promote your inclusive workplace culture and provide additional context so there are explicit opportunities for veterans to self-identify within your organization’s standard application questionnaire,” Nelson said.

HR and talent acquisition professionals also may need advice on which job boards and other local resources are best for advertising to veterans. Using familiar recruitment distribution channels more effectively is an easy first step.

“You can add language to every job posting indicating that military veterans are encouraged to apply,” Nelson said. “You can also add the wording ‘or equivalent military experience’ to the section inquiring about relevant work experience.”

She added that recruiters can also use dedicated sourcing platforms like LinkedIn to filter for veterans and recommended registering with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Veterans’ Employment and Training Service (VETS) to export job posts from the company’s careers site to the VETS site, as well as approved veterans’ job boards.

Nelson said that VETS can also be a great resource for employers needing help accessing and engaging local veteran talent pools. Additional resources include local American Job Centers, state veterans’ affairs offices, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Hiring Our Heroes program. 

“Organizations who are ready to take their veteran hiring efforts from aspirational to effective need not go it alone,” Eversole said. “Partnering with veteran employment organizations like Hiring Our Heroes can streamline the development of veteran hiring programs through access to veteran recruitment best practices, mentoring of fledgling veteran hiring programs, and connections to veteran talent pipelines like on-base hiring events and programs like SkillBridge.”

That’s a Department of Defense program that provides military members with civilian work experience just prior to their transition to civilian employment, a key resource for organizations looking to close the military skills understanding gap, Eversole said.

Military skills translation tools are another way to help match military experience with civilian job skills.  

“There are many tools—both free and paid—that can help you understand what types of military work align with the experience you’re seeking,” Nelson said. “You can use these tools in two different ways—when you are writing job listings and when you are translating resumes that may reference military jargon or concepts that you are not familiar with.”

Only 2% of HR professionals said their organizations are using readily available military skills translation tools to help bridge the gap between military experience and civilian job requirements. But nearly three-quarters of respondents (71%) expressed a willingness to explore these tools.