According to researchers, veterans are easier to interview, hire, and retain. Hiring veterans can also help you build a resilient, high-performing workforce. They bring leadership, discipline, and technical skills to the table.
Yet many are often overlooked in hiring pipelines. Adopting inclusive hiring practices that deliberately include members of the veteran community isn’t just the right thing—it’s smart business.
Learn why hiring veterans works, how their military experience translates into civilian roles, and what financial incentives you may be able to claim. Most importantly, you’ll learn how to attract, onboard, and retain veterans effectively and what compliance considerations your HR team needs to keep top-of-mind.
Why Hiring Veterans Makes Smart Business Sense
Veterans bring a unique arsenal of qualities that many employers find hard to replicate. They operate under pressure, adapt to change quickly, and bring mission-focus and persistence. For example:
- They’ve worked in dynamic, high-stakes environments where decisions matter.
- They often develop leadership experience early (e.g., managing teams in their 20s).
- Their training and environment tend to instill strong teamwork, accountability, and follow-through.
Compliance Tip: When creating job postings or HR policies, include “veteran status” in your equal-opportunity language.
Translating Military Experience into Civilian Job Roles
One perceived barrier to hiring veterans is the “translation gap”— military terms don’t always map clearly to civilian roles. But when you look more closely, the fit is often very strong:
- Veterans bring in-demand technical and trade skills (equipment maintenance, logistics, troubleshooting).
- Their experience with operational planning, after-action reviews, and team leadership is highly transferable into project management, operations, supply-chain, and logistics.
- Hiring managers can benefit from a “translation guide” to help interpret veteran resumes (e.g., “led team under high-pressure conditions” → leadership; “managed logistics across multiple units” → supply-chain coordination).
Compliance Tip: If your company is subject to affirmative-action rules concerning veterans (e.g., under VEVRAA), make sure you are meeting these requirements.
Financial Incentives and Programs to Support Veteran Hiring
One of the lesser-known—yet very real—benefits of hiring veterans is financial incentive programs that support your recruitment efforts. These not only help financially but signal your organization’s commitment to inclusive hiring.
- The Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) is a federal tax credit available for hiring certain targeted groups, including qualified veterans.
- Employers may be eligible for tax credits up to $9,600 per qualified veteran under certain circumstances.
- Other programs exist, for example through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), where hiring veterans (especially those with service-connected disabilities) may trigger further incentives.
Compliance Tip: If you plan to claim WOTC (or other veteran-related hiring incentives) for a veteran hire, ensure you have completed the required forms within the designated timeframe.
How to Make Your Job Postings Vet-Friendly
Don’t assume that military service members realize your business is veteran-friendly. Tell them explicitly in your messaging and onboarding.
Best practices for veteran-friendly job postings and recruitment:
- Use inclusive language and specifically mention that you welcome veterans.
- Highlight roles where military-skills map to job duties (e.g., logistics, operations, maintenance).
- Remove unnecessary civilian-only jargon or degree requirements that might exclude qualified veterans.
- Offer training or flexibility to translate military skillsets into your environment.
Onboarding enhancements for veterans:
- Pair veteran hires with a mentor (ideally another veteran or veteran ally).
- Provide orientation and resources to help veterans adapt to non-military work environments (e.g., culture, communication style, implicit expectations).
- Create an employee-resource group (ERG) or community for veterans to build connection and belonging.
- Acknowledge that their transition journey may be challenging—but also rewarding.
Compliance Tip: Make sure your onboarding communications include equal-opportunity statements covering all protected veteran categories.
Post-Hire Support to Boost Retention, Growth & Wellness for Veterans
Hiring veterans is a great start but your organization also needs to support their ongoing success. Retention, growth, and wellness initiatives help you maximize the benefits of veteran talent. Consider:
- Matching veterans with veteran mentors or allies in the organization to build connection and support.
- Offering growth opportunities that tap into veteran’s knowledge and leadership potential.
- Ensuring accessible mental-health and wellness resources (recognizing that the transition from military may involve unique stressors.)
- Acknowledging their service and unique experience and providing a forum for their voice and contribution.
- Building feedback loops for continuous growth, ensuring veteran hires feel engaged and valued.
Compliance Tip: Monitor required veteran-hiring and retention metrics under VEVRAA (if applicable).
Expand Your Talent Search with VirgilHR
VirgilHR provides compliance-driven HR software that equips your team with the real-time guidance they need to build informed, veteran-friendly hiring practices. Schedule a demo to learn more how we can help optimize veteran hiring for compliance and business performance.