Every year brings unique challenges to employers and employees alike. But 2020 has been a year full of unprecedented challenges on a global scale. The COVID-19 pandemic has been devastating to the vast majority of industries and workforces. But at the same time, it has ushered in a new era for business. Also known as the “new normal”, the modern workplace has acquired a new culture following intense and inevitable changes in the face of the pandemic.
Of course, with intense change arises the need to have individuals in your workforce with certain skill sets. Businesses require employees with adaptability, determination, and initiative. Unfortunately, these skills aren’t very common among workforces. However, these same traits are the hallmarks of a very specific talent pool: US military veterans looking for civilian roles. This blog explores why and how you should enable your modern virtual recruitment processes to onboard these valuable candidates. Read on for more information.
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Making Virtual Recruitment More Inclusive To Veteran Candidates
Veteran unemployment levels have always been lower than the national average for many years. 2020 has been no different, with veteran employment rates still better than civilian ones. But that doesn’t mean the veteran candidate demographic has escaped the ravages of COVID-19. Recruiting veteran candidates has always seen specific obstacles, many of which have only increased with the pandemic.
Most companies (before the pandemic) had simple ways to reach out to veteran candidates. They would heavily rely on a career fair, hoping unemployed veterans or veterans seeking new opportunities will show up. The other conventional options have been visits to military bases, veteran centers, and even military colleges to source talented individuals. Of course, both methods heavily depend on in-person interactions between recruiters and veteran candidates.
This wasn’t just to gauge veteran candidates, but also to present the image of a military-friendly employer. Unfortunately, under the new normal, conventional recruiting has gone out the window. It has been replaced with virtual recruitment processes that can actually inhibit your ability to source valuable veteran talent. Fortunately, there are ways to rectify this, including:
Having a Website Landing Page Specific To Veterans
Many candidates approach a prospective employer through their website’s careers page. However, having an additional landing page specifically for veterans can often add significant value to your veteran recruitment goals. The landing page should contain useful and helpful information to former and current servicemembers who may be looking at you as a potential opportunity.
If you’re running recruitment campaigns specifically targeting veteran candidates, you may want to look at landing pages for companies like health providers that target veteran visitors. This should give you a good idea of what material is absolutely necessary to hire veterans and present yourself as an employer that cares about and understands veterans.
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Holding Virtual Career Fairs For Better Interaction
Veteran career fairs have always been a great way to make yourself visible to the veteran talent pool. It is a useful opportunity to show that you value the contributions of military servicemembers. At the same time, you can build your employer brand around being an unbiased employer that is open to hiring veteran candidates.
The problem is, career fairs are out of the equation given the current circumstances. Virtual career fairs may not be as tangible as the conventional ones, but they still offer many of the same benefits. Many veterans struggle to translate the military skills they can transfer over into civilian roles. Often, in-person interaction helps recruiters work around this obstacle. Virtual fairs can still offer a space for veterans and recruiters to interact, even if it is a digital one.
Invest in Military-to-Civilian Skill Translators
Civilians with bachelor’s degrees often have less work experience than veterans with equivalent education. That means veterans already have the skills and experience necessary for just about any civilian role. So why don’t we see more veterans filling these roles? Quite simple, because those skills and experience often get lost in translation.
This can often be on part of both the employer evaluating a resume and veteran candidates trying to communicate their value. Hiring a military skill translator as part of your recruiting efforts can prove to be a great decision as far as this obstacle is concerned. A translator on your veteran landing page should be able to accurately translate what skills a candidate has and how they can benefit your business.