Whether your business is a sole proprietorship or a Fortune 500 mega firm, hiring decisions can be the most important decision you make. The decision to hire an individual goes far beyond what the job requirements are. You are bringing a new member into your family or corporate culture. There are attributes that go beyond matching job skills to a resume that make a tremendous difference and may not be seen in a resume or even discovered through an interview or background check process.
Veterans, as a group, bring a number of financial and qualitative incentives to the hiring tables that are part of their nature through training, experience, and application. No other group exhibits as many of these qualities as our veterans do.
Financial Incentives
From a business standpoint, the financial incentives in hiring veterans are significant.
1) Tax benefits are available in the form of the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) established by Congress, which increased in recent years to encourage companies to hire veterans. Businesses can get tax credits of up to $9,600 per hired veteran. There is no limit to the number of qualified veterans you can hire and claim the credit for. You can carry these tax credits back one year or forward twenty years. TAD PGS assists their clients in understanding how to apply for and receive these tax credits.
2) There are inducements and reimbursements available to firms that establish qualified On the Job Training (OJT) and internship programs. Aside from the reimbursement of costs for the program, an employer can build a pipeline of specialists trained in their own corporate culture.
3) Health care savings are a fact that many employers do not consider when hiring veterans. Because veterans, as a group, are healthy by nature of their training, their company supported health care costs and sick time would be less. Additionally, many veterans and their dependents are members of ongoing veteran health care programs like the Department of Defense TRICARE and the Veterans Administration CHAMPVA that provide healthcare for them. Participation in these programs may reduce the number of employees requiring health care under an employer-sponsored plan
4) Hiring decisions are, many times, subject to prescreening, background checks and drug testing. Because recruits must undergo extensive background checks before serving and when obtaining a security clearance, you will find that it is highly unlikely that a veteran will fail a background check. Random drug testing is commonplace in the military. This alone reinforces trustworthiness and the likelihood of a failed pre-employment drug test. Knowing that veterans come to you prescreened can save your organization money.
5) When a client hires the “right candidate”, the candidate may be unable to take the position due to the significant relocation costs. Depending on their status, transitioning veterans may, have much or all of their relocation costs paid by the government. These costs represent a significant saving to the client.
6) With many companies facing retirement of many of their staff, and the void it will create in qualified technicians and senior management, they must seek alternatives. The military is a source of technical skills and leadership that is multigenerational, adaptable, and available to fill that void.
7) Filling international positions can be extremely difficult in a globalized workplace. There is no better pool of culturally diverse and internationally savvy people than veterans. They serve in almost every nation, are trained in language and culture, and have little reluctance to return abroad. As a wholly owned subsidiary of Adecco Inc., we have a global footprint of resources unmatched by any other organization dedicated to meeting human capital needs
Other Incentives
EDUCATION:
Most enlisted in the all-volunteer forces have, at a least, a high school education and many, particularly officer candidates, have completed some college coursework or have completed college degrees. Enlistees are matched to specialties based on assessment scores that determine their strengths and they begin further training that carries on throughout their career.
ADVANCED TECHNICAL TRAINING:
The Department of Defense (DoD) has over seven thousand military occupations, many of which are technically oriented due to the sheer volume of technology required in the modern military. Because military technicians may not be able to “switch out a card” in a field operation, they are trained down to the component level so that they must know how to fix it. They work with the most sophisticated technology known to man yet understand what makes it work and how to troubleshoot issues.
ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT:
Veterans are committed to the concept of organization, responsibility, and the chain of command. Not only do they understand it, but they are strongly dedicated to it.
Team Building:
The military is the largest “team” imaginable. From a two-man operation team to an entire army, every aspect of the military is built upon the team concept. This produces a spirit of teamwork and organization that lasts long after their service. Veterans like the structure of working as a team and they are used to it.
ACCOUNTABILITY:
Every enlisted person is accountable for his or her personal and professional situations. As they achieve higher ranks, they gain more responsibility and accountability. Even service members with just a few years experience may have the responsibility for millions of dollars worth of equipment. This is not typical for a non-veteran, so you can rest assured that you are hiring a highly conscientious and responsible individual.
ADAPTABILITY:
Few companies can match the need for adaptability that the military instills in its members. Adaptability to geography, weather, or change of duty stations in as little as twenty-four hours, perhaps with their entire family, is a requirement. Resiliency and adaptability are the standard in the military.
TRUST:
Trust, both in one’s teammates and your own capabilities and self-worth are not just words in the military. Trust is instilled into the veteran mentality and follows veterans wherever they go, even after separation. They trust and can be trusted.
DIVERSITY:
The all-volunteer military of today represents a diversified workforce along many lines including but not limited to ethnicity, education, culture, values, goal setting and achievement.
MANAGEMENT:
Management and team building go hand in hand as military members rise in rank. When promoted, an enlisted person or officer gains more responsibility managing a larger group of people and resources. They build their team and manage all aspects of their staff from skills assessment, training guidelines, instruction, implementation, and follow-up.
Doing Business with the Government
Lisa Rosser, developer of http://www.thevalueofaveteran.com/, is to my mind, the definitive expert on the true value that veterans can bring to the workforce. Her programs of training for recruitment, and retention of veterans are of the highest caliber.
Lisa identifies two areas of importance for companies doing business with the government:
1) “You can gain deep industry knowledge of the Department of Defense. For those companies who do a lot of business with the Department of Defense (or would like to do MORE business with the DoD), having employees with in-depth knowledge of the military and numerous industry and government contacts is invaluable. Veterans speak the DoD language and have an understanding of the needs and challenges of the services. Having veterans on your DoD business development teams or staffed on DoD projects can help your company develop strong relationships with DoD.”
2) “You can reduce the cost and processing time of security clearances. If your company’s business requires employees with a security clearance, you are already painfully aware of the cost involved in obtaining a clearance (in the thousands for a Top Secret clearance) and the time it takes to process and adjudicate one (average of 1 year for a Top Secret). Many service members already have a security clearance, and it can usually be transferred to your company once the veteran separates from the military.”
TAD PGS, Inc. performs U.S. Government cleared contract work at its own facilities as well as placing cleared personnel at contractor or government sites. Although not all of our positions require a U.S. Government security clearance, many do. Our Security team consists of seasoned veterans who are responsible for our facility and personnel security clearances. They enable us to provide high quality and reliable cleared personnel to the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, and many other federal agencies that have access and handle sensitive national defense information.
Go to www.TADPGS.com, click on the “Looking for People” tab, then view “Veterans Solutions” to see more for information on our Veterans Solutions for Employers. Please feel free to join our LinkedIn group, Veterans Hiring Solutions for Veterans and Companies at http://linkd.in/Sg346w. If you have specific questions about hiring veterans or the incentives for doing so, contact me at Ben.Marich@Adeccona.com.