Veterans in the Workplace 2023

Overview

To bridge the gap between employers and their veteran workforces, Hiring Our Heroes partnered with Indeed to survey more than 5,000 veterans and service members and 275 human resources professionals and hiring managers to learn more about their experiences, challenges, and triumphs.

Key findings included:

• Veteran respondents identified two top challenges in their transition to civilian life: the difficulty of finding job opportunities that align with their skill set and adapting to the civilian workplace culture. These themes emerge again when examining respondents’ workplace culture priorities, such as working for organizations that understand the alignment of military experience and civilian careers as well as those that offer onboarding programs to familiarize new hires with organizational culture.
• Veteran respondents are leaning into technology-based solutions when job hunting, with much less emphasis placed on leveraging personal networks. In a recruiting model that relies on referrals and personal connections, this potential mismatch may keep veteran candidates from connecting with organizations’ open roles, especially in light of employer respondents’ indication that the top challenge to veteran recruitment is finding the desired volume of veteran candidates.
• Veteran job seekers are frequently encountering organizations branded as “military ready” or “military friendly,” and how those organizations meet veterans’ expectations around those terms has significant consequences on recruitment and retention. Key differences in perceptions of “military ready” organizations between the two groups underscore findings around top identified challenges while simultaneously providing a roadmap for organizations to strengthen veteran recruiting and retention practices.
• Veteran and employer respondents similarly perceive veterans’ strengths and the value they bring to organizations, but respondents varied considerably in their perception of the types of roles and environments in which veterans thrive. Examining this variability can allow veterans and recruiters to challenge stereotypes and encourage both groups to widen the aperture of potential roles for these candidates.