How to Attract and Hire Veterans to Diversify Your Team in 2025

Veterans bring mission focus, leadership, and transferable skills that strengthen culture and performance. This guide shows how to source veteran talent, translate military experience into your roles, and remove barriers with practical steps such as SkillBridge partnerships, clear job language, interview adjustments, and recognition programs.

Just in time for Veterans' Day, I'm proud to share a few tips to diversify your talent pool and attract and hire veterans and active military personnel. As a Certified Military Veteran Recruiter, here are a few areas of guidance I often share with my clients that may be helpful in your business.

Why Veterans are a Strategic Talent Pool

Veterans' unemployment averaged 3.0% in 2024, lower than that of non-veterans (3.9%), reflecting steady demand for their skills, according to the BLS. Veterans also comprise ~17.6 million people, about 7% of U.S. adults (annual averages). For federal contractors and recognition-minded employers, the HIRE Vets Medallion Program signals commitment to hiring, retaining, and developing veterans.

Veterans possess a myriad of different concepts and skills that can benefit your team and your organization. As they are trained to lead by example, they are required to give direction, delegate tasks, and motivate and inspire other team members. They work well both in teams and independently. Most service members have also been stationed in foreign countries and are often granted various levels of security clearances. You will find that Veterans tend to be disciplined and value accountability. As veterans are typically mission-driven, it is very important to keep these qualities in mind during the recruitment process. Be sure to encourage them to pursue opportunities where efficiency, teamwork, and attention to detail are important. 

Understanding military workplace culture 

The military is a unique environment that exposes service members and their families to experiences different from those of civilians. While they are confronted with psychosocial challenges created by intense work environments, they continue to demonstrate resilience. To further promote this resilience, it is important to understand military culture to better interact with veterans, provide information that will aid in creating supportive work environments and additional resources during reintegration into the civilian world following military separation. 

You can start by becoming familiar with the different branches of the military and the ranks associated with each. You will also want to understand the pay. Service members often receive additional allowances on top of their military base pay, such as Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) or Basic Allowance for Subsistence (BAS), for example. Since civilian pay structures are more simplified, it’s very important to make sure we help our veteran talent compare apples to apples to ensure a smooth transition. When discussing and determining salary needs, focus the conversation on “total targeted compensation.” This will make sure you, as the recruiter, and the veteran are on the same page. 

Build your pipeline before you have openings

A consistent pipeline beats one-off postings every time. Assign ownership, plug into proven channels, and create low-risk entry points for transitioning service members. Then, add capacity for surges without sacrificing candidate experience.

• Designate an executive sponsor and a recruiter with veteran literacy (e.g., SHRM's Veterans at Work resources)
• Partner with your state's Regional Veterans' Employment Coordinator (RVEC) to reach local veteran and spouse talent.
• Pilot SkillBridge so transitioning service members can intern/apprentice with you during their final 180 days of service; thousands of employers participate.
• Post to veteran networks (e.g., SHRM HireVets) and publish a veteran-friendly careers page.
• For surge needs, use Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) to scale sourcing and screening while protecting the candidate experience.
  

Write roles that veterans can recognize themselves in

Veterans scan for mission, impact, and equivalency. Make sure to clearly define the duties and responsibilities for the roles you’re recruiting for, with extra emphasis on the organization’s mission. Your job postings should be legible to military talent by translating requirements and connecting the work to outcomes. Even though you’re looking to hire for a civilian job, be sure to include some military language in your job posting to make it more appealing to veterans.

We always recommend building a candidate profile to identify which veterans you need to target—branch, years of experience, skills, specialties, etc.  

• Lead with the mission and the business outcome in the first 2-3 lines of the posting.
• Translate requirements to Military Occupation Codes using My Next Move for Veterans.
• Replace insider jargon with plain language, list equivalent military experiences and credentials.
• Note flexibility (shift/location) and clarify total compensation, recognizing prior BAH/BAS context.

Then, be thoughtful about where you are marketing your job posting. Don’t forget to tap into other resources specifically for veterans, such as meet-ups, TAP offices, and universities. Many nonprofit and private organizations help companies hire vets. For example, Hire Heroes is a national veteran employment service organization that helps veterans succeed in the workforce. 

Don’t forget about your employer branding on social media. Include regular posts supporting veterans. Showcase veterans that are currently working for the organization. It’s important that you recognize these members of your workforce, thank them for their service and support them as their employer. Not only do these small acts of support make your vets feel supported, but it may also help attract new veteran candidates. 

Interview practices that yield better signal

Traditional interviews can under-represent veterans' achievements. Interviews typically allow candidates to brag about themselves and the benefits they will bring to a company. Veterans are less inclined to sell themselves, so your interview approach with them should be different. Normalize the process, probe for scope and impact, and map experience to your environment.

Below are a few best practices for conducting the interview: 

• Explain each step upfront and normalize nerves to reduce ambiguity.
• Use competencies and behavioral prompts tied to outcomes, probe for scope, team size, budget, and impact.
• Translate achievements to your setting (matrix structures, customers, SLAs) so interviewers see fit.
• Close with time for candidate questions and clear next steps. 

Be sure to ask follow-up questions and allow time for a deeper dive into their background. This will enable you to receive a clearer picture of the candidate’s individual experiences, abilities, and contributions.

Onboarding and retention that sustains results

After the offer, sustained performance depends on clarity, community, and recognition. Build support structures and reinforce fairness through rewards and development. Here are a few ways you can provide additional structure and support for your military and veteran talent:

• Assign an onboarding buddy or mentor 
• Establish a veterans & allies employee resource group (ERG)
• Map transparent career paths and upskilling plans (leadership, project management, customer success).
• Recognize service on Veterans Day and year-round.
• Review pay equity and salary structure regularly (Helios can help with compensation and total rewards design)
  

Compliance awareness

If you're a federal contractor, review your obligations under VEVRAA and related veteran employment regulations. Document your outreach sources and hiring metrics, and also maintain accessible practices and reasonable accommodations. 

Ready to expand your pipeline with mission-driven talent?

I hope you find these tips helpful as you work towards diversifying your talent base with our veterans!  If you need additional expertise, our recruiters design veteran-friendly hiring and onboarding programs, as well as compensation alignment consulting. Schedule a call with us to talk about your veteran hiring goals.