How to Create a Veteran-Friendly Hiring Strategy That Actually Works

Veterans bring leadership, mission focus and composure under pressure — traits any HR team prizes. Those strengths only become evident when recruiters, hiring managers and workplace designers adopt veteran-friendly hiring practices that translate military experience into civilian impact and support service members through every stage of employment.

Veteran Hiring Program Checklist

Recruiters engage with a lively market — 8.3 million veterans comprise 5.2% of the U.S. labor force, and roughly 180,000 service members start civilian careers each year. Across the past 12 months, veterans without a service-connected disability averaged a 3% unemployment rate — lower than the 3.9% for comparable non-veterans — while veterans with disabilities faced a higher rate of 5.9%. These contrasts show that military talent is highly competitive and encompasses a wide range of needs.

Overall veteran unemployment stood at 3.7% in June 2025, highlighting how tight the race for qualified military candidates has become. Use the checkpoints below whenever you launch or fine-tune a veteran hiring initiative.

1. Audit the Recruitment Funnel

Review career pages, application forms and interview scripts for jargon that alienates military talent. Hiring managers should replace vague “team player” language with explicit military occupational specialties translations using O*NET or the DOL VETS crosswalk.

2. Define a Purpose-Driven Employee Value Proposition

Military talent seeks meaningful work, advancement and stability. Promote roles as a “continuation of service,” spotlight leadership pathways and state perks such as Guard/Reserve flexibility or paid credentialing. Share the tangible benefits of hiring military veterans — lower turnover, crisis-tested leadership — with hiring managers so the value proposition reaches every interviewer.

3. Target Sourcing by Branch-to-Industry Patterns

Census research shows clear civilian landing zones. Infantry veterans of the Army and Marine Corps often enter administrative support, manufacturing and retail. Air Force vets cluster in professional services. Coast Guard veterans frequently join public administration. Aim outreach and career-path visuals in established post-service veteran career pathways.

4. Build a Skills Matrix

Create an internal matrix that pairs standard MOS codes with your job responsibilities. A platoon sergeant’s logistics accountability aligns with supply-chain management. An avionics technician’s troubleshooting generally maps to advanced manufacturing maintenance. Recruiters with this decoder evaluate military resumes faster and more fairly — core to veteran-friendly hiring practices.

5. Train Interviewers in Cognitive Empathy

Cognitive empathy means understanding another person’s feelings and thoughts without adopting their emotions. It improves communication and helps interviewers meet candidates where they are while maintaining professional boundaries. Instead of acronyms or rank-heavy language, encourage scenario-based questions, like asking them to describe a time when they led a high-performing team.

6. Prioritize Accessible and Ergonomic Workspace Design

Many veterans may have service-related injuries or disabilities that require specific accommodations in the workplace. Be proactive about being accessible. For example, ergonomic office furniture is proven to reduce back, neck and hip strain, so outfitting your office with things such as adjustable workstations, ergonomic chairs and a generally accessible layout is a must if you want to attract and retain veteran talent.

7. Hone Skill Development and Strategic Recruitment

Many veterans arrive with CompTIA, A&P or security clearances. Fund additional certificates — PMP, CDL, Six Sigma — or partner with organizations like CareerCircle that can provide access to additional certifications and certificates at discounted rates.

Additionally, post job openings on state workforce agencies, the DOD SkillBridge portal and veteran-centric platforms. You can also attend base transition fairs six months before separation. 

8. Measure What Matters

Track these signals — the percentage of veteran applicants, interview-to-offer parity, one-year retention and promotion velocity. Review quarterly and tweak sourcing, onboarding or supervisor training before issues snowball to keep the hiring checklist active rather than ornamental.

9. Celebrate Service Year-Round

Launch employee resource groups, highlight service anniversaries and schedule community service projects that resonate with veterans’ sense of duty. Genuine recognition embeds veteran recruitment success stories into company culture.

10. Stay Compliant and Use Incentives

Familiarize yourself with USERRA rights, ADA accommodations and the Work Opportunity Tax Credit. The 2025 DOL Employer Guide summarizes best practices and offsets onboarding costs — critical for anyone working on hiring military veterans.

11. Communicate Compensation

Military pay combines base salary, housing allowance and specialty bonuses. Offer side-by-side calculators, so candidates see apples-to-apples civilian comparisons — preventing sticker shock and cementing trust early.

12. Run After-Action Reviews

Borrow the military ritual for AARs — after each hiring cohort, gather recruiters, interviewers, mentors and HR professionals to dissect what worked and what faltered. Document lessons and apply them immediately in the next cycle to drive continuous improvement.

Mission Ready — Active, Measure, Repeat

Treat the recruitment checklist like an ops order — brief, resource and put names next to every task. Set a 90-day timer to complete the first hiring cycle, publish the metrics and debrief the results in the same room where your organization tracks revenue goals. When veteran time-to-productivity shortens a project launch or a former squad leader turns around a struggling team, celebrate that win company-wide.

Nothing establishes culture faster than proof of impact. Lock in a recurring “re-commission” budget for credentials, workspace upgrades and manager training so the program evolves with the talent it attracts. Do this, and veteran recruitment stops being an initiative — it becomes an asset that compounds yearly, giving your organization a definitive edge every time the market shifts.

Written by Content Contributor: 

Eleanor Hecks is a business writer and researcher with a passion for bringing awareness to neurodiversity inclusion in the workplace. You can find her work as Editor-in-Chief of Designerly Magazine or as a staff writer at sites such as HR.com and Clutch.co.