Veterans are in high demand by America’s employers. Most enlightened companies know that the military is one of the best institutions for developing the skills and attributes that characterize high-quality employees. Yet veterans sometimes encounter objections from employers that are unique to their experience, and veterans need a set of tactics to respond to and overcome those hurdles.
Since only about 7 percent of American workers are veterans, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, it is not surprising that widespread misunderstanding exists regarding the nature and effect of military service. Several misconceptions abound in our popular culture and media, and these in turn reinforce stereotypes and biases. The astute veteran job seeker will be aware of these fallacies and have a strategy to refute each if they arise. All responses call for some combination of citing facts, displaying empathy, communicating clearly and leveraging humor.
There are four primary objections to their candidacy that veterans may face:
Culture Fit Fear
It is a common misunderstanding that military personnel do nothing but give and take orders. Incapable of independent thought, former soldiers or sailors can be expected to do little but bark commands or sit passively waiting for someone to tell them something to do. Actual veterans know that the demands of modern warfare could not be further from this stereotype. In fact, many veterans are shocked by the degree to which corporate life embodies these characteristics more than the military. For decades, all military branches have encouraged initiative-taking and decentralized decision-making in response to the needs of maneuver and asymmetrical warfare.
To adapt to an organization at which you wish to work, you must first diagnose the nature of that culture. Just as every battalion, ship, squadron or platoon has its own set of values and unspoken social rules, so it is with industries, companies and departments. For example, if you detect that a sales team is aggressive, macho and results-driven, it may be entirely appropriate to emphasize your “ninja” experience in the combat arms. If it is a more contemplative or intellectual environment, you may find success in talking about your war college, other professional training experience or your personal professional development reading curriculum.
There is great diversity in the cultures of civilian organizations. The job seeker must astutely “read” the culture and adapt his or her personal positioning in a manner that highlights the value of the veteran’s experience or, if necessary, diminishes a possible negative impact.
Mental Health Concerns
Most of what civilians know about the military comes from the media and Hollywood. Mental illness, including the effects of post-traumatic stress or other forms of psychological instability, is common in presentations of veterans. While most respect the service of the veterans they encounter, some harbor concerns that hiring veteran employees may put their company at risk by admitting potentially violent or raging individuals to their ranks. No matter that most veterans do not experience combat, most combat veterans do not suffer from PTSD and that most of those with the condition manage it without deleterious impact on their personal and professional lives.
Veterans must be prepared with facts and reason to expose the ignorance of civilian hiring managers with tact and compassion. Many civilians do not know, for example, that PTSD may afflict anyone who experiences trauma. Combat is one form of impactful experience, but so are car accidents, natural disasters and physical and sexual abuse.
Assumption of the Irrelevance of Experience
Many civilians know shockingly little about the military. A veteran job seeker must be prepared to educate a hiring manager or recruiter about even the most basic facts. One cannot assume that terms like sergeant, petty officer, squad leader or combat engineer mean anything to a civilian. Military occupational specialty designations can be a mystery even when their names make common sense (e.g. driver, administrative assistant, supply specialist). Likewise, civilians cannot be expected to know that a 20-year career in a specialty like surface warfare or infantry might include 12 or more years of school-based education and secondary billets in fields like sales (recruiting) or supply chain management (procurement or logistics).
By learning to tell your story in a way that is accessible and clear, the veteran job seeker can use the civilian’s ignorance to their advantage by positioning their experience in a way that both makes sense and casts light in a favorable manner.
Fear of Being Too Demanding
The final objection that civilians may conjure to resist hiring a veteran often lurks on a subconscious level. The military at its best is a no-nonsense, mission-oriented culture that teaches and values leadership above all other virtues. From day one at boot camp, Officer Candidate School or an academy, military initiates are inculcated with the message that leadership means taking care of people and accomplishing one’s mission. Such moral clarity can be absent in civilian organizations. Although desperately needed, many hiring managers instinctively fear that hiring a veteran may trigger calls for a higher ideal for leadership, accountability and results. In other words, some civilians will avoid hiring a veteran because she might make them look bad!
This political factor can be a tricky one to manage. The candidate will not want to undersell his strengths but will want to communicate empathetically to the hiring manager. “I can square this team away in a matter of days” might not be the best boast to make in an interview if the candidate suspects some level of insecurity on behalf of the interviewer. Instead, the astute veteran job seeker will find a way to communicate competence in a less threatening away.
Being prepared is wise. Being paranoid is unproductive and being hypersensitive is worse. A smart veteran job seeker will address the biases and concerns of civilian interviewers with empathy, facts, clarity and humor. Remember, organizations are desperate for high-quality talent and veterans, as a rule, are exactly that.
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Veterans: Learn How to Handle 4 Common Hiring Rejections originally appeared on usnews.com
