Written by: Natalie Gross – for the Military Times.com
More than half of veterans struggle to find work in their desired fields after leaving the military because civilian employers want experienced and educated candidates ― and often don’t realize veterans qualify, a new survey finds.
Only 17 percent of employers say veterans are viewed as strategic assets in the workplace, according to the survey, released this week by the marketing firm Edelman. And despite the large majority of veteran respondents saying they have education beyond a high school diploma, 46 percent of employers believe veterans do not pursue a college degree or vocational training.
“I think, ‘You need more education’ is code for: ‘We don’t understand you,’” said Eric Eversole, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Hiring Our Heroes initiative. Eversole led a panel discussion on the survey’s findings in Washington, D.C., Wednesday.
He told Military Times that many companies have started to prioritize veteran recruitment, but there are still challenges at the hiring-manager level. It can be easier for employers to say, “You’re not quite the right fit,” rather than to try to understand how time and tasks done in service measure up to the job requirements.
Edelman researchers surveyed close to 5,000 service members, military spouses, veterans, nonveterans, educators and employers for the study, the group’s third annual assessment of veterans’ well-being.
Compared to last year, veterans offered better self-assessments about their employment, and employers’ perceptions of veterans’ overall well-being also improved.
“People make decisions based on perceptions all the time,” said James Schmeling, executive vice president of Student Veterans of America. “What we find out is: What they think is not very often based on fact.”
For example, 53 percent of employers surveyed said veterans do not have successful careers after the military. Yet federal employment figures show veterans reached a record-low unemployment rate in 2017 ― 3.7 percent, compared to 4.2 percent for nonveterans ― and other statistics show veterans have higher salaries and advance more quickly in their jobs, Schmeling pointed out.
That wouldn’t happen if they were bad at what they do, he said.
Schmeling said that if a company insists on candidates having a certain type of background or education, they should make that clearer to veteran applicants. Let them know what major and GPA is required, as well as which schools the companies recruit from, so that the veteran better understands what it takes to get that type of job.
Military spouses also encountered challenges and wished the government would do more to advocate for them, according to the study. Sixty-eight percent of employers said they did not offer options for flexible schedules or remote work that military spouses could benefit from, and many admitted their companies do not understand the value that military spouses have to offer in the workforce.
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