In honor of Memorial Day on Monday, we are featuring the latest news in hiring veterans for this week's Talent and HR News Weekly Update. This has been a topic of discussion for years. See what some companies are doing to help veterans find employment.
1) Wal-mart Announces Expansion of Veteran Hiring from ABC News
"Nate Waits wakes up before 3 a.m. four days a week to get to his job at a Bentonville distribution center for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., where the former Marine is among more than 92,000 veterans the company has hired in the past two years. As the two-year anniversary approaches of the Veterans Welcome Home Commitment program the company launched on Memorial Day 2013, the retail giant announced Wednesday that it is expanding its original plan to hire 100,000 veterans by 2018 to hire a total of 250,000 recently discharged veterans by 2020. Chris Sultemeier, executive vice president for logistics at Wal-Mart, said the company has been pleased with the skills that the veterans bring to a range of positions including retail, distribution and management. He said about 8,000 of the original hires have already been promoted."
2) Accenture to Hire 5,000 U.S. Veterans by 2020 from Nasdaq
"Accenture (NYSE:ACN) plans to hire 5,000 U.S. veterans and military spouses in the next five years, significantly adding to the more than 1,000 former members of the U.S. Armed Forces the company currently employs. Accenture's lead military recruiter and Navy veteran Chris Green demonstrates the company's Military Career Coach to North Carolina veteran Mark Scott. "As a talent-led business, we know the lessons that military men and women learn - including leadership, discipline and teamwork - are an excellent fit with the work we do for clients," said Ellyn Shook, Accenture's chief human resources officer. "We welcome that experience, and we offer veterans a wide range of rewarding career opportunities, tailored resources to help them transition to Accenture and a dynamic environment in which to learn and grow their skills." The company recently launched a number of initiatives to attract former active-duty personnel and current reservists who possess the experience, skills or just the aptitude to be successful in a technology, operations or consulting career. Accenture is also waiving its standard college-degree requirement for some positions where military recruits already have the skills necessary to be job-ready."
3) The Top 10 Franchise Brands for Veterans from Entrepreneur
"For 21.2 million U.S. veterans, transitioning into civilian life can present challenges. One struggle is simply finding employment in a labor market which, while improving, is still tight. Potential employers may take a shortsighted view when an applicant’s military experience and skills don’t map directly to a corporate job description, or when a resume includes a gap for military service. That may be one of the reasons many veterans opt to start their own business; in fact, a higher percentage of veterans than nonveterans are self-employed. Recent data shows that veteran-owned businesses generate $1.2 trillion in sales and employ 5.8 million workers."
4) Veterans Need a Good Elevator Pitch, Too from AOL Jobs
"The term "elevator pitch" emerged from the entrepreneurial world. It describes the summary sales pitch a startup company CEO would need to have memorized in case she found herself riding in an elevator with a targeted venture capitalist. The concept is simple. You have less than 30 seconds to describe who you are, what you want to do and your next specific action step to realize this goal. The limited duration of the "elevator ride" requires the speaker to focus intently on the who, what and why of his or her offering. All job seekers, but especially military veterans and others who are switching functions or industries, need to develop, utilize and refine a concise, compelling and accurate elevator pitch. It is the primary communication tool people use to differentiate themselves and create lasting impressions."
5) Combined Insurance Hosts First Military Hiring Summit to Identify and Address Veteran Unemployment Issues from Chicago Tribune
"Combined Insurance, a leading provider of individual supplemental accident, disability, health and life insurance products, and an ACE Group company, takes another step forward in its commitment to help military veterans find meaningful employment with the completion of its military hiring summit - the first of its kind for the company. The summit, hosted by Combined Insurance, was created to bring government and business leaders, and recently transitioned military servicemen and women together in a roundtable forum to more closely identify issues and discuss solutions related to veteran unemployment."
Lexi Gordon is a Lead Consultant for exaqueo, a workforce consultancy that helps organizations build their cultures, employer brands and talent strategies. Contact exaqueo to learn more about how we can help you build a workforce that’s aligned with your company culture and develop an employer brand that will allow your business to scale the right way.