“There’s no one size fits all,” says Eric Eversole. He’s the President of Hiring Our Heroes, a nationwide initiative to help veterans, transitioning service members, and military spouses find meaningful employment opportunities.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation launched the program in March of 2011, and through their commitment-based engagement of the business community, more than 940 job fairs held across the country, and a suite of free online career tools, they’ve worked with their partners to help hundreds of thousands of veterans and military spouses find jobs.
We were able to sit down with Eversole and discuss best practices for veteran hiring. Watch the video to hear what he had to say:
Employers have to deeply evaluate what their goals are internally and externally and determine what they’re trying to achieve with their veteran hiring program. Another important step is establishing partnerships with organizations like state workforce agencies, local non-profits and National Guard. Eversole also emphasizes digital resources such as resume databases and virtual career fairs.
With regard to bridging the communication gap with veterans, employers really need to broaden their aperture – think more about skill sets and what a great employee looks like for the organization. Eversole explains that when you show commitment to service members, they’re going to return that commitment to the business.
Special thanks to Eric Eversole for his time and guidance. Visit our military and veteran partners page to learn more about the organizations DirectEmployers works with, or visit our recruitment marketing section to read about our MOS/MOC translation tool for veteran-focused recruitment sites.
