10 Reasons Veterans Make Excellent Employees

Finding the right talent to add to your organization is critical to your company’s overall success. However, it can be challenging to find the right person for the job. You understandably want to find a person with the best combination of education, experience and skills, but you also may be interviewing candidates to determine if their personality and demeanor will be a fit for your organization. Hiring a military veteran is a great option to consider for because most military veterans possess exceptional qualities that your business can benefit from. These are some of the benefits associated with hiring military veterans to fill your job openings.

1. The Ability to Handle Stressful Situations

Veterans from all military branches are intensely trained to handle pressure in life or death situations. Many have even faced real-life military combat situations that have tested them to the highest degree. With this experience under their belts, you can rest assured that they will hold up well to tense professional situations.

2. A Keen Sense of Responsibility

Soldiers are trained to be responsible for their appearance, their gear, their punctuality and their team. When they are not responsible in each of these areas in a military environment, they risk getting injured or having one of their team members injured. Irresponsibility is simply not a part of the military ethic. Employers understandably need responsible individuals filling their job openings, and this is one area where military vets excel in.

3. Analytical Decisiveness

Military veterans often must make quick and very important decisions within a moment’s notice. They are trained to analyze situations as they go along so that they can respond promptly when needed, and many decisions can impact the entire unit or mission. This is a quality that can make a military veteran stand out in your organization. It also is a quality that helps to make them better leaders in professional organizations.

4. Goal-Oriented Individuals

All organizations have goals, and you likely have established sub goals for your various departments to accomplish. Military professionals are typically trained to complete their missions successfully. They may not always be given a specific plan to accomplish the goal they have been assigned to, so they may have to develop a successful plan of action. In some cases, they are given specific requirements that must be followed to complete the goal, and they must carefully execute the plan in a precise and detailed manner. Because of this, military veterans are often extremely goal-oriented.

5. Team Players

The ability to work well with others is critical in most business environments as well as in military units. Each team member may have strengths and weaknesses, and when a team works well together, the strengths of each individual are maximized to benefit the group. Military professionals are trained to work as a unit to accomplish goals in critical situations, and they know how to get along well with all types of different personalities to accomplish their goals.

6. The Ability to Work Well Independently

There are also times in many work environments when individuals must work independently rather than rely on a group. During these times, the individual must be self-motivated as well as goal-oriented. He or she must think creatively to solve problems, and the unit or organization may be relying on the actions of the single individual. Veterans can be trusted to manage some of the most critical aspects of your operations because of their ability to work well in teams as well as on their own.

7. A Strong Work Ethic

Having a strong work ethic is essential in the military. Soldiers often endure grueling, exhausting and sometimes even physically painful situations in order to reach their goals. This strong work ethic often carries through into their professional lives. They will keep their nose to the grindstone and will work efficiently while using all available resources to get the job done right.

8. Well-Trained and Educated in Specific Fields

Military branches train their soldiers in a wide range of fields. Some already have a college degree when they enter the military, but they also receive exceptional field experience and additional skills training in different areas. This includes training for engineers, healthcare providers, aerospace technicians, law enforcement, construction and much more.

9.Relentless When Facing Tough Challenges

Some work projects can be difficult and stressful to complete, and the inclination of some people may be to give up when the going gets hard. However, military professionals simply will not give up unless they are ordered to do so. They understand through their military training that if one member of the unit fails, the entire operation or mission may be at risk. More than that, the life and safety of their unit members may also be at risk. Military vets can be relied on to work hard and to be relentless in the face of tough challenges.

10. The Financial Benefit to Your Company

You may not realize it, but your company may enjoy several great monetary benefits when they hire military veterans. First, under the Special Employer Incentives program, or SEI, employers can hire a vet as an apprentice, and the employer may be reimbursed half of that vet’s salary each year during the time of apprenticeship. Second, there are several tax benefits that are designed to help businesses that hire vets. These include the Wounded Warriors tax credit, the Returning Heroes tax credit and the Work Opportunity tax credit. The combined value of these credits to your company is approximately $9,600 per year. You can learn more about these credits to see how they will impact your company.

While it can be challenging to find the right talent to fill your company’s vacant positions, you can see that military professionals generally have exceptional skills and training that make them an excellent option to consider. Each military vet is unique, so take time to interview each candidate carefully to assess their strengths and weaknesses. When you open up to the idea of hiring a military vet, you may more easily find the talent that you are looking for.