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What can tapping the military community talent pool do for your company? Plenty, say winners of the seventh annual Patriots in Business Awards, developed by Chief Executive and Thayer Leadership at West Point to recognize companies that excel at supporting active-duty military members, veterans and their families through innovative employment initiatives and business practices. Each year, Chief Executive asks the leaders of companies honored with the award to share their experiences supporting those who serve. Here’s what they had to say.

‘Be proactive and have a plan’

JJ Sutherland, CEO, Scrum
Industry: Consulting % Workforce from military community: 28%

Seven years into Scrum’s involvement with the Veterans SkillBridge program, CEO JJ Sutherland has a hard time reining in his enthusiasm. “I tell other leaders in industry, ‘Get this: during the last six months of a veteran’s military career, the U.S. government pays them, and you get this incredible leader for free,’” he says. “It’s the best public-private partnership that I’m aware of, without question.”

Prioritizing hiring veterans and military spouses was a natural fit for the consulting company, which was founded by West Point graduate and former fighter pilot Jeff Sutherland, JJ Sutherland’s father. “We have a foundational understanding of the resource veterans are to this country and the value they can offer the private sector in terms of skillset, mindset, leadership experience, willingness to pursue excellence—and sometimes just pure grit,” says Sutherland.

A Department of Defense program aimed at helping members of the military transition into civilian life, SkillBridge connects active-duty service members with private-sector work experience opportunities. Service members receive up to 180 days to participate in specific industry training, apprenticeships or internships while continuing to receive their military pay and benefits.

“By the time their internship ends, we will have trained them and upskilled them enough to have a career in our industry as a transformation consultant,” says Sutherland. “It’s also a competitive advantage for us because the viewpoint that veterans—who are trained to adapt and overcome—bring is incredibly valuable to our private sector clients.”

Scrum, in turn, provides comprehensive training and onboarding programs and pairs veterans with mentors who counsel them on career development. “This is not about free labor; you need to be proactive and have a plan,” says Sutherland. “We are organized and systematic about how we train them, upskill them and plan to deploy them. When you’re thoughtful about it, it’s a win-win for both sides.”

‘Meet them where they are’

Nathan Meisgeier, President, Werner
Industry: Transportation % Workforce from military community: 20%

Reflecting on over two decades of recruiting veterans and their spouses as truck drivers, mechanics and transportation managers for its trucking business, Nathan Meisgeier is quick to acknowledge the business upside. “We do view this as a way of serving our country, but we’re doing it, frankly, for selfish reasons as well,” he says. “Veterans come to us with a great set of hard skills—in logistics, engineering, cybersecurity—that translate directly into what we do. Plus, if you’ve been shot at, having to wait in traffic or figure out how to deal with a scheduling issue feels comparatively manageable.”

In addition to serving as a pioneer for the Department of Labor’s now-thriving truck driver apprenticeship program and participating in military employment programs like SkillBridge, Werner has invested heavily in veteran recruitment initiatives, including outfitting a fleet of 13 trucks with military-themed wraps and visiting 250 military installations around the country. “You have to meet them where they are— and that’s probably not going to be on LinkedIn,” says Meisgeier. “Each truck costs six figures to purchase and wrapping them is not cheap, but the fleet is a recruiting tool that doubles as a way of recognizing and honoring veterans and their spouses.”

Over the past decade, Werner has hired more than 10,000 veterans and veteran spouses. Such a robust program doesn’t happen overnight, notes Meisgeier, who urges business leaders interested in a military recruitment initiative to lean in over time.

“Start small,” he says. “You can’t wake up on a Tuesday with zero veterans in your workforce and have 20 percent on Wednesday. The ability to manage the governmental red tape involved is something you build up over time, but the payoff is well worth the patience.”

‘Train and coach them effectively’

Mark Steffe, CEO, First Command
Industry: Financial Advising and Coaching % Workforce from military community: 91%

Recruiting from the military dovetails nicely with First Command’s mission since 1958: to offer financial planning to members and former members of the armed forces. “Our founder, Carroll Payne, was a former lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force who vowed that no military person or family who had sacrificed for our country would have to worry about having enough money in retirement,” says CEO Mark Steffe. “That rolled right into recruiting retired officers and military spouses.”

The company has a lengthy track record working with programs like Hiring Our Heroes and SkillBridge to help veterans get financial certifications, and many of its recruits come from client relationships. “If one of our advisors thinks a client would be a good fit, they broach the subject and make an introduction,” says Steffe, who says developing “portable” career paths for military spouses has been a recent focus for the company.

Well-educated and knowledgeable about the financial challenges military families face, spouses of servicemen and women have long been an untapped talent pool. “A lot of companies aren’t willing to hire military spouses because they generally need to relocate every two to three years,” says Steffe. “Military spouse unemployment ranges between 24 percent to 26 percent—and when you factor in underemployment, it’s closer to 50 percent.”

Supporting service members and their spouses as they transition into professional roles goes beyond recruitment initiatives, he adds. “We work very hard to find the right people, train and coach them effectively,” says Steffe. “We make a huge commitment to helping them succeed, and our retention rate reflects that.”

‘You have to resource the effort’

Tim Best, CEO, RecruitMilitary
Industry: Placement Services % Workforce from military community: 58%

During the 30-plus years RecruitMilitary has been helping employers of all sizes across all industries find and onboard members of the military, a shift has taken place, says Tim Best, CEO of the armed forces-to-civilian recruiting company. “Enlightened leaders are recognizing that the military community is this constantly replenishing pool of really talented people,” he says.

Best, who joined the company after serving as an army special operations attack helicopter pilot, outlines three steps business leaders can take to succeed at accessing the military talent pipeline:

First, identify pathways where military talent can thrive in your organization. “Beyond a strong skills match, that means things like availability of openings and buy-in from internal stakeholders, such as hiring managers,” says Best.

Second, once you’ve identified the where, “you have to resource the effort” by providing the tools and people necessary to help it succeed, he says.

Third, take a long-term mindset by thinking beyond recruiting for current openings. “It’s about creating a program and a process that can become systemic so that it becomes more efficient over time,” says Best. “Companies need to approach this the same way they do a college recruiting program.”

‘Create an environment for success’

Wayne Peacock, CEO, USAA
Industry: Financial Resources for Military Families % Workforce from military community: 24%

USAA’s purposeful approach to including military members in its employee ranks is a natural outgrowth of the organization’s overarching mission of providing insurance, banking and retirement solutions to the military community, says CEO Wayne Peacock. “Those who have actually experienced military life can share that experience more broadly with their civilian teammates and help us all be at our best to understand their issues and deliver great service to them.”

In addition to working with partners like Hiring our Heroes and others, USAA recruits through military and veteran-focused job fairs and community outreach efforts and has a robust onboarding program. “We know from transitioning vets that purpose matters; helping them understand how the value proposition that was clear in the military can be translated to the corporate environment matters,” says Peacock. “What we teach in the military is around mission first, so however you describe your corporate purpose past just the bottom line is really important.”

Providing a roadmap of how various military skills translate to your company’s needs is also key. “Help connect those dots for transitioning veterans so they can see, ‘If I have skills A, B and C, they’re replicable into job A, B or C,’” says Peacock. “That’s so much better than, ‘Hey, why don’t you come and find your way?’ Once you create that environment for success, you will find that incredible success follows.”

Originally published by Chief Executive Group on November 11, 2024.