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According to Performance.gov, approximately 200,000 service members leave the military each year. With the majority getting out long before the 20 years required to
"In every industry, we're fighting for the same skilled candidates, and [companies] don't realize the skills [veterans have]," she says. "We've got to dip into all different buckets from an equity perspective, because we want the most qualified person. But if you don't bring any of these candidates to the table, your hit rate will be zero."
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Growing up in a military family, Mosher has seen firsthand the hardship that can come when a military veteran attempts to shift into the labor force. Her father, a Marine for over 30 years, was not given the tools he needed to find work after he left the service, and this took both an economical and emotional toll on her family, she says. This inspired her to ensure that isolved uses hiring tactics to attract veteran talent and military spouses, and managers are trained in how to properly interview and later retain veteran hires.
"We have recruiters here that specifically work on developing candidate pools in underrepresented areas," she says. "[isolved] educates managers on how to translate different kinds of skill sets into what we utilize here. Education and communication are a mantra, and it has become a part of [company] culture. If you believe that these types of pools are meaningful, you'll make an effort to include them in your strategy."
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Interviews at isolved are more about finding a job applicant's link to the company's competencies and values than what is on their resume, Mosher says. Thanks to their training, interviewers not only gain insight into a person's skill sets, but their personality and behavior as well, giving a more holistic picture of a candidate and enabling smarter job offers, which boosts ROI.
"We expect that we're going to make a significant investment into anyone we onboard, and we want them to be here because they want to engage at a certain level, they want to learn and they want to grow, and that's what you get from veterans," Mosher says. Out of isolved's 2,300 employees, 175 are veterans, active duty, or spouses of active duty service members.
One of the most valuable resources isolved uses for its leadership training program around diversity recruiting is a
"It's like a lightbulb goes off and they go, 'Wow, this is great,'" Mosher says. "Our uplift on the number of veterans we hired after starting this program two years ago quadrupled in six months. It's about education; [leaders] are learning that what you do in the military is just like any other job — they live for values, competencies and behaviors, just like any organization that also focuses on these things."
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Along with a training program that increases leaders' awareness and boosts recruitment, Mosher emphasizes the need for companies to create a sense of belonging for their veteran employees, emphasizing that this is the number one contributor to retention. Schedule flexibility, access to and education on how to utilize available benefits, showing support for veteran programs and outlining a path for career development are other ways organizations can build strong relationships and maintain the loyalty of this population, she says.
"Businesses have an opportunity to engage and support veterans," Mosher says. "They've served our country, we work in this country and have the means to help, so why wouldn't we do that?"
