Yes! We took the step in hiring a veteran (or two).
As a small distributed (remote) ad agency, it is important for us to build the best team possible. More importantly, finding the right people that fit into the necessary parameters for a successful model.
It has taken over 2 years to build the team we have today — a solid team at that — and I am proud of each and everyone in the pack.
As Fullmoon continues to grow, I wanted to introduce fresh perspective and infuse new mindsets to further strengthen our core.
I connected with Brian from Vets2Industry.com, and the rest was history. We hired our first veteran, Bryan, and that was exactly who we were looking for!
I’ll let Bryan tell you his story, and also explain why hiring veterans can add more depth and strength to an organization…
This is Bryan’s story.
When you hire a veteran, you are hiring a proven leader. Period.
This leader has been tested in some of toughest situations and under extreme circumstances.
He or she has been tasked with operations with tiny amounts of details but expected to complete without fail.
How does one quantify that experience on a resume or when sitting across from a hiring manager during the interview?
Well the answer isn’t simple or easy.
You must develop a network of veterans that have been through the transition process to assist you with telling your story.
Telling your story is CRUCIAL to your future success
As someone that has dealt with the realities and struggles of transition, here is my story.
After being medically retired from the Army in 2013, I thought employers would be falling over to hire me.
I spent more than 10 years of my young adult life serving in the military instead of going straight to college like many of those that graduated high school with me.
Instead, I found it hard to adapt to the civilian sector.
How could I tell my story about everything I had done and experienced?
I didn’t have a network of professionals to help me with my journey.
I decided to use my GI Bill benefits to finish my bachelor’s degree to help improve my marketability to potential employers.
Networking is King
What I found out during college was that networking is king in corporate America. It isn’t always what you know but who you know.
Taking this lesson, I went to Student Veterans of America National Conference in San Antonio in 2017 and networked from the beginning to the very end.
I still didn’t land a job, but I found the beginnings of a network that could assist me with finding my voice after the military and after college.
This transformation was not easy for me. I was never much of a social person nor did I find it easy to go up to strangers and strike up a conversation.
Adapting to that type of personality can be difficult for a veteran.
We are never used to talking about all the great things we have accomplished, because it isn’t about what I did, but it is about what my unit, my team, achieved.
By nature, the veteran doesn’t seek out personal accolades but celebrates those that are given to the team they worked with. When talking with a veteran, don’t be afraid to ask what they did inside their teams, that is a source of pride for many of us!
Many veterans face challenges when leaving the military.
Challenges that many of us are too scared to talk about. It is those demons that keep us up at night or keep us from accomplishing tasks throughout the day. These demons are the mental health issues that plague many veterans.
Whether it is PTSD, depression, issues from TBI, or even addictions to prescription drugs intended to help. These issues loom large for the veteran population.
How do you as a civilian deal with a veteran that might work for you who is fighting these inner battles?
The simple answer is to listen to them. Let them speak. Instead of immediately offering advice, offer a shoulder to lean on. Many of us just need to speak and be heard.
Listening to them can help take that weight off their shoulders that they may have been carrying around for years. Veterans are not looking for a handout but what they are looking for is a hand up!
If you allow that person to speak freely, they are going to be one of the best employees you could ask for.
10 reason to hire a veteran
Why should you hire a veteran that may not fit the exact job description you are looking for…here is some reasons:
- We are loyal.
- Veterans are adaptable.
- We show up everyday even if we might not be 100%.
- We’ll give you 100% effort daily.
- Learning new things is what we love to do.
- We are natural leaders.
- Every veteran love to help others accomplish goals.
- We work great in teams.
- We want to share our knowledge with those around us.
- Veterans will do everything possible to complete a task on time, including working longer hours.
The list could go on forever because the veteran that you hire is ready today. We are ready impact your organization with amazing results.
We can lead your teams to success if you give us a chance to show you.
Instead of relying just on a resume, have a conversation with a veteran and you can change your company’s trajectory in a short period of time.
Let’s dive further…10 Reason To Hire Veterans
We are loyal
When it comes to loyalty, this is at the core of who the veteran is. This is something that we taught from day one in uniform and its drilled into throughout our career.
We carry this belief into every unit we are assigned to and it is our currency for daily life in uniform.
Veterans do not give up on an organization or the teams we are just because it is tough or because we might have a difficult team member or leader.
We tend to stick it out and find ways to improve the environment. Veterans are never looking for the first door to walk out of but looking for the door to bring in others that can improve the team.
We show up every day even if we might not be 100%
While we are on the topic of loyalty, a veteran is one that shows up to work daily ready to achieve that day’s goal.
Even though we may not feel 100% or be our absolute best, most of the veteran population will show up no matter what. You can guarantee that veteran will not miss a day, because in uniform and on deployment, there are no sick days.
We are adaptable
Another skill that we pick up throughout our careers is being adaptable. While that may sound like a scary thing, for a veteran, it is natural.
We are used to wearing multiple hats at any given time along with being responsible and getting tasks completed at a high standard.
We love working in multiple areas and learning new things is constant.
You’ll not meet a veteran who is scared to fail because that is how we learn and grow. This is encouraged throughout our military careers and we always carry that into our next endeavor.
We will do everything possible to complete a task on time, including working longer hours
Also, on the topic of adaptability, a veteran will not quit on you just because you gave him or her a hard assignment. This individual will give you maximum effort on every task.
It isn’t that we are trying to show off to our boss, but we want to show the value of our work and that we deserve a seat at the table. A veteran will not stop learning, working, or trying until the very end.
That drive to succeed is also instilled into us from the moment we step off that bus in basic training. It is hammered into us daily until the uniform comes off and then we keep it with us.
While many of our peers may not enjoy having to learn a new system, process, or skill, a veteran will be excited to learn. The thirst for knowledge from a veteran comes from their desire to be the best in their field.
We like to learn new things
A veteran’s thirst for knowledge is never ending and will only grow as you allow them to experience new opportunities inside your organization.
We will find way to improve operations, the flow of information, help create efficiencies, identify and prevent roadblocks when passing information across functional areas.
These professionals want to make your organization the most efficient machine around and by allowing them to have that kind of freedom, you are allowing them to showcase their skills and talents.
We are natural leaders
Naturally, veterans are leaders. Leaders that have been trained by some of the best organizations in the world. A veteran is constantly tested throughout their career in some of the most severe environments.
This constantly testing and adapting allows us to communicate more effectively and with a more diverse group of individuals.
We are taught how to build teams of specialists inside our groups that we can lean on for those times that we may not have the answer.
We have also perfected how to engage those around us and get them to follow us.
It isn’t some secret sauce that a veteran has, but it is in our personality and our desire to see our people win at whatever they may be doing.
In addition to being natural leaders, we also want to help our teams accomplish their goals.
We love helping others accomplish goals
Accomplishing those small tasks might not seem like a lot to most people but for a veteran, every box that we can check off during our day is a win for us.
We want to push ourselves along with those on our teams to do top notch work and to give every ounce of effort to every project.
That is one that you will notice about veterans inside an organization, we are never the ones just hanging around the office water cooler shooting the breeze with everyone that walks by. We are the person who comes in early and stays later than 90% of the people just to ensure every possible task was completed to their standard.
Veterans have never punched a time clock and don’t consider time when their focus is on the mission at hand. For them, finishing the objective is more important than the hours on a time clock. 99% of veterans will never say “it’s past my 8 hours, it’s time for me to leave.”
They will stay until the job is done and they are satisfied with the results.
Since leaving the Army, it has been difficult for me to adjust to organizations that expect me to punch a time clock because when I was deployed overseas or on training missions, there was no timecard.
We work great in teams
A veteran is also not a loner, we love to work in groups or teams. This is very comfortable for us because this how we work when in uniform.
When serving, you never work alone. You always have someone close by to work on a project with you.
Veterans often want to lead that team. We are comfortable in leadership positions. We aren’t control freaks who want to micromanage every task, but we conditioned to work together to make everyone around us the best they can be.
I can say that when I work with another veteran, I am confident they will understand me because we have experienced the same struggle. While you can talk about your service with your civilian counterparts and bosses, if they aren’t also veterans it can be difficult for them to understand what wearing the uniform is really like.
If you spend enough time around a veteran, we will share with you ways you could improve some aspect of your operation. Even if it is just a small improvement.
We want to pass down our knowledge to those around us
As I mentioned, veterans always looking for ways to share lessons learned while in the military to others so that they may take advantage of our unique skills and approach to work and problem solving.
Veterans would rather see the organizations we are a part of thrive and grow instead of suffering and failing.
When our organizations fail, a veteran can feel like they failed. If we indicate we have ideas, let us share them and see what impact those ideas have on the teams.
We will do everything possible to complete a task on time, including working longer hours
We are dedicated to finishing any task that is laid out before us.
A veteran will not stop just because “it’s break time.” We have been trained to work until the job is complete and not a minute sooner. We are taught that an incomplete task is unacceptable. Incompletion means mission failure.
We don’t care how many hours it will take because mission success is always of the utmost importance.
A veteran’s work ethic will often speak louder than the individual veteran does in the workplace. Work ethic for a veteran is unmatched anywhere in corporate America. It isn’t about accolades to us or recognition.
To a veteran, it’s about getting the job done right and getting it done to specification.
We don’t need the spotlight of a job well done, we just want to show you that we can get the job done right the first time and on time.
We give you 100% effort daily
When you hire a veteran, you are hiring a person who can bring so many great things to an organization, which can make it even better.
Let us show you why we are the best fit for you and your teams. You are hiring a very capable individual who has been through some of the toughest experiences imaginable and we are better for it.
These professionals have some of the highest honor and dignity you will ever find, and we are proud to join you and your teams to achieve maximum success.
