According to a new Veterans Day survey released by CareerBuilder, results show that more employers are recruiting veteran employees and seeing the value in their workplace presence.
Conducted by Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder, the survey sampled 2,440 hiring and human resources managers and 286 veterans across multiple industries from August 11-September 5, 2014. The results showed that 33 percent of employers are actively recruiting veterans over the next year, showing an increase from last year’s number of 27 percent and 20 percent in 2011.
“Several years ago more U.S. companies started making pledges to recruit and train returning U.S. veterans, and we are beginning to see those efforts pay off,†said Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder. “In the past, employers said they sometimes overlooked veterans’ resumes because they weren’t sure how skills learned in the military translate to the civilian world. We’ve learned, though, that when employers make the effort to train and when returning soldiers receive the job search assistance they need, there is almost always a good match.â€
The survey shows that 46 percent of employers today say they pay more attention to applications submitted by U.S. Veterans, with 68 percent saying they will give preference to a veteran over a regular applicant with equal qualifications. Some of the most important qualities that employers say veterans bring to the table that give them an advantage over other applicants include great team working skills, a disciplined approach to work, respect and integrity, the ability to perform well under pressure and great leadership skills.