Learning how to hire veterans is one of the highest-leverage moves a hiring manager can make. Military veterans arrive with proven leadership, security clearances, technical training, and a work ethic civilian candidates often spend years developing. Yet many employers struggle to find military talent, read a service record, or keep veterans past their first year. This guide walks through the full process: where veterans actually are, how to attract them, writing job posts they respond to, interviewing fairly, weighing hiring incentives, and onboarding for retention.
Why hiring veterans is a business decision, not a charity
Hiring veterans is not a goodwill gesture you make and write off. It is a talent strategy. In a 2021 study by SHRM and USAA, 91% of HR professionals said veterans perform equal to or better than their civilian peers on measures such as retention and reliability, and 98% agreed veterans can thrive in both team-based and independent roles. The traits employers say they struggle to find (accountability, calm under pressure, the ability to lead and to follow) are exactly what military service builds and tests.
Veterans also bring capabilities that are expensive to source elsewhere: active security clearances, hands-on experience with complex equipment, logistics and maintenance expertise, and a comfort with structure and standards. For a deeper look at the numbers and the case for it, see our breakdown of why hiring veterans makes business sense.
Where to find veterans and military talent
The first obstacle is reach. Transitioning service members often separate without ever posting a public resume, and the strongest candidates are recruited before they hit the open market. To find them, go where they are:
- DoD SkillBridge. This Department of Defense program lets active-duty members complete a civilian internship during their final 180 days of service while the military continues to pay their salary and benefits. Authorized employers get an extended look at a candidate's civilian work before making a hiring decision. DoD expects hosts to have real openings and to offer jobs to at least 75% of participants who complete the program.
- Transition assistance and base programs. Installation transition offices, hiring events, and recruiting relationships built near major bases connect you to people roughly 6 to 12 months out from separation. Our military base map shows where that talent concentrates.
- Veteran job boards and service organizations. Platforms and nonprofits dedicated to military hiring put your role in front of a self-selected, motivated audience.
- A veteran staffing partner. Relationships take years to build. A specialized agency maintains an active military and veteran talent network so you do not start from zero on every requisition.
- A vetted roster. Rather than a resume database, LockLeed publishes a short monthly Ready Roster of veterans whose service record, employment history, references and certifications we have already verified, with what each person actually did, in numbers, and when they can start.
How to attract veteran candidates
Sourcing puts your opening in front of veterans. Whether they apply depends on what they find when they look you up. Syracuse University's Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF) and VetAdvisor surveyed more than 1,400 veterans from December 2013 to February 2014 for the Veteran Job Retention Survey. The biggest obstacle respondents named in getting hired was finding opportunities that matched their military training and experience. The aspect of a civilian job they rated most important was the chance to use their skills and abilities, followed by benefits and pay. Make both easy to see:
- Send employer-brand signals veterans can check. Veterans on the team and in leadership, a veteran employee resource group, a written military leave policy, and hiring managers who can speak to all three say more than a flag on the careers page. Show them where candidates look: your careers page, your company social profiles and the interview itself.
- Give veterans a pathway on your careers page. A short section that says you hire veterans, lists the roles where military experience maps well, explains how you read a service record, and names a person to contact turns goodwill into a way in.
- Put the pay range in the posting. Someone leaving the service is often pricing a civilian job for the first time, and a range tells them quickly whether the role is worth applying for. As of September 2026, Minnesota requires employers with 30 or more employees at one or more sites in the state to include a starting pay range, or a fixed pay rate, and a general description of benefits in each job posting. See posting through a recruiter below.
- Be Guard- and Reserve-friendly. Some of your strongest candidates may still serve in the National Guard or a Reserve component. Say in the posting that you schedule around drill weekends and annual training, and build schedules that can absorb them. Federal law (USERRA) already bars turning someone down because of a service obligation, and saying so up front answers a question candidates may hesitate to ask.
- Know which military jobs fit the role. Enter a job title or paste a job description into our Role to MOS Matcher to see the Army and Marine Corps MOS codes, Navy and Coast Guard ratings, and Air Force AFSCs that produce that talent, plus sourcing terms and posting tips. Use those words in your posting so veterans recognize themselves in it.
How to write a veteran-friendly job post
Even great sourcing fails if the job description filters out the people you want. A few adjustments make a post far more effective for veteran recruitment:
- Drop the rigid degree gate when it is not truly required. Many veterans have equivalent training, certifications, and real responsibility instead of a four-year degree. Lead with competencies and outcomes.
- Translate your requirements into plain language. Civilian acronyms and buzzwords read as a foreign language to someone who just left the service. State what the person will actually do.
- Name the clearance and the location. If a role needs a Secret or Top Secret clearance, say so. Cleared candidates search on it. If it does not, say that too, so you do not scare off strong applicants.
- Signal that you welcome military experience. A simple line stating you value military service and will help translate it lowers the barrier to applying.
Posting through a recruiter
As of September 2026, Minnesota law requires covered employers to put pay details in job postings. Under Minnesota Statutes section 181.173, in effect since January 1, 2025, an employer with 30 or more employees at one or more sites in Minnesota must include in each posting for a job opening the starting salary range, or a fixed pay rate if it does not plan to offer a range, and a general description of all the benefits and other compensation, including any health or retirement benefits. The range is the employer's good faith estimate at the time of posting, and it cannot be open-ended.
The statute counts recruitment done indirectly through a third party as a posting. So if you are covered and a recruiter or staffing partner advertises your opening, that posting still needs the range and the benefits description. If you work with a recruiter, send both along with the job details when you open the search.
This is general information, not legal advice. Confirm how the law applies to your organization with your own counsel.
Interviewing: how to translate military experience
The biggest hiring mistake is reading a service record at face value and missing the substance underneath. A platoon sergeant has managed people, equipment, training, and risk. A logistics specialist has run a supply chain. Your job in the interview is to map that experience to your roles.
Ask outcome-based behavioral questions: how they led a team through a difficult task, how they solved a problem with limited resources, how they handled a mistake. Listen for transferable skills rather than industry-specific jargon. Brief your interview panel ahead of time so a quiet, understated answer is not mistaken for a lack of accomplishment. Humility is a cultural norm in the military, not a red flag. This translation work is exactly what a structured screening and placement process is built to handle before a candidate ever reaches your desk.
Understanding security clearances
If your work touches government contracts, clearances matter and they are slow and costly to obtain: a background investigation can take many months. Hiring someone who already holds an active clearance saves that time and expense. The levels, from lowest to highest:
| Level | Access granted |
|---|---|
| Confidential | Information whose unauthorized disclosure could reasonably be expected to cause damage to national security |
| Secret | Information whose unauthorized disclosure could reasonably be expected to cause serious damage |
| Top Secret (TS) | Information whose unauthorized disclosure could reasonably be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage |
| TS/SCI | Top Secret eligibility plus access to specific Sensitive Compartmented Information programs |
Always verify clearance status independently rather than relying on a candidate's word. Clearances can lapse, and adjudication details matter. Many veterans separate with an active clearance, so if a role you are filling requires one, say so and we will factor it into the search across the industries we serve.
Hiring incentives: the Work Opportunity Tax Credit
The federal Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) has historically rewarded employers for hiring from targeted groups, including certain qualified veterans. When in force, the credit can reach as high as $9,600 per qualified veteran for for-profit employers, depending on factors such as length of unemployment, hours worked, and first-year wages. To claim it, employers submit IRS Form 8850 to their state workforce agency within 28 days of the employee's start date.
One important caveat as of 2026: WOTC's statutory authorization lapsed for employees who begin work after December 31, 2025, and the credit is not available for new hires in 2026 unless Congress reauthorizes it. The program has expired and been retroactively reinstated before, so many employers continue to screen and file Form 8850 on time to preserve eligibility in case of a renewal. Always confirm current program status and eligibility with the IRS or your tax advisor before relying on the credit.
If the role involves structured training, two more programs can apply to the same hire: GI Bill on-the-job training, which pays the veteran a monthly benefit on top of your wage once the State Approving Agency approves the program, and, in Minnesota, state-paid GI Bill job placement credits for the employer. Our guide to GI Bill on-the-job training for Minnesota employers covers approval and how both sit alongside WOTC.
Onboarding and retention
Hiring is only half the job. In the same IVMF survey (2013 to 2014), nearly half of respondents left their first post-military job within a year. The reason cited most often was a new employment opportunity, followed by lack of career development and advancement. Respondents also stayed longer in jobs that matched their preferred career field. Retention starts with the right match. After that, a deliberate onboarding plan helps:
- Assign a mentor or sponsor who can decode unwritten norms, much like a sponsor does at a new duty station.
- Set clear expectations and standards. Veterans thrive on defined missions, measurable goals, and direct feedback.
- Connect them to other veterans through an employee resource group or informal network.
- Plan around drill and annual training. If your hire serves in the Guard or Reserve, ask for the unit's drill calendar early and build coverage around it. Our guide to employing Guard and Reserve members in Minnesota covers what federal and state law require.
- Map a path forward. Show how the role leads somewhere; ambition and a desire to keep developing are part of the profile.
A veteran resource group, a leadership program and 12-month retention of veteran hires are also part of the criteria for the Department of Labor's HIRE Vets Medallion Award, so a program built this way is easier to document if you decide to apply.
How a veteran staffing agency accelerates all of this
Doing each step well takes time and specialized knowledge most internal teams do not have on tap. A veteran-owned agency compresses the work: it maintains the network, translates the experience, verifies clearances, and delivers a short slate of interviewed finalists instead of a flood of resumes. At LockLeed, a Search Engagement Fee starts your search, and we walk you through every fee before you sign. Explore how LockLeed works with employers, or talk to LockLeed about your next hire and we will schedule a brief and build a slate.