Supporting Veterans in the Civilian Workplace

This article was submitted by SIOP Military and Veterans Inclusion Subcommittee Member John P. Jasionowicz IV.

Leaving military service can mean learning a new workplace culture, rebuilding a sense of belonging, and finding a different way to use familiar skills. For SIOP members, these experiences connect with questions we already study and address in practice: How do we recognize talent, support career transitions, and help people succeed at work?

A recent Journal of Management review brings together 145 articles on veterans’ transitions to civilian work. Across research on skills, employment outcomes, and well-being, a central message emerges: Successful transitions involve both veterans and the organizations that employ them. Three takeaways offer a starting point.

Make military experience easier to understand
Military experience can be difficult to interpret when resumes use unfamiliar titles or terminology. Coordinating people and equipment under changing conditions may involve planning, teamwork, and problem solving relevant to civilian roles. Veterans can benefit from help describing that experience, whereas employers can improve how they recognize it. Job analysis and structured interviews offer ways to connect what an applicant has actually done with what a job requires. Recruiters and hiring managers have a role in making those connections.

Question assumptions about veterans
Veterans can encounter admiration and stigma at the same time. Assumptions about discipline or leadership can coexist with stereotypes about veterans’ interpersonal skills or mental health. Even well intended labels such as “hero” can feel uncomfortable for some veterans. Veterans also differ in their military occupations, service histories, and what they hope to find in civilian work. For some, military identity is a source of pride and confidence; others may want it to be less central to their working lives. Military service is one part of a person’s story, alongside other identities, experiences, and career goals. For selection and development, examine individual evidence and preferences. Ask what someone learned, how they applied it, and what they want to do next.

Support careers after hiring
Finding work is an important milestone, but a job can still underuse a veteran’s skills or offer limited opportunities to grow. Veterans may also be navigating changes in professional identity and community as they move into civilian workplaces. Onboarding, mentoring, useful feedback, and supportive supervisors are places to focus attention. Meaningful employment can provide structure, purpose, and connection, with implications for well-being. Evaluating veteran initiatives therefore, calls for looking at experiences after hiring: Are people using their skills? Do they feel they belong? Can they see a future in the organization?

These themes also create opportunities for research. Including veterans in studies of selection, identity, and work design can help us understand whose experiences our theories explain and where they need refinement. Practitioners and researchers can work together to evaluate which supports help, for whom, and under what conditions. Whether you design assessments, advise organizations, teach, or study careers, you have tools that can help organizations understand and support veteran talent.

Get involved or learn more here:

• Edit your My Account – Profile on siop.org to include Additional Information on your interests and to identify your Veteran Status to receive information from SIOP about military, veterans topics, and the MVI.
• The SIOP team can create MIL/VET and MVI distributions from members who have selected a veteran, actively serving, or neither actively serving nor a veteran from the veteran status drop-down options (fifth input in the last tile). “Neither” would include all supporters of the military community, including spouses, dependents, DoD, and beyond.
• Contact MVI directly to submit your questions or a request for engagement or further collaboration.