Derek Larabee
By: Derek Larabee – Bayshore Solutions’ Digital Marketing Team
As a country, it is no secret that we have an abundance of veterans looking for new work (over 250,000 Post 9/11 Vets as of March 2014).
For the last 13 years these Post 9/11 service men and women have spent their time fending off enemies both foreign and domestic. The war fighting business was good, but what now for these veterans?
They have accrued a wealth of technical knowledge and practical skills during their time in the service. They are out there for the taking. Potential employers of these men and women stand to gain someone with attributes to help any business prosper. Not to mention the fact that purchasers love the idea of a firm that supports the hire of Veterans. In doing business with these kinds of agencies, the general public can also gain a sense of pride in their support of putting veterans back to work.
Let’s get into some of the specific offerings a Veteran of military service can bring to the table:
Veterans know how to put in a full day of work:
A typical work day in the Armed Forces can put a service member up against some tough physical and mental challenges. Discipline, and the value of a hard day of work has been drilled into them from day one of their service. I will add (from personal experience) that most are no stranger to a mundane task from time to time. This further stresses the point that veterans complete the task at hand.
Veterans are used to change:
A military unit is constantly changing. Leadership struggles between superiors and their subordinates can and do happen. It is expected that service members move past these differences in order to accomplish the mission. The military is like any other workplace, their final product is the big difference.
They know the value of a team:
From their first day in the military, service members are grouped into team elements. The team element is the building block for the way military units are constructed. The ability to work together should be viewed as one of their greatest take away from service.
They’re not the guys and gals you see in the movies:
In the Army alone there are hundreds of job classifications. These positions can range from food services, to administrative and financial services. The point is, war-fighting isn’t necessarily the only thing they know. They may have experienced trauma during their service, but most people (even civilians) experience some kind of trauma.
They champion workplace diversity:
The United States Military accepts all walks of life into its ranks. Service members see value in working with people of different backgrounds because it is the way things are done during their service.
They have done a lot of growing up for their age:
Leaving home at an early age, and being sent to countries all over the world is a sobering reminder of one’s place in the world. Although it is not guaranteed, the odds suggest that the Veteran you hire has witnessed some fairly remote parts of the world. These experiences facilitate a lot of the maturity that is present in a lot of post 9/11 veterans.
The choice for a veteran to separate from service is a much deeper rooted decision than simply leaving a job. They are choosing to leave a lifestyle behind that has forever changed the person they are. As an employer it is important to see the value in their growth, and experiences.
For more information on putting Veterans back to work, take a look at the Hiring our Heroes initiative at www.uschamberfoundation/hiring-our-heroes.
Derek Larabee served in the U.S. Army for 5 years before moving to Florida with his wife to begin living in sunshine vs. the cold Michigan winters. He is attending USF for his BA in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing. We are pleased to work with Derek as a Digital Marketing Intern at Bayshore Solutions—a Tampa Web Design, Web Development, and Internet Marketing Agency.