Your Next Hire Can Be a Military Veteran
By, George J. Thomas, Managing Director, Blue Horizon Tek Solutions, Boca Raton, Florida
You’ve heard it before and you’ll continue to hear it,” The demand for skilled workers, specifically in STEM related fields outstrips the available supply”. And, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics this will go unabated way into the 2020’s. Adding to this dilemma is the new Administration’s crackdown on the H1b Visa program. And in some situations, for very good reasons. For example, some H1b holders in the IT industry whose employer, the company that holds the H1b, are at the mercy of the company who takes a “human trafficking” approach to the process. They bring them over “on the cheap”, under pay them per US labor laws and hold “deportation” over their head if they were to complain.
One alternative employers look to, specifically in IT is to outsource the work offshore. Can you blame them? Not really! If you can’t get it done here and it’s got to get done, then we have to do it somewhere, right? In this case say goodbye to our tax dollars and say good bye to their consumption of our goods and services.
Welcome to another alternative; a place where US employers will find a secretive arsenal of highly skilled, highly trained, highly disciplined US workers who are in abundance and can seamlessly (ok, some training required) bridge the talent gap to a healthy extent. Welcome to The United States of American Veterans.
When recruiting we look for a number of prerequisites including the hard skills for success in the role; in IT that means technology, domain, etc. And then those soft skills. Oh those soft skills, those gray area communication skills; that cultural fit the employer seeks to ensure a “good fit”. Soft skills are NOT easily taught if they can be taught at all. The hard skills are and they’re a function of aptitude and attitude.
Let’s consider a few of the skills of a Military Veteran:
- A Military Mindset of Integrity– they focus on the task at hand and do what it takes to get it done, until its done
- Highly Trained Leaders – responsible for managing up to hundreds of people under extraordinarily stressful conditions
- Accountability – They are trained NOT to point fingers and blame others
- They Serve – they enlisted to serve their country; they never put their own personal needs ahead of those the lead and of the mission at hand
- Lead by Example – a military VET will not issue a directive to do something they wouldn’t do themselves
- Collaborative – communicating amongst a group is a matter of life and death.
The Challenge:
To this day the issue lies with “ramp up” time. The time it takes to get a person up and running to the extent of seeing an ROI on the time spent training. Granted, there are those situations where ramp up time is just impossible; where 95% of the requirements are necessary NOW.
ONE Solution: VETS 4 IT
With some flexibility, you can hire a United States Veteran who just might have the same loyalty to the company that they clearly demonstrated they have for their country. And by keeping them on a learning curve you increase your chance of retention reducing attrition rates within the IT organization. Also, think about the leadership qualities you look for at your company both internally and externally. How do they compare to the leadership skills acquired by many in the military? Then consider one of our nation’s greatest concerns, CYBER SECURITY. Think about the depth our military goes to with Cyber Security while protecting our nation keeping us safe. And, it goes on and on…………………………
CONCLUSION:
Hiring a Veteran is not a charitable event. It’s one that leverages the tremendous experience of a unique labor pool. They may not have the exact experience you’re looking for but with some training, they’ll perform at levels that exceed expectations; no different than on the battlefield they were trained to fight on.
George J. Thomas is a Managing Director at Blue Horizon Tek Solutions based in Boca Raton, Florida. Mr. Thomas has over 20 years of experience in the IT Staffing and Solutions industry and has spent the last 5+ years architecting, designing, developing and implementing Military Veteran programs as highly recognizable Fortune 1000 Companies.
To learn more about Blue Horizon’s Vets4IT program contact us or contact George Thomas direct at george@bluehorizontek.com
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