Celebrating 10 Years of Getting You Hired!
How G.I. Jobs helped put the next Greatest Generation to work in corporate America.
By Dan Fazio
It’s been 10 years since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks sent a generation of Americans to war. It’s also been 10 years since G.I. Jobs began helping that generation – recently dubbed the next Greatest Generation – find civilian jobs and education as they return to civilian life.
In the decade since 9/11, G.I. Jobs has published the success stories of thousands of veterans. The faces of these veterans which have filled the pages of the magazine now make up the cover of this special anniversary issue, as well as the photo spread on these pages. They symbolize the face of success – the success of the next Greatest Generation as civilian employees and the successful mission of G.I. Jobs to ignite the demand for military employees in corporate America by showing companies why hiring veterans creates a business advantage: They positively impact the bottom line.
We’re celebrating the 10th anniversary of G.I. Jobs by revisiting the growth of the brand over the past decade and the impact it has had on corporate America. Our anniversary package reflects on the journey that began with just a handful of companies that were recruiting ex-military and led to the introduction of the Military Friendly Employers® list in 2003, a list that dramatically increased the number of companies competing for the talent of America’s returning veterans.
Blazing the Trail
Launched by three Navy veterans in the dark aftermath of Sept. 11, G.I. Jobs magazine and its website did what few were doing in 2001. They provided service members valuable job search information to ease their transition back to a turbulent post-9/11 economy. They connected transitioning troops to the handful of corporations that were actively recruiting veterans. And they spotlighted these Military Friendly Employers® who recognized early on that the leadership, teamwork, discipline, determination, responsibility and adaptability veterans learn in the military equip them to excel as civilian employees and business owners (one in seven business owners is a military veteran).
Today hundreds of companies recognize the value of veteran employees and devote considerable resources to recruiting transitioning service members. But it wasn’t always that way.
Increasing Demand for Hiring Military
As the new millennium dawned, only a handful of companies actively recruited veterans, and most centered on the defense industry. The mission of G.I. Jobs from the start was to show corporate America that hiring veterans was a long-term, permanent solution to the age-old problem of finding employees who can have an immediate, positive impact on the bottom line.
General Electric was among the first to recognize the value of military veterans when it developed the Junior Officer Leadership Program (JOLP) in the 1990s. JOLP is a rotational cross-training program that allows transitioning officers to serve three eight-month assignments on GE’s energy, aviation and oil/gas teams.
Susan Schieren, who took over JOLP in 1999, recalls those early days when few were thinking about hiring military.
“Back in 1999, very few companies had special programs focused on hiring veterans,” said Schieren, who retired from GE and now serves as CEO of Transitioning Leaders. “I can remember attending the Service Academy Career Conference in Washington, D.C., in 2000 and seeing about 50 companies with booths, most of which were there because they thought they might want to hire one or two officers.”
Carl Liebert, a former Navy officer who preceded the JOLP program at GE, said the company set the standard, not just for recruiting veterans, but for ensuring their success once aboard.
“The success of the program at GE, it was really about bringing people on and making sure in the first six, nine, 12 months that they were successful,” said Liebert, who went on to help build successful military recruiting programs at The Home Depot, Circuit City and 24 Hour Fitness, where he currently serves as CEO. “And so when we did it at Circuit City or we did it at The Home Depot, and we’ve done it here at 24 Hour Fitness, you have to be committed to helping them transition from the military into a corporate America kind of environment. And if you’re not going to be committed to that, you probably don’t want to spend a lot of time and energy and money recruiting them. And GE was the first of those kinds of programs.”
Military Friendly Employers®
In 2003, G.I. Jobs published the first Military Friendly Employers® list, which identified the best corporations that were actively seeking to hire veterans. The list, which is determined through exhaustive research guided by a Military Friendly Employers® Advisory Board, had a profound and immediate impact.
Schieren credits the Military Friendly Employers® list for igniting a firestorm of interest in veteran hiring.
“Bottom line, companies love being ranked and I believe that G.I. Jobs’ list was a huge factor in getting more companies to hire increased numbers of military,” she said. “Being in the Top 10 was considered an honor and very patriotic. It did help drive military applicants to the companies that were on the list.”
All Aboard!
Although Union Pacific Railroad proudly traces its preference for ex-military to the 1860s, when it hired jobless Civil War veterans to help build the transcontinental railroad, the company didn’t develop a formal recruiting program until September 2004, when it hired its first military recruiter. What began as occasionally visiting bases and distributing fliers developed into a highly focused military recruiting program that today is integrated into the company’s overall hiring outreach efforts.
“Veterans have the experience and knowledge to fill vacancies at any level of our company,” said Chairman and CEO Jim Young. “Through our planning and recruitment strategies we strive to find qualified applicants for entry-level jobs, as well as management-level positions. This gives a veteran the opportunity to look at many different career options within our company.”
Effort Pays Dividends
It didn’t take long for the program to earn national recognition. In 2005, G.I. Jobs named Union Pacific the No. 1 Military Friendly Employer® in America, an achievement it has twice repeated.
“G.I. Jobs has played an important role in making Union Pacific one of the most recognized and valued military veteran employers, helping us reach potential employees on a global scale,” Young said.
“G.I. Jobs has provided a platform for us to tell America’s veterans why they are so important to Union Pacific, and has been an avenue for vets to connect with us.”
Coming Home
The Home Depot also got on board after Sept. 11. In September 2004, the company formalized its efforts by launching “Operation Career Front,” an initiative with the U.S. Departments of Defense, Labor and Veterans Affairs to actively recruit military job seekers, including military spouses, veterans, separating active-duty service members, National Guardsmen and Reservists.
Since then, the company has hired more than 50,000 veterans, earning The Home Depot the distinction of being only one of five companies that has been named to the Military Friendly Employers® list every year since its inception (the other four companies are GE, American Electric Power, USAA and Brink’s U.S.).
“G.I. Jobs has been instrumental in helping us reach the military community,” said Eric Schelling, director of talent acquisition at The Home Depot. “We need team members who can connect with the unique challenges we face in that community, and G.I. Jobs has helped us find associates with those outstanding traits.”
Pioneer Paves the Way
U.S. Navy veteran Connie McLendon is one of the pioneers of the veteran hiring movement in corporate America. She led the development and implementation of “Operation Career Front” for The Home Depot and later led BNSF Railway’s military recruiting initiatives. She witnessed first-hand the tremendous growth of opportunities for America’s veterans.
“During the past decade, employment outreach to veterans has exploded within corporate America as a variety of companies increasingly recognize and value the many contributions and unique skills and abilities of those with military service,” said McLendon, who is now manager of human resources at Recall. “A decade ago, there were only a few employers with dedicated veteran programs – Sprint, GE, Home Depot, CINTAS and Lockheed, for example. Today there are literally hundreds of employers all across America providing a broad spectrum of employment opportunities for veterans, their spouses and family members.”
Competition Stiffens
As more companies compete to be named a Military Friendly Employer®, the bar is raised every year. A benchmarking report released in spring 2011 revealed that:
- 92 percent of the 2011 Top 100 Military Friendly Employers® had at least one hiring manager devoted entirely to recruiting military veterans, up from 90 percent in 2010 and 86 percent in 2009.
- The 2011 Top 100 reported that, on average, 23 percent of their new hires were military veterans, up from 20 percent in 2010 and 17 percent in 2009.
- The 2011 Top 100 Military Friendly Employers® devoted an average of 32 percent of their total annual recruitment budget to hiring veterans.
Since its birth nearly 10 years ago, the Military Friendly Employers® list has been widely copied by others. But retired Army First Sgt. John H. Wesley III, who manages the military staffing program at BNSF, recognizes the impact this first and most-respected list has had on corporate America.
“Bottom line, transitioning service members want to know who the Military Friendly Employers® are, and G.I. Jobs consistently provides that and more,” Wesley said.
Continuing the Mission
The U.S. troop drawdown in Iraq and Afghanistan means hundreds of thousands of veterans will be transitioning from the military to the civilian work force over the next several years. G.I. Jobs is devoted to continuing its mission of bringing together veterans and corporate America. It’s a mission the Army – the largest of the service branches – considers critical.
“I think educating corporate America is the key to improving employment opportunities for our military veterans,” said Walter Herd, a retired Special Forces colonel who is director of the Army Career and Alumni Program (ACAP). “America’s businesses need to understand the true benefits of hiring men and women who have dedicated a portion of their lives to the service of our nation. Service members consistently show a dedication to duty that is unparalleled – and they take this dedication with them for the rest of their lives. No one has more experience working in a diverse workplace than veterans, whose ability to adapt to a changing environment is part and parcel of their military backgrounds.”
Besides having naturally developed leadership skills, service members also have specific technical skills that they have employed in the harshest of circumstances, Herd said.
“Whether on the battlefield or in the workplace, service members are fit and focused and ready to accomplish any mission.”
G.I. Jobs is Born…
The founders of G.I. Jobs left the military in the late 1990s only to find a lack of good resources to help them transition into a civilian career. TAP and ACAP were then, and remain today, great immersion programs to start that transition process. But there were no civilian-oriented resources that followed transitioning service members through to civilian hire. Moreover, there was no efficient way for companies wishing to hire transitioning military to market their job openings to them. So in 2001, after finishing business school and gaining corporate experience, the founders created G.I. Jobs magazine and www.gijobs.com. Together, the G.I. Jobs brand gives military transitioners the most timely, relevant and useful assistance and gives employers the most comprehensive and cost-effective vehicle to recruit them.
How We Determine Which Employers Are Most Military Friendly
Our rankings of the Top 100 Military Friendly Employers® are based on a survey which assesses a company’s long-term commitment to hiring former military, recruiting and hiring efforts and results, policies for Reserve/Guard members called to active duty, and the presence of special recruitment military programs.
Corporate America has a voracious appetite for hiring military. The pool of companies eligible for our list is approximately 5,000 (minimum of $500 million in annual revenues). Only 2 percent made the list.
- Government, agencies, non-profits and universities were not considered.
Category Weight
Assets dedicated to hiring military 30%
Percentage of new veteran hires 24%
Reserve/Guard policies 18%
Previous 3 years’ rankings 18%
Internal military and veteran recruiting/training/
promotional programs, plus veteran community
involvement and outreach 10%