The Call to Make Companies More Veteran Friendly

first let me introduce myself

i’m papan wilson i’ve served in the

united states air force

and i’m also an operation desert storm

veteran

today i’m going to be discussing the

value of hiring veterans

this topic is very important to me as

well as to our veterans

now we often hear the statement thank

you

thank you for your service thank you for

serving

i would like for you to pay close

attention to these two words

they will come into play later in my

talk and how we truly want you to see

the meaning

and action behind them so what

do we need to know a bit about my time

in the air force

and my transition to the civilian sector

i was a medical technician in the air

force and stationed at some incredible

assignments

when i separated from the air force i

was able to obtain a job easily

given that i went straight into the

medical field my transition was smooth

i will always remember my first

interview

i was sitting in front of the doctor who

i was going to be working with for the

next few years

she looked at my resume then she looked

at me

looked down at my resume again and then

leaned forward and said

you are a medical technician in the

united states air force

you’re hired immediately she knew the

value

that i was going to bring to her

practice

unfortunately i cannot say the same for

majority of our veterans

were you aware that tennessee is ranked

number four

as far as having the highest population

of veterans

the department of veterans estimate over

12 million veterans separated

by 2045. we make up roughly about two to

three percent of that number

one thing that i can say as a country we

are very patriotic

but as employers we are not vet friendly

i’m hoping this talk will help us move

towards becoming more vet friendly

all veterans are aware that when we have

to get out when we get out of the

service we

have to get adjusted to some of the

things that we normally

weren’t used to paying medical dental

vision insurance however we are looking

for specific criteria

on areas in your company that will make

us even

stay or even apply at your company

will you utilize our skill sets

will the pay be equal if not more to

what we were earning while serving

also we’ll have opportunities to grow

and be promoted

these questions are very crucial to us

did you know a recent study conducted by

vet advisors in syracuse university

for military and veteran families

revealed 43 percent of veterans

leave their first civilian job within

their first year

and eighty percent leave before the end

of their second year

now chattanooga how can we change that

narrative

as companies pursue talent to match

their values of discipline

teamwork resilience and commitment

they do look to veterans however

veterans are often overlooked for

civilian job opportunities

because many of their skills don’t

easily translate into the corporate

world

first you need to understand their

transition

which is very different from what a

college graduate would go through

most employers tend to hire college

graduates because of their investment

higher learning and some may even have

done internships

did you know that veterans that separate

tend to have college degrees some of

them do

all officers who separate have their

bachelor’s are even their masters

furthermore we have a special skill set

that will allow us to hit the ground

running within our new jobs

and for those veterans who did not

obtain their college degree while

serving

they tend to do so after they separate

now i have two friends who served and

separated at the same time

both of them have similar transition

stories but two very outcomes

tech sergeant jim malone served in the

army for 20 years

and was hired within a month

during his first few months jim was

finding himself quite bored

and felt like an outsider it was hard to

connect

and to understand why civilians

performed differently

at his one year mark his director wanted

to know why was jim given his two weeks

notice

he explained how things were very

difficult when he first started

and he stated that he didn’t feel like

he was serving a true purpose at that

company

captain marie williams served 20 years

in the air force

and was hired within a month after she

separated

during her first few months she too

struggled

however her company had a veteran

onboarding program

that aligned her with a sponsor who was

prior air force

then after three months appointed a

mentor who was also a veteran

during the sponsor phase she was able to

discuss her struggles

which her sponsor was able to help her

understand the differences between the

military and the civilian sector

she helped her translate those military

skills to help her communicate better

with her team in leadership

under her mentor for the next 12 months

that mentor helped showcase her skills

throughout the organization

as of today she is thriving and helping

new veterans within the company

and their transition

now it’s important for each employer to

understand military transition

as well as how to identify a great

candidate when you’re hiring a veteran

by understanding the differences you can

help

narrow the culture divide and retain a

value employee

in order to narrow this divide employers

need to identify the different

transitions

and the different transition structures

structure communication

camaraderie and stress management

for the military for structure our

missions and

expectations are clearly divine to find

for communication we are trained to

comparalize our feelings

and we do not question leadership we

speak when we are spoken to

for camaraderie there’s already a

built-in network

with strong connections starting as soon

as basic training or bootcamp

i’m still friends with some someone who

when i went through basic training with

as well as friends from my first

military assignment

for stress management we are expected to

push through

and complete the mission we do not bring

in outside factors

which can cause major delays in that

mission for in the military

failure is not an option so for civilian

sector

for structure process and goals

are defined with room for flexibility

for communication candid conversations

encouraged

from camaraderie

orchestration organization organization

structures varies

you might be working a job with very

little to no other

interactions with others for stress

management

it is actually encouraged to help in

fact in civilian sectors if you’re not

asking for help on high level projects

that leadership team will be questioning

like is everything okay

also volunteer opportunities in the

civilian sector

it’s actually encouraged but in the

military

volunteer assignments are never good so

we do not volunteer

actually we are volunteered to do the

assignment

and i can see many veterans right now

laughing and not in their heads

yep at the company i work for

i was able to create a strong onboarding

program

which captain williams went through that

program aligns every new hired veteran

a sponsor for three months who serve the

same branch

as well as the right same rank or we try

to get it close enough to the same rank

or equivalent to

then they’re after the phase they are

actually aligned with a mentor

who’s either a veteran or civilian for

12 months

the sponsor helps the new veteran with

the transition part

and the mentor focused on their career

growth

unlike jim his prior company did not

have an onboarding program

he did inform me that if they did he

most likely would still be there

to this day also it’s important for us

veterans to understand your company’s

mission

it’s in our dna to continue to serve and

provide support

if we don’t know what your mission is we

question what truly is our purpose there

and how can we contribute to that let’s

also talk about

the biases that veterans face i know i

did getting out

the most typical things i heard were

you’re too strict

you’re too structure i don’t know if you

can think outside the box

you may not be able to relate or show

empathy

and the number one bias that veterans

who served in a combat role here

all the time oh

you might have ptsd i’m here to tell you

that majority of those biases are not

true now they may be some in some cases

but 9 out of 10 they’re not

we aren’t strict just discipline

we just want to support our teams and

our company in the highest level

we may seem structured but it’s because

we know there’s a deadline and we want

the team to meet or even exceed the

expectation

and we’re constantly thinking outside

the box because we are given assignments

admission

and we’re told complete this from a to z

without any instructions

so we have to think outside the box to

get the mission completed

in the military we already know the end

goal will be accomplished

so we look for any outliers that may

derail our progress

and lastly were you aware that veterans

who served in combat related roles

only 20 suffer from ptsd

in addition most veterans with ptsd work

in high positions

and are able to complete work

assignments exceeding their leaders

expectations

pts triggers are very different from

work related issues and triggers

those who know me know i am truly

passionate

to make sure that no veteran is homeless

and can’t provide a roof over their

family’s heads

that no veteran should ever struggle

with hunger or to feed their families

and no veteran should ever struggle to

find a job

so as employers here in chattanooga as

well as the nation

this is how you say thank you our

veterans deserve to live the american

dream

it’s that very dream that we serve to

protect

unselfishly and for some it came out of

sacrifice

so i leave you with this quote by rumi

which i feel summarizes my talk with you

a candle never loses any of its light

while lighting up another candle and

with that

i say thank you