The war for talent has never been more intense than it is today.
Corporations compete for senior- and mid-level executives who can succeed under pressure, gain the respect of subordinates, and convey a selfless and loyal attitude focused on getting the job done.
Yet many corporations ignore an extraordinary pool of available talent: separating and retiring members of our military. Many companies are reluctant to consider veterans for executive or management positions because some don’t fit the specifications of published job descriptions.
Sometimes there’s no way around these published requirements, but where there’s a bit of latitude, veterans usually come to the civilian workforce with track records of responsibility and authority that exceed civilian peers.
At the age of 58, Gen. Tony Thomas, the commanding general of the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM), oversees nearly 80,000 employees worldwide. He has authority over a budget exceeding $10 billion.
Young officers and senior enlisted leaders in their late 20s and early 30s have responsibility, today, for hundreds of employees and authority over budgets in the millions of dollars. Comparable experience in the civilian world at similar ages is rare, indeed.
This isn’t to say that all veterans are qualified for any open position. Nor does it suggest that veterans should be offered jobs out of gratitude for service. It argues, instead, that veterans often have greater management experience than their civilian peers and almost certainly have far better leadership training, both formal and informal.
Let’s take a look at leadership:
• Veterans have demonstrated leadership under challenging circumstances during times of both war and peace.
• They have a military “mindset” that focuses on specific objectives and on the steps required to meet objectives.
• Veterans view themselves as “servants,” never putting their own needs ahead of those they lead or ahead of the larger organization. Notions of “self-enrichment” and “self-aggrandizement” are anathema.
• Veterans are known for focus, tenacity, and persistence.
• They understand accountability, never blaming others for their failures.
• The finest veterans give “lawful” orders. This means that officers and non-commissioned officers would never ask subordinates to do something they wouldn’t do themselves.
• Veterans understand that leadership by example and by persuasion is far more effective than leadership by authoritarian threat.
Veterans bring strong interpersonal skills to the civilian workforce. The skills have been honed inside a large management hierarchy of extremely diverse individuals. In order to survive in this meritocracy, many veterans are quick learners who get up to speed on assignments on their own and complete those assignments with little or no supervision.
Veterans are capable of this because they assume different and more challenging positions every two or three years. They must master new skills and manage new sets of superiors and subordinates on a regular basis.
Indeed, the U.S. military might be the purest meritocracy in American life. It doesn’t matter where you grew up or who your parents were or where you went to school.
It’s true that Thomas graduated from West Point, but Colin Powell graduated from City College of New York.
What does this meritocracy mean to you as a hiring manager? It means that a military track record of advancement speaks volumes and that the responsibility and authority that came with each of those promotions weren’t granted lightly or granted for any reason other than demonstrated competence and excellence.
Farrow is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a director with the Los Angeles office of Stanton Chase, a global retained executive search
