What kind of resources should a company dedicate to veteran recruitment programs?

From my perspective as both veteran (USMC) and recruiting manager, you need buy-in from the executives to support the initiative. Building out a veterans council within the organization from peers in all roles is also important to the success. This committee will be able to expand upon from their experiences on what is best for the organization. Once support is in place, rally the veterans in the organization to be a part of recruiting process (either through mentoring, joining networking/recruiting events, participating in local base programs, or as a hiring manager). While it is important to build out a job transition map from what the military does to civilian counterpart, it is also critical to train the hiring managers who have no connection to the military as to why our military produces some high quality talent. I believe it is important to note on a careers page for the website (with testimonials from veterans in the company), a company LinkedIn page with a group page that existing company veterans participate in and reach out to their peers that they served with, along with targeted recruiting on a site like Rallypoint. For us, we have niche specific roles that make a site like this invaluable for what we are looking for. Additionally, we target our open roles to the closest base in an effort to create a talent pipeline from that location. That is my 2 cents...and what I am currently building out.

There has been some really great comments from this conversation, and SFC Chad Sowash hit home on one thing that I think is pure gold: Genuine Engagement. I like to use Guy Kawasaki's translation. "Make meaning not money." When a company looks to hire Veterans for the wrong reasons (waive the flag syndrome, take advantage of tax credits, etc) it's typically money motivated in some form. When a company hires Veterans because they truly want to move the needle and do their part (however big or small) it's not forced, and will be received well. To answer the question: Companies should invest and leverage whatever resources they can afford. Work hours, recruiting campaigns, job fairs, or a ton of cash can result in a hill of beans if done improperly and for the wrong reasons. It only takes one person in any organization to start making a difference.

Hypothetical example 1: Company A is a large corporation with over 100,00 employees and invests $200,000 in career fairs, advertising, and targeted recruiting campaigns. As a result, they hire 100 Veterans. They slap a Veteran Friendly logo on their site, and checked the box for Veteran recruitment, and then it's business as usual.

We've seen this before. How long will those Veterans stay (natural attrition aside). Most Veterans have a high turn over rate when they leave the service. Why? Because of Chad's first point. They won't feel like they have made the right choice and will look for something else. Quite frankly the Veterans find out that company doesn't really care, it's just a fashion statement to them.

Hypothetical example 2: Company B is a small but emerging company with 50 employees and they invest $2,000 in a couple career fairs that are most likely to have the military skill-set they need. There aren't any Veterans in their workforce, and they believe it's time for a change. They end up hiring 2 Veterans, and make sure they have what they need to succeed, and help them transition into their company (sound like a sponsorship program, anyone?).

Those Veterans will probably stick around for a while, and maybe even tell their buddies about how great the company is.

What's the moral of the story kids? The type of resource and the amount doesn't make a difference in the long run. The meaning behind what/how your company engages Veterans does. The same can be said for diversity and inclusion, but that's a book for another time.

First off it depends on the size of the company as well as the industry that it belongs to. After working at several different companies since retiring I've had the opportunity to put together a veteran hiring program at my current job. Companies like to say they are hiring veterans, however, they all usually lack several steps in supporting the initiative:
1. They don't allocate a sufficient portion of the budget for veteran hiring.
2. The current talent acquisition partners and hiring managers are unfamiliar with the terms we use in the military.
3. They expect immediate results as soon as their program starts.

I'm fortunate in that in my current position I was given a budget and the leeway to build the program in order to avoid the 3 pitfalls I listed above. By having a veteran on the talent acquisition team it has allowed the other team members to funnel veteran candidates over to me so that I can translate their skills to the hiring managers prior to the interview as well as giving me the opportunity to coach the veteran on the interview process. Being able to engage the veterans during the interview process allows me to tackle any potential problems in the hiring process before they occur and hopefully result in a successful veteran hire. There are times when the veteran isn't the best candidate and in that case I'm there to explain to the candidate why they weren't hired and what they can do to make themselves more competitive for their next interview whether it's with us or another company.