Communication and The VeteranEmployment ProblemBy Sunset BelinskyResearch Fellow Center for Social Impact CommunicationGeorgetown University

TABLE OF CONTENTS

About the Author ..................................................................................................... 2

Acknowledgements ................................................................................................. 3

Introduction ............................................................................................................. 4

Methodology ........................................................................................................... 5

Summary of Challenges & Recommended Communications Approach ................ 6

Employers ................................................................................................... 6 Veterans Service Organizations .................................................................. 11 Government ................................................................................................ 15 Veterans ...................................................................................................... 20 Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 23

Reference .............................................................................................................. 24

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Sunset Belinsky is a Research Fellow with Georgetown’s Center for Social Impact Communication and a student in the Masters of Professional Studies in Public Relations and Corporate Communications program. SheisalsoanArmyPublicAffairsOfficer.Sunsetisthe granddaughter, daughter, and wife of soldiers.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not represent those of the Department of Defense or Department of the Army.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Julie Dixon (for support beyond what I could have ever expected), Denise Keyes, and Maria Hoover (Georgetown and CSIC); Jim Cowen, Amanda Candy, Carrie Dooher, Trish Taylor, and Marie Manning (Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide); Mark, Sachsen, and Samarra Belinsky (for giving up family time)

In addition, many thanks to the following interview subjects for their time and willingness to share their perspectives:

- Andrew Borene, Director of Corporate Business Development & Government Relations, ReconRobotics, Inc.- Phillip Carter, Senior Fellow, Counsel and Director of the Military, Veterans and Society Program at Center for a New American Security- Maureen Casey, Executive Director for Military and Veterans Affairs, JP Morgan Chase- Meg Garlinghouse, Head of LInkedIn for Good- Robert C. Hart, Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor, Vocational Rehabilitation & Employment Service, Department of Veterans Affairs. -ChrisManglicmot,formerNationalProgramsDirector,SoldierforLife,OfficeoftheChiefof Staff, U.S. Army. -DennisMay,DeputyDirector,VeteranEmploymentServicesOffice,DepartmentofVeterans Affairs- Kim Morton & Bryan Goettel, Media Relations Coordinator & Communications Director, Hiring Our Heroes- Brian Nichols, Manager, Warriors to Work at Wounded Warrior Project. - Kevin Preston, Director of Veterans Initiatives, The Walt Disney Company

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INTRODUCTIONTwo years ago, if you were to ask an American adult what the most pressing issue facing the country was, the answer you would hear most frequently is unemployment (Newport, 2013). Thatfigurehasdeclinedinthepublicconsciousnesssinceitspeakin2011—buttherelativelyrosier outlook for employment in general masks the fact that employment prospects have not improved for one key segment of the population: veterans.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) from the Department of Labor, veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue to be more likely than their civilian peers to be unemployed. In February 2013, 9.4 percent of post-9/11 veterans were unemployed, compared to7.7percentofthecivilianpopulation.Thefiguresareevenworsefortheyoungestveterans.According to the BLS report on Veteran Employment for 2012, male veterans between the ages of 18 and 24 were unemployed at the staggering rate of 20 percent (Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2013). This statistic presents a grim outlook for the more than one million service members who expected to transition from the service to civilian life between now and 2016 (GAO, 2012). And this translates to tremendous missed opportunities. Veterans have skills and attributes valuable to any business’s bottom line, honed through their experi-ences operating in challenging environments with diverse cultures and varying degrees of resources. Employed veterans contribute to the tax base, and reduce the amount of money (currently estimated at $1 billion a year) the Department of Defense spends on unemployment (Lubold, 2013; Carter, 2013).

To address the issue, prominent leaders across sectors, from the White House to the Pentagon to America’s boardrooms, have created programs in attempts to get veterans back to work. Employerssignupbythehundredstoparticipateinprogramsthathelpveteransfindjobs.Veterans service organizations (VSOs) and government agencies have dedicated billions of dollars to websites with skills translators, resume workshops, job fairs and outreach. There are hundreds—ifnotthousands—ofresourcesavailabletohelppost-9/11veteranstransitioningfromservicetofindemploymentinthesetougheconomictimes.Butdespitethese programs, and the progress they have helped make, veteran employment is still a problem.

“IF YOU FIGHT FOR OUR COUNTRY, YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE TO

FIGHT FOR A JOB WHEN YOU COME HOME.”

- President Barack Obama

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Employersstillfacedifficultyfindingqualifiedveteranstofilltheirvacanciesinways that support business needs. Some face retention issues with veterans they do hire. At the same time, the solutions government agencies and VSOs have developed are, on average, fragmented, uncoordinated, and do not fully address veterans’ needs.

A common thread among the perceived challenges and barriers to addressing the veteran employment problem in a holistic way is the need for better targeted, more strategic communication. Much of the crucial information presented in this crowded space isdifficulttofindandnavigate.

Overwhelmingly absent are clear, consistent messages in easy-to-access formats that are available on channels where the audience can actually be found. When tools do exist and are readily available, there is often a lack of awareness on the part of audiences who need the tools most.

This research explores the respective communications challenges of each of the key veteran employment stakeholders, and offers recommendations on ways in which they can work—bothontheirownandcollectively—toovercome these challenges.

METHODOLOGYThis study was informed by a combination of primary and secondary research. One-on-one interviews were conducted with a cross-section of experts from corporations, government and VSOs, accompanied by an extensive review of communications strategies and tactics employed by governmental and non-governmental agencies with regard to veteran employment. Additional secondary research included a re-view of publicly available literature on veteran employment issues and existing legislation, including Public Law 112-56, VOW to Hire Heroes Act. Audits of online and social media channels for select VSOs and government agencies informed the recommendations.

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SUMMARY OF CHALLENGES & RECOMMENDED COMMUNICATIONS APPROACHESThe veteran employment problem can be addressed, in part, by more targeted and strategic communication efforts on the part of each of the four key stakeholder groups that emerged in the primary and secondary research: employers, veterans service organizations, government and veterans. From better internal communication and coordination among similar efforts at the government level, to empowering veterans to be ambassadors for employer initiatives, tohelpingveteransthemselvestorefineandconvey their personal brands, the following tipsandbestpractices—takentogether—canimprove the current employment environment for post-9/11 veterans.

EMPLOYERSWhen Meg Garlinghouse, head of Social Impact at LinkedIn, informally polled her colleagues as they developed a veterans landing page for the social networking platform dedicated to professional networking, few reported that they knew veterans (Garlinghouse, 2012).

“Maybe 10 to 20 percent of the room rais[ed] their hand,” Garlinghouse says. “The whole problem is that those two worlds don’t interact, and the whole idea of networking and findingajobisinteractionandnetworking.Soif we can get veterans on LinkedIn, the potentialforthemfindingajobincreasessubstantially.”

Garlinghouse’s experience at LinkedIn is consistent across employers and industries. In a 2010 report by the Society for Human Resource Managers (SHRM), more than 70 percent of the HR professionals surveyed neededhelpidentifyingandreachingqualifiedveterans (Society for Human Resource Management, 2010). As an increasingly smaller percentage of Americans elects to serve in our armed forces, the degrees of separationmakeitdifficult,evenforemployers who want to target veterans to hire, to know where to start looking for qualifiedveterancandidates.

Fine-tuning and more effectively using existing communications resources can help

“THE WHOLE PROBLEM IS THAT THESE TWO WORLDS DON’T

INTERACT, AND THE WHOLE IDEA OF NETWORKING AND FINDING A

JOB IS INTERACTION AND NETWORKING.”

- Meg Garlinghouse, Head of LinkedIn for Good

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employersfillvacancieswiththeexperienceand quality that comes with veterans. Interviews with individuals at companies currently succeeding in hiring veterans revealed several suggested best practices,

Including educating internal HR managers and providing context via existing resources; hiring veterans to work within the HR functions; using social media channels to better understand and engage prospective veteran employees; and sharing best practices among existing business networks.

EDUCATE INTERNALLY TO PROVIDE CONTEXTSecondary research revealed a growing number of existing resources aimed at equipping employers to navigate the recruitment and hiring of veterans. Online toolkits, such as those made available from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), the Department of Veterans Affairs or the Syracuse University Institute for Veterans and Military Families, help answer frequently asked questions and provide further resources for businesses (Syracuse

University Institute for Veterans and Military Families, 2013; Curtis, 2012). Still, employers interested in hiring veterans may not realize the need to invest in education programs for hiring managers and supervisors, to provide the context necessary to understand veterans’ backgrounds and experiences and to assuage any concerns about deployment-related disabilities. The Walt Disney Company has trained all of its recruiters, under the auspices of their Heroes Work Here program, using a curriculum on the history of the services, core competencies, roles of Guard and Reserve, and the interplay between. This helps to address why veterans havedifficultiesinresumesandinterviews,and provides a frame of reference for recruiters to indicate why veterans may behave a certain way.

“I try to explain a lot of things about their [veterans’] background so when they come in if they behave differently, the recruiter has a frame of reference,” says Kevin Preston, director of veterans initiatives at The Walt Disney Company. “I talk about the military as one of the most immersive cultures in our country. It seems to work pretty well to help a veteran who comes in to talk to someone who has not served in the military.” Disney has also provided training for supervisors on what to expect from veterans, and have a veteran as the program director as a resource and a reference if supervisors have questions (Preston, 2013).

“I TRY TO EXPLAIN A LOT OF THINGS ABOUT THEIR [VETERANS’] BACKGROUND SO WHEN THEY COME IN IF THEY BEHAVE DIFFERENTLY, THE RECRUITER HAS A

FRAME OF REFERENCE.”

- Kevin Preston, Director of Veterans Initiatives at The Walt Disney Company

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Other companies might consider a similar approach to educate HR managers and supervisors. Training information can be shared internally using Wikis, blogs, YouTube, or slide-share spaces such as SlideShare.net. Disney has used in-person workshops to accomplish the training, and has an extensive team including recruiters, hiring managers, and staff from the marketing, communications, philanthropy and events functions working on the program. Videos of the training have been made available within the company.

UTILIZE AVAILABLE RESOURCES TO ALLEVIATE HEALTH-RELATED CONCERNSRelatively widespread employer concerns about deployment-related disabilities is reflectedindatathatindicatespost-9/11veterans with mental health issues have more difficultsecuringandmaintainingemployment(GAO, 2012; Humensky, Jordan, Stroupe, & Hynes, 2012). However, secondary research indicates that a number of resources, many of them free, are available to address these con-cerns. Employers can consult organizations including SHRM, the Army’s Warrior Transition Command(WTC),andthenonprofitWoundedWarrior Project. These organizations have communications initiatives aimed at addressing employer concerns about service-related disabilities. The message across these organizations is simple and clear: although some veterans do suffer from visible and invisible injuries as a result of their

service, overwhelming majorities are strengthened by their service. Employers can also seek information about treatment veterans receive at no cost to employers. In addition, employers may be eligible for tax incentives from the Veterans Opportunity to Work (VOW) to Hire Heroes Act when hiring veterans (Whiting, 2012; Warrior Transition Command, 2012; U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2012; Nichols, 2012; May, 2012).

Resources to help educate employers are freeandavailableonmanyonlineforums—ifemployers know where to look. Unfortunately, many of the organizations that provide these keyresourcesmakeitsomewhatdifficulttofindinformation.Forexample,SHRMguidesrequire several layers of clicking on its website to reach them. The WTC resources are relatively easy to locate, taking only two clicks from the main page of its website.

LOOK FOR VETERANS TO HIRE VETERANSIn addition to educating recruiters and hiring managers to better understand the needs of the veteran employment pool, businesses could actively seek to hire veterans with HR backgrounds to serve as those recruiters and hiring mangers. Disney’s Kevin Preston, for example, spent more than twenty years in the Army.

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“I was very heavily involved in working in human resources in the military, which correlates with what I do now,” Preston says. “The military and ESPN [a Disney company] use pretty similar processes but use different language for the same things.”

When spearheading veterans hiring initiatives, veterans themselves prove to be invaluable in navigating the confusing array of existing job boards, hiring fairs, and networks, from the DoL, DoD, and VA to a wide variety of nonprofitsinacrowdedanddifficulttonavigate landscape (GAO, 2012; Monster, 2012).

ENGAGE - ONLINE AND OFFEmployers can increasingly look to social mediaasameansoffindingandengagingpotential veteran employment candidates, as a number of thriving communities exist across the myriad platforms. In assessing and developing their approach to online engagement, companies can begin by listeningtoveteran-specificcommunitieson each social media channel. LinkedIn, Google+, and even Twitter can provide insights into the veteran audience as well as indicators for how to attract and retain this valuable talent pool. Businesses that have veteran employees inculcated can be encouragedtoestablishmentororaffinitygroups to ease transition and improve retention. These groups can be either in person or virtual, and can use some of the

same tools that veterans can use to help prepare for the job hunting process, incluing Google Chat, Skype, Facetime, and Wikis. Google has conducted in-person resume and interview workshops aimed at helping veterans. LinkedIn started a mentor group, initially intending to pair civilian mentors with veteran mentees. “We started to do a mentor program at LinkedIn, but it ended up with vets mentoring vets,” says LinkedIn’s Garlinghouse. A shared understanding about the transition from military life to civilian seems to be effective.

Employers can also consider adopting a community-based template, in which members of the community provide mentorship outside of the company structure.

LinkedIn groups, including the US Military Veterans Network with around 30,000 members, U.S. Veteran, also with around 30,000 members, and The Value of a Veteran, with just shy of 10,000 members, offer good listening and engagement opportunities. Google’s VetNet and IVMF’s Google+ group offer opportunities to reach groups numbering over 100,000. On Twitter, Forbes (@forbes) frequently tweets tips for hiring veterans. In addition, hashtags including #veteran and #jobs can lead to insight.

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An example of this can be found in Minneapolis-St. Paul, where business leaders have signed up for a veterans mentorship program in which they give a veteran one hour of one-on-one time each month. The relationships have resulted in improved understanding on both sides of the veteran-civilian cultural divide (Borene, 2013).

COLLECTIVELY SHARE SUCCESSES & CHALLENGESBusinesses interested in hiring veterans can tap into B2B peer groups to gain insights on veterans’ issues. Whether under the auspices of programs like the JP Morgan Chase 100,000 Jobs Mission or the First and Second Lady’s Joining Forces initiatives, employers have worked with peers and competitors to create virtual collaboration spaces that offer, along with other services, a place to connect employers with veteran job seekers.

JP Morgan Chase, along with 11 partner companies, launched the 100,000 Jobs Mission in March 2011. The goal was to hire 100,000 transitioning service members and veterans by 2020. As of March 2013, the program has exceeded initial goals,

resulting in more than 64,000 veterans hired by 102 partner companies. The companies have each signed a commitment to hire veterans, and agreed to adhere to a certain measure of accountability not by setting a quota, but by sharing reports quarterly on numbers of veterans hired. They also share notes on successful and unsuccessful practices in a data-driven, brand-neutral environment (Casey, 2013).

“JP Morgan Chase is working hard to keep the mission brand-neutral but we’ve taken our own internal practices and we’re able to come back and inform the larger debate,” says Maureen Casey, JP Morgan Chase’sExecutive Director for Military and Veterans Affairs.

In addition to the formation of coalitions among the business community, the larger debate on business involvement in solving the veteran employment issue has garnered a White House entreaty for support.

In August 2011, President Obama challenged American businesses and services to hire or train 100,000 veterans and military spouses by 2013. This challenge was a key component of the Joining Forces initiative, headed by the First and Second Ladies. According to the Joining Forces website, 112 companieshavemadeofficialcommitmentsto hiring veterans. In August 2012, the First Lady announced more than 125,000

The 100,000 Jobs Mission, spearheaded by JP Morgan Chase, has resulted

in more than 64,000 veterans being hired by 102

different partner companies since 2011.

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veterans and military spouses had been hired or trained. (Joining Forces, 2012)

“While the characteristics of your companies may vary, the character of your commitment to veterans doesn’t have to. Whether you’re infinanceortechnology,orthefoodindustry,every single one of you can ask that same question, ‘what more can we do?’ And if you do that, I know that we can build on the 125,000 folks we’ve hired or trained,” First Lady Michelle Obama said at the Business Roundtable Quarterly meeting in March 2013.A grassroots corporate effort, like JP Morgan Chase’s, can provide a blueprint to publically share best practices in sourcing, hiring, and retaining veterans on blogs, websites, Google, LinkedIn, and other spaces. It’s an opportunitytofigureoutandsharewhat’sworking well, what’s not working so well, and what areas could be improved with more information. In addition, the Joining Forces initiative has provided several free tools for committedbusinessestouseinfindingandhiring veterans. Virtual communities of practice can and should lead to improvements.

VETERANS SERVICE ORGANIZATIONSVeterans Service Organizations (VSOs) often serve as a bridge between veterans and government, as well as veterans and employers. They range quite considerably in terms of age, size, and methods of delivering services, from community-centered brick-and-mortars that are congressionally chartered and have been around for a century, toonlineaffinitygroupsthatarelessthanadecade old. Older organizations are struggling to develop and maintain connections with the post-9/11 veteran community. The American Legion, for example, required congressional approval to accept online membership applications and renewals. This level of bureaucraticinflexibilityreinforcesthestereotype that older VSOs are not a good source of help for veterans. VSOs have an opportunity to both reframe their communications, and engage using the social media and mobile technologies the newest generation is comfortable with.

REFRAME THE CONVERSATIONVeterans Service Organizations have traditionally advocated for legislation to protectservicemembers’benefits,success,and wellbeing. Secondary research revealed that a trend of presenting employment as a right, instead of an opportunity earned by the best candidate, has emerged in the language used by VSOs including the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). A prime

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“I DON’T NEED CHARITY, I NEED AN OPPORTUNITY.”

-Veteran and Current Employee, The Walt Disney Company

committed, team members.’ One veteran, an employee of Disney, described the contrast this way: “I don’t need charity, I need an opportunity.”

A more effective approach is employed by The Walt Disney Company, which uses ‘Employ Excellence, Hire Veterans’ as a tag line for its Heroes Work Here program. Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) uses ‘technology to empower’ veterans in their job search, implying that though they will have to work for it, tools are available to help. Another, more recent campaign that has taken the “opportunity” approach is the iHeartRadio’s Show Your Stripes Veteran Employment campaign. It’s tagline is ‘Hire Smart. Hire Vets.’ VSOs can perhaps follow the examples set by corporate initiatives and review and reframe communications from offering entitlements to offering opportunity.

One successful VSO example of using opportunity-focused language is The Mission Continues, which uses the tagline of ‘It’s Not A Charity. It’s A Challenge.’ The Mission Continues’ framework is built around the precept that veterans are civic assets and should be challenged to continue to serve after service by improving their communities. The organization awards six-month fellowships to veterans, which combine volunteering at community organizations with leadership development. One Mission Continues Fellow, Josh Eckhoff, is quoted on

the website in a way that shows the power of nuance. “Don’t ask me what you can do for me…let me tell you what I can do for you,” he says. The organization has been successful in awarding more than 600 fellowships through January 2013; 86 percent of Fellows have reported transferring their military skills into civilian employment (The Mission Continues, 2013).

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LIKE, TWEET, LINK: EMBRACE, THEN MANAGE, YOUR COMMUNITYOlder organizations such as the VFW and American Legion are grappling with the expectation that in order to reach out and maintain relevance with younger veterans, they must expand their social media presence—withvaryingdegreesofsuccess.Akey element that pre-9/11 organizations seem to miss in their social media strategies is community management. Community management in social media can be likened to relationship management, where relationships are fostered by ensuring the interests of the community members are met. Social media platforms can be best utilized if content is created with the community in mind. The organization should also invest time in engaging community members, for example, posing questions, asking for input, and then responding throughout the conversation, instead of using the platform for one-way message delivery only.

Severalneworganizationsspecificallyaimedat advancing the cause of post-9/11 veterans, including IAVA and the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP), have gained national prominence by successfully lobbying for initiatives such as the Post-9/11 GI Bill and licenseandcertificationportability,whichwillallow service members and their spouses to improve employment options by transferringservice-connectedcertificationsmore easily. One of the ways newer

organizations like these have been able to rally support is through targeted social media engagement. On Facebook, for example, the WWP has more than one million likes and upwards of 50,000 engaged in commenting on, Liking or sharing content. The WWP posts content that is relevant to its target audience and re-engages throughout the conversation, making it effective in building support and awareness. For example, on April 9, 2013, WWP posted an article about PTSD misconceptions and employment. It received 78 comments and responded to seven when the organization had some helpful information to offer. The WWP also has a Twitter following of more than 58,000. As with their Facebook presence, they post content consistently and nurture their community with thoughtful re-engagement.

In terms of solving the veteran employment issue, VSOs may see improved success through using existing social media channels and forums to connect community leaders and potential employers with veterans. “TweetUps,” which are real-time twitter conversations, Google Hangouts, Facebook chats, and Facetime all have potential for connecting VSOs, veterans, and employers.

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MAP CHANNELS TO AUDIENCESSimilar to Employers, as outlined previously,VSOscanperhapsbenefitfrombetter-researched communications efforts, using tools ranging from social media to in-person conversations, to improve veteran awareness of support networks available. For example, the American Legion offers help for veterans seeking to start small businesses. But the organization has only recently begun to conduct a two-way discussion on its social media sites and has no focus on small businesses. They still publish paper newsletters, but seem to be broadly reaching no one. There are at least three “official”AmericanLegionFacebookpages,offering information seekers confusion as to which one is real. The WWP, as discussed, effectively uses Facebook and Twitter. However, they also place value on face-to-face contact with veterans they are serving.“We don’t have a road map that says here’s where everybody starts and everybody finishes,it’snotone-sizefitsall.Weadjustforindividuals,” says Brian Nichols of the WWP’s Warriors to Work program.

In addition to being in the social media space where veterans live, and using the face-to-face methods of providing assistance after awareness, VSOs need to increasingly consider mobile as a critical communication outlet—inparticularwhenitcomestoproviding information to career-seeking veterans. According to Pew 2013 surveys, roughly one third of American adults own a tablet computer, 91 percent of the adult population owns some kind of cell phone, and 56 percent are now smartphone adopters.

The 2013 Mobile Recruiting Statistics from SnapHop revealed that 70 percent of job seekers found employment information on mobile platforms, while 72 percent of those polled want to receive employment information on mobile (SnapHop, 2013). Employers are not keeping up by providing mobile-enabled job searching content; thus, there is an opportunity in this gap for VSOs to dowhattheydobest—helpveterans(StaffingTalk, 2013). If VSOs begin focusing on optimized content that veterans can access from any device or tablet, information about the employment services they provide would be more widely shared.

70% OF JOB SEEKERS FOUND EMPLOYMENT INFORMA-TION ON MOBILE PLATFORMS; 72% WANT TO RECEIVE

EMPLOYMENT INFORMATION VIA MOBILE. (2013 SnapHop survey)

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GOVERNMENTThe federal government clearly has a tremendous role to play in addressing the veteran unemployment issue, but challenges surrounding internal coordination and the effectiveness of internal and external communication appear to hinder their efforts.

In November 2011, President Obama signed the Veterans Opportunity to Work act, VOW to Hire Heroes. Under this legislation, government agencies including the Department of Defense, Department of Labor, Department of Veteran’s Affairs were given the mandate to work together on solving the veteran employment problem. However, the programs are cumbersome to change, lack broad awareness among both the populations they service and other organizations, and lack emphasis on execution and follow-through. Government agencies must learn to effectively pool the sum total of their resources to streamline the employment transition process and to ensure they communicate with internal and external stakeholders effectively.

Bureaucracies can be slow to evolve. However, with the exponential permeation of American society by social media on tablet and mobile devices, U.S. government agencies may need to invest in a two-way conversation, and relinquish some control of the message. Agencies should be encouraged to embrace and resource the conversation

from social media and mobile platforms. They could also consider capitalizing on credible information sharing and community-building inordertoenablenon-officialinfluencerstoshare timely and accurate information. Engaging and following up with posted content can result in an increased sense of belonging from community members.

INCREASE INTERNAL ALIGNMENTSix federally funded veteran employment and trainingprograms,fiveadministeredbytheDepartment of Labor and one by the Department of Veterans Affairs, offer similar services targeted at different veteran groups (GAO, 2012). According to the 2012 GAO Veterans’ Employment and Training report, some of the programs paid ‘to prepare participants for jobs that do not exist in their local area’ (GAO, 2012). The Department of Defense operates programs such as the Yellow Ribbon Program and Employer Support of Guard and Reserve (ESGR) to help Guard and Reserve members who may not meet eligibility requirements for DoL and VA programs with civilian employment. There are no formal agreements or mandates requiring agencies to coordinate on the programs, and informal coordination may be leading to reduced resources available to veterans and confusion amongst employers as to which agency is responsible for which initiative (GAO, 2012).

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These gaps in communication amongst government agencies could be best solved if they are viewed through the lens of an internal communications problem. Lead agencies can consider conducting an internal government stakeholder analysis, and then an audit of the communication channels available to reach them.Two-wayinformationflowaboutprograms related to veteran employment can and should be improved through existing channels.

UTILIZE FEEDBACK LOOPSAlthough there is a partnership in the Transition Assistance Program (TAP) among the Departments of Labor (which has lead and mandate on the program), Defense, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs to assist in the transition from active duty to civilian life, and this program is available to armed forces members within one year of separation or two years of retirement, many service members report that they get little out of the program. The VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011 mandated changes in the composition of the program with effort required from all partners. Included in the changes are a requirement for DoL and VA to track participant outcomes from various programs. A more comprehensive transition program was announced in July 2012, and is expected to be in place across the services by the end of 2013 (Daniel, 2012).

Stakeholders, including DoD, DoL, and the VA could work to ensure tight collaboration between DoD and DoL as transition programs are redesigned. They can use feedback loops from recently separated veterans, their employers, and VSOs to ensure a worthwhile program. These loops could be implemented in the form of surveys distributed to TAP alumni and employers at key intervals after leaving active duty and getting hired. The results of the survey should be distributed using all available channels, including social media and in meetings, to affect required changes and communicate to stakeholders that their feedback is valued and acted upon.

INVEST WISELY IN AWARENESSStakeholder agencies should consider focusing on awareness efforts for available benefits.AsDennisMayandRobertHartofthe VA both indicated, awareness of available support for both employers and veterans is an ongoing issue. If money is being dedicated to awareness campaigns and the veteran populationstilldoesnotknowaboutbenefits,it’s time to review the targeted communications portion of the awareness campaign.Inshort,figureoutwhoyouaretrying to reach and where they go for information, and design communications using social media, mobile, and person-to-person awareness efforts. Start by reading military blogs, reading comments on FacebookandTwitterVeteran-specificgroups, and reading what the VSOs are

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saying, and then invite conversation from owned platforms and “borrowed” social media spaces. Talk to veterans at Hiring Our Heroes job fairs, or at TAP classes, or on a VetNet Google Hangout. Find out how their concerns are evolving and gauge their level of awareness. Include call-to-action messages with links to important information, but streamline the number of clicks or swipes it takes to reach information. Consider seeding partner stakeholder messages with “did you know?” content. ACT AS A VETERAN BRAND EVANGELIST Government agencies can seek dialog with business leaders through existing forums, including Business Executives for National Security (BENS), American Corporate Partners, the Joining Forces Initiative and the 100,000 Jobs Mission to spread awareness of the value of a veteran beyond the federal government.

In addition to the Yellow Ribbon Program and ESGR, initiatives at the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Department of the Army attempt to take on the problem of post-service employment by espousing the business value of hiring veterans as a component of larger community connection initiatives (Copeland, 2010; Manglicmot, Kennedy, & Sutherland, 2011). These programs have varying levels of awareness with key stakeholders and measurements of their impact are not yet fully established.

The DoL is struggling with coordinating efforts across the government, and with state government efforts. DoL has partnered with organizations including the Chamber of Com-merce and the American Legion to sponsor hiring events in communities across the country. The Hiring Our Heroes employment initiative, which provides basic job skills assistance, has resulted in 300 job fairs with 14,100confirmedhiresbetweenitsstartin2011 and February 2013 (Morton & Goettel, 2013).

DoL hosted Twitter Townhalls in May and June 2013, using the hashtag #vetsjobschat. DoL worked with their Hiring Our Heroes partners, the Chamber of Commerce and American Legion, as well as American Veterans,theMilitaryOfficersAssociationofAmerica, Student Veterans of American, and the VFW to engage real-time. Though the volume of questions was not high, the act of using social media to provide information indicates a step in the right direction.

Government agencies should review social media and mobile policies. The policies should encourage transparent engagement on a variety of social platforms. Negative comments and spirited disagreement should be fostered as opportunities for positive information sharing.

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GOVERNMENT SPOTLIGHT: THE PUZZLE OF THE VA

Chief among government agencies, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is struggling with an overwhelmingnumberofbenefitsclaimsandisperhapsbeingunfairlyscapegoatedasthesourceforallnegative veteran experiences. While the organization’s widely publicized healthcare backlog has rightly been the subject of criticism, many of the employment assistance programs available for veterans are in fact sponsored not by the VA, but by veterans service organizations, community organizations, and the Department of Labor.

Although the VA has a robust information presence, online, in social media, and in conjunction with DoD, itstruggleswithawarenessonthepartofbothveteransandemployersaboutthebenefitsitdoesprovide.The VA’s website is packed with useful information to help veterans, employers, and other government agencies wade through the transition process. There is an opportunity, however, for it to create a more user-friendly,intuitiveindexforwheretofindtheavailableandapplicableinformation.

TheproblemsexistnotonlyontheVA’sprimarywebsite,butonitsprogram-specificsitesaswell.Forexample, it has an established program to reach its goal of hiring veterans within the VA, VA for Vets, launched in 2011. VAforvets.va.gov has tools from skills assessments to resume builders to resume databasesforagencieswhowanttohireveterans.However,ittakesatleastthreeclicksandspecificknowledge of the ‘VA for Vets’ program name to get to the tools from the VA main page. For employment outside the VA, it has a website, VetSuccess.gov, which links to many Chamber of Commerce Hiring Our Heroesevents.VetSuccess.govhasasectionforemployers,explainingthebenefitsofhiringevents.However,unlessthesearcherknowstolookfor“VetSuccess,”fromthemainVApage,itisdifficulttofindthisinformation.TheVAhasalsoestablishedeBenefits,aprogramthatletsservicemembersregisterforservices before they leave active duty. However, as with other, more tailored resources, access from the main VA page requires several clicks and an awareness of the program name.“We have these neat tools and nobody knows about [them],” says Dennis May, the Deputy Director of the VA’s Veteran Employment ServicesOffice.

The VA has also made a concerted effort to meet the information needs of the veterans it serves using social media. Its Facebook page has nearly 300,000 likes, with nearly 12,000 people talking about it, but rarely re-engages the community after it posts daily content. Across several Twitter handles, the VA has over 130,000 followers and seems to re-engage and cater to their audience frequently. However, it can be initiallyconfusingtofigureoutwhichTwitterhandlegoeswithwhichVAservice.

In order to overcome the lack of awareness about the tools available to help veterans and employers, the VA can take a three-pronged approach. First, broad awareness campaigns aimed at veterans could be launchedinconjunctionwiththefull-courtmediapressabouthowtheVAisfixingthebacklog.Theawareness efforts could include mainstream media in regions with large veteran populations, as well as those with major military bases. Second, the VA can take a targeted and community-nurturing approach to its social media presence by consistently engaging in two-way conversations (rather than one-way broadcast messaging) and by working to provide information that veteran brand ambassadors can use. Both approaches are recommended to include a complete and clear description of which social media channels provide what type of information. Finally, periodic reminders of what crucial information is being shared on which Facebook page or Twitter handle can be integrated into the messaging plan (editorial calendar) across all social media and online channels, to ensure that potential engagement oportunities are being routed to the appropriate channels.

VETERANSServicecanbeadefiningexperience,butlearning how to relay that experience in way employers understand is a skill veterans need to invest in. “Personal branding will go a long way to helping people understand the value ofveterans,haveconfidenceinmeandmypotential, and help me earn an opportunity to continue greatness,” says Chris Manglicmot, former National Programs director for the Army’s Soldier For Life program. Establishing a strong personal brand is a multi-step process; a suggested approach tailored specificallytoveteransisoutlinedbelow.

STUDY CULTUREVeterans should approach preparation for findingandgettingajobliketheywouldprepareforencounteringaforeignculture—i.e., by studying the “culture” of the industry or employer they’d like to work for. They must learn the language, just like they had to learn the alphabet soup that is military speak. Learn the shop talk. Figure out how the company interacts, both with the public and with each other. Does the company use collabora-tive wiki pages? Do they blog? Do they use Google+? Do they use Skype? Do they email? Do they text? How do they dress? Are they formal with each other in conversation? Will the boss be called “Bob” instead of “Sir,” or “Sergeant?”

TRANSLATE SKILLSOnce they’ve studied the culture they will soon live in, veterans should take a look at themselves through the potential employer’s lens. The road to employability starts in how the veterans are packaged. According to the Armed Forces & Society study on post-9/11 veteran employment, veterans whose military job skills translate easily into the civilian job market may have a better chance of being employed than a veteran whose skills do not translate as easily (Humensky, Jordan, Stroupe, & Hynes, 2012).

The November 2012 Monster.com Veterans Talent Index showed that while one-half of the veterans surveyed did not feel ready to transition to civilian careers, two-thirds of the respondents felt their military-acquired skills were relevant to business use. Two-thirds of the employers surveyed recommended veterans invest time in translating those skills to gain the best hiring advantage (Monster,

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“PERSONAL BRANDING WILL GO A LONG WAY TO HELPING PEOPLE UNDERSTAND THE VALUE OF VETERANS, HAVE CONFIDENCE IN ME AND MY POTENTIAL, AND HELP ME

EARN AN OPPORTUNITY TO CONTINUE GREATNESS.”

-Chris Manglicmot, former National Programs Director for the Army’s Soldier For Life Program

2012). That means identifying the tangible skills they, as veterans, bring to the company and how a they will improve the company’s bottomline.Thesameskillsusedtofigureoutwhere an IED might be buried or which dining facility at Kandahar had the shortest lines can also be employed when building a network.

It’s also important to translate the intangible skills developed during service. These are oftenmoredifficulttoquantify,including:“integrity; used to working as part of a diverse team or as an individual” (May, 2012); “they show up on time, they stay until the job is done, they have leadership and training, they teach you discipline, how to lead, how to work as a team, all of those things that aren’t necessarily taught in the civilian world; functioning in foreign environments and bringing communities together” (Casey, 2013); and, “a strong and unwavering desire to do a good job, make difficultdecisionsinstressfulenvironments,negotiate with other cultures” (Preston, 2013).

Using language in a resume or interview that tells a perspective employer the veteran is capable of both leading and following, comfortable working in teams or alone, thriving in unfamiliar circumstances, and committed to performing the task to completion is a start to expressing the value of those skills.

Another component of translating skills is relaying the value of experience versus education. While most companies are looking for a minimum of a bachelors’ degree, the experience a veteran gains may more than make up for education (Preston, 2013; Monster, 2012). Veterans must be prepared to address this issue by being able to succinctly convey the value of their experience. For example, being in charge of eight people for four years provides practical education in managing employee schedules, assessing personnel training and resource requirements, allocating and requisitioning resources, and monitoring all facets of task management for a team.

Questions that veterans must ask themselves include:DoesmyLinkedInprofileconveymyvalue? Does my resume read like my military file,orliketheresumeofanemployeeofthecompany I want to work for? According to Meg Garlinghouse of LinkedIn for Good, “HR people and recruiters could learn to use veterans’ language, but ultimately they are working in the civilian world” (Garlinghouse,

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2/3 OF VETERANS SURVEYED FEEL THEIR MILITARY

ACQUIRED SKILLS ARE RELEVANT TO BUSINESS, BUT 1/2 DO NOT FEEL READY TO

TRANSITION TO CIVILIAN CAREERS.

-Monster.com’s Veterans Talent Index

2012). Because of this, veterans must be proactive in handling as much of the skills translation process themselves, rather than relying on HR managers and recruiters to understand the equivalencies.

NETWORK - ONLINE AND OFFVeterans must develop and exploit their network to get a job. They can use the military’s transition program, job fairs like Hiring Our Heroes, and VSO-sponsored events to establish job-related contacts. They also can use social media tools, including Google’s VetNet, LinkedIn, and even Facebook, to expand reach beyond in person. Who can help the veteran get a job? Use the networktobuildandrefinetheresume.Takeout the inscrutable acronyms and express experience in a way a hiring manager would understand.

PRACTICE PASSIONOnceveteranshavefiguredoutwherethey’dlike to focus their job-hunting efforts, built a network to help get hired, and polished their resume to succinctly convey their assets and strengths, it’s time to practice articulating passion. Practice talking about whatgetsthemfiredup.Practiceconversingabout what is important to them, and what is important about them. If they drove ships in the Navy but want a job as an actuary, practice talking about their passion for numbers. They can use networks to practice informational interviewing. Use Google

hangouts or Skype or Facetime to practice, if not in person, to get comfortable expressing passion.

In addition to practicing passion, practice talking to people. Veterans already have the ability to interact with people of different backgrounds. Veterans should adapt that ability to the environment where they want to work, and how they will interact with colleagues on an interpersonal level. Showing up for a job fair in overly casual attire sends a message, but probably not the message an employer wants to interact with. On the opposite end of the spectrum, sitting ramrod straight, avoiding eye contact, and including “Sir” in every response conveys a stiffness that may lead employers to conclude the veteranwon’tfitinwiththecompanyenvironment.

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“HR PEOPLE AND RECRUITERS COULD LEARN TO USE

VETERANS’ LANGUAGE, BUT ULTIMATELY [VETERANS] ARE

WORKING IN THE CIVILIAN WORLD.”

-Meg Garlinghouse, LinkedIn

CONCLUSIONAfterWorldWarII,veteransreturnedhomefromthewartofindampleopportunitiesforfurthereducation and employment. As a result of these opportunities and their efforts, veterans rose to positions of leadership in all sectors of American society, from academia to business to government. The economic success of the post-war years was the peace dividend borne from confidencedevelopedbyovercomingadversityinwar.Itwasreinforcedbyapublicnarrative that supported veterans as the very best the country had to offer, and critical in improving future prospects.

By adopting more effective communications practices today, the stakeholders outlined in this research can ensure that the young veterans returning from their service can have similar opportunities. Employers can empower veteran employees to champion employer initiatives. VSOs can reframe the narrative to show veterans strengthened by service and up to the challenge. Government can improve communications within and among organizations to reduce redundancy and increase message clarity. Veterans can become their own brand evangelists. Taken together, these steps taken by stakeholders related to the veteran employmentissuecanovercomethebarriersfacingthisgenerationofyoungveterans—our‘NextGreatestGeneration’—andgetthemtowork. 

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