38 U.S. VETERANS MAGAZINE WWW.USVETERANSMAGAZINE.COM
for the
RECRUITER
M
y mom was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer shortly after I turned 17 and died a few short months later. I was no academic superstar up to that point, and her death sent me into a spiral. I was in a complete mental and emotional freefall. One day, I stopped to talk to the Army National Guard recruiter who had been posted in the cafeteria at school (where I was failing all of my classes). I told him I dreamed of joining the FBI someday. He told me that military intelligence would provide a solid path to the FBI. When I told him my academic situation, he said I could pull things together and graduate high school, or I could get a GED. I opted for the latter and off to basic training I went. The Army brought me out of freefall. It taught me the discipline and focus to safely land my parachute (literally and figuratively). I learned how to be a good follower. I learned how to exercise initiative by
3 Reasons to Hire a Veteran
By Dr. Apollo Emeka
taking appropriate action in the absence of orders as stated in the Army Noncommissioned Officer's Creed. I learned how to provide sound orders and support my Soldiers. I learned about people across cultures and continents. I found out that I had more courage than I could have imagined. My military experience helped me achieve my dream of joining the FBI, and it provided me with so much more. My military career spanned seven countries over the course of 20 years. My time was split between serving as a military intelligence analyst and a Special Forces Green Beret. I apply much of what I learned in the military to my consulting business where we help companies shift their culture and leverage diverse perspectives to unlock high- performance results. I could go on forever with stories from my military experience, but what you really want to know is why you should hire veterans and how to help them become highly productive members of your team.
Three Reasons to Hire Veterans
1
Veterans have high standards
Every veteran pushed through pretty severe discomfort. Most veterans have been in extreme cold or heat. Weve been sleep deprived. We got the job done with crappy equipment. Weve experienced all types of dangers and even bodily harm. Veterans have survived discomfort and danger so they understand what humans can endure better than most civilians. Knowing what people can endure causes veterans to expect more from people. Case in point, during my Special Forces training, my team was stuck in a North Carolina forest when a hurricane swept over us. We took turns standing guard while the rest of the team slept directly on the ground in the pouring rain as bursts of wind tipped over massive trees around us. Veterans know people are capable of more, so they expect more.
2
Veterans are team oriented
High standards can be intimidating. Actually, high standards can be downright soul-crushing when you feel youre being asked to do something you feel entirely unprepared for. But when you hire a veteran, youll never have to do it alone. Veterans tend to expect a lot from the rest of the team, but theyre also willing to coach others to success. They recognize the importance of teamwork. For instance, at one point in my training for special forces, we were deprived of food for a couple of days. Our team happened upon one of those packets of square soup crackers. You know the packet with just two crackers? That one. Rather than fight over who
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