TAO Self-help

Title:The Best Companies for Veterans to find a Job are...

Author:Ron Rutherford (Business Development Mgr.)

Date:January 2014

Source:TAOnline.com

This is the most obvious question veterans and transitioning military ask when going through TAP, talking to a recruiter or coming to a career site like TAOnline.com. Unfortunately, the answer isn't as obvious as the question.

First getting the numbers isn't always easy. Employers aren't always rushing to report new hires. Employers want to spend time concentrating on their business, not necessarily on reporting who they hired and whether their new hire fit into a certain classification. This may start to improve with new OFCCP compliance. However, OFCCP regulations only affect Federal Contractors and Sub-Contractors. But, there are employers who want you to know about their veteran hiring success.

Walmart says it's hired more than 20,000 veterans since May, 2013. New hires range from entry-level to career-track positions. In May, Walmart made a commitment to hire 100,000 Veterans over the next five-years.

A Military Times Article touts USAA as tops in their Best for Vets: Employer Survey, 2013. The survey actually uses 2012 data, showing 12% of its total hires for the year were veterans. This survey focused more on what the company did than the number of total veteran hires. The complete list shows some companies with a higher percentage of veteran hires as well as companies spending on veteran hiring. Some exceed USAA, but are still ranked lower.

Bright.com took what data it could find and came up with a different '#1' in veteran hiring. It's clear winner, PepsiCo. Bright.com didn't base it's rankings on the total number of veterans hired. Rather, Bright.com ranked it's winners by dividing veteran hires within a company by the total number of resumes submitted to each company. According to Bright.com, a successful Veteran hiring program is more dependent on the number of resumes gathered than on the actual number of veterans hired.

So, to answer the obvious question, it really depends on how you want to measure who is hiring. Raw numbers — the answer could be Walmart. Focusing on what a company does — the answer could be USAA. Looking at the ratio of veterans hired to total resumes received — the winner could be PepsiCo. The reality may be, it isn't just who is hiring, but who is hiring that needs someone like you.

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