Recruitment Strategies, Matrices, and Techniques Used in Hiring Veterans

Abstract

Successful transition to civilian employment is a challenge for veterans. The purpose of this single case study was to explore critical aspects of hiring managers’ decision-making process and to understand how these strategies and techniques affect the hiring of veterans. Tajfel and Turner’s social identity theory and Lewin’s organizational change model formed the conceptual framework for the study. The participants for this study were 8 hiring managers from a midsized company in the Upper Hudson Valley Region, New York. Data were collected using semistructured interviews. The data were analyzed and coded and 4 themes emerged: strategies used to fill open positions, specific recruitment and interview protocols, veterans’ skills from military training, and lack of experience with hiring veterans. The study results may contribute to veteran’s awareness of the skills that employers are seeking that veterans may be able to fulfill. The results of the study could create an opportunity for hiring managers to recognize that veterans represent a trained, ready-made talent pool. The social impact of the study could help hiring managers identify and design the required job description criteria to include the transferable skills of veterans.