As a federal contractor, Michigan Tech must comply with the requirements of the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA). These requirements prohibit discrimination in employment against protected veterans, requires employers to take affirmative action to recruit, hire, promote and retain veterans, and to establish annual hiring benchmarks.
Veteran Benchmark for hiring
The Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) annual hiring benchmark for protected veterans as of March 31, 2024 is 5.2%. This benchmark is used to evaluate the effectiveness of outreach, recruitment and representation of veterans. To help reach the required benchmark, proactive steps should be used in the recruitment process.
Search Committees and Translating Skills
Include veteran employees on your search committee to help recruit, review resumes, and translate skills and abilities.
Reviewing and Translating Military Skills to Civilian Skills
Reviewing materials from a veteran applicant may take some extra effort. Time should be taken to read the materials and translate military skills to civilian skills. The following resources are available to assist with translating skills.
Career One Stop
Employers can use the Civilian-to-Military Occupation Translator to identify which military occupations (including Military Occupation Specialty, or MOS and MOC codes) best match their civilian job openings on the basis of education, training, skills, and experience.
O*Net
The O*Net Online Military Crosswalk allows searching by military codes or job titles to cross reference to civilian equivalent.
Veterans Can Add Incredible Value to the Workplace
Along with the following list, this article addresses more about the Benefits of Hiring Veterans.
Military skills are generally taught and experienced
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Flexibility: a veteran can work in a team and alone. They are taught to improvise.
- Experience with technology: military personnel use cutting edge technology.
- Conflict resolution: veterans have the ability to identify conflict, assess the situation and implement a variety of solutions.
- Communication/Interpersonal skills: are essential to military personnel and they bring these skills with them.
- Leadership skills: veterans are trained to be responsible, make decisions, influence and motivate others.
- Organization skills, time management, ability to prioritize, multi-task: veterans understand how crucial organization skills are to meeting their objectives.
Personal Qualities
- Dedication, reliable and responsible.
- Confident under pressure. Can handle stress.
- Diversity: have worked with people from different backgrounds regardless of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation.
- Team player - veterans spend years working as a team
- Ability to listen.
- Punctual.
Advertising
An extra effort should be made to advertise positions in publications to reach veterans. See the "Veteran Recruitment Resources" listed on EOC's "National and Online Recruiting and Advertising" web page.
- All jobs posted on MTU's Employment website are automatically posted on the following:
EEO Statement
All job postings, including social media, must include the EEO Tagline.