Are vets short changed? Part 2
By
Nick Wakeman
We've received several comments on our blog last week about veteran-hiring practices. Most were very positive toward vets, but there is some food for thought.
I wanted to follow up on a blog I posted last week about a conversation I had with a friend, who’s a veteran and a job seeker.
He told me that he had been told to remove “veteran” from his resume because it was hurting his chances of finding a new job. A job search coach had told him this.
So, I threw it out to my readers asking what they thought, and if this is really happening in the market.
The comments I received were generally very positive toward vets.
One person, who signed his comment TMD, said, “I literally dig through hundreds of resumes trying to FIND veterans, not reject them.”
Mark Gross, himself a veteran and the CEO of his company, Oak Grove Tech, said, “Companies that discriminate against veterans are shorting themselves.”
Another wrote, “I don’t know why any employer would want to avoid hiring a veteran.”
So, it was heartening to hear the strong support given my friend’s experience.
But one commenter shared some interesting views. Definitely not anti-veteran, but this person shared some thoughts and observations.
Based on this person’s experience, senior executives at many large companies generally have not served in the military. While military experience was honored, it also could be disrespected. “Being accused of thinking or acting like a service member was not a good thing,” this person wrote.
This person also thinks veterans need to change, and he provided a list: “a lack of initiative, easy dependency on others, undue trust or distrust in authority, or feelings of superiority.”
He also relayed his feeling that some veterans believe that “there is a continuum of patriotism and only those who serve are at the highest level of patriotism.”
I’m not sure I agree with this commenter. Most of the veterans I’ve worked with just didn’t talk about it. It wasn’t like I met them and they were introduced as “our veteran employee.” It was only after I knew them for a while that it ever came up.
From the comments, I’d say that my friend's experience might be an outlier, but that doesn’t mean that vets don’t face challenges in the workplace.
Add your thoughts below.