Military hiring in the U.S. represents significant untapped potential, with approximately 200,000 service members transitioning to civilian careers annually from a veteran population of 19 million. The veteran unemployment rate of 3.0 percent—lower than the 4.2 percent non-veteran rate—demonstrates strong employer demand for military talent valued for leadership, technical skills, and proven work ethic.
Yet the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) shows veteran hiring benchmark has dropped from 5.4 percent to 5.1 percent over two years, signaling that employer brands aren't resonating with this critical talent pool. Most organizations treat veteran recruitment as standard diversity hiring rather than strategic competitive advantage, believing they must choose between military-specific messaging and broad talent appeal.
In this interview for RPOA's Talent Leader Council, we sat down with Diana Doro, VP of Business Development at Orion Talent—a leader in military and veteran hiring in the US—to explore how organizations can transform their employer brands to capture military talent's full potential.
Major takeaways for HR and TA Leaders:
- Military talent requires specialized branding strategies distinct from standard diversity hiring approaches
- Declining hiring benchmarks despite recognized value indicate authentic employer brand failures in reaching military candidates
- Trust-based referral networks beyond current employees can drive significant military talent acquisition when employer brands demonstrate transparency and military-specific value propositions
While most companies recognize military talent value, 75 percent of employers say veterans outperform civilian peers yet the OFCCP hiring benchmark continues declining—from 5.4 percent to 5.1 percent over two years. This disconnect between acknowledgment and effective marketplace engagement undermines employer brand military talent efforts.
Doro: I speak to many TA leaders who say, "Of course we want to hire veterans" because they know the value of that talent pool. I rarely have spoken to an audience that says they don't see that value.
However, they have difficulty meeting them in the marketplace. Many companies know the value of the military talent pool, but they are doing very little, if anything, to specifically appeal to that audience.
Military talent is the second-largest unique talent pool. Therefore, it should be a focus, with a clear message for that talent in your overall employer brand.
The most authentic and credible recruitment messaging often comes from within existing organizations. With veterans delivering 39 percent faster promotions and 8.3 percent longer tenure, strategic activation of current military talent to strengthen employer brand military talent initiatives becomes even more compelling.
Doro: Some ways they can do that are through voices of the company already in that talent pool. Whether they have a way to get that talent to speak up about why their company fits military and veterans, it should be prioritized like strategies for attracting recent college graduates.
Leverage existing military employees as authentic brand ambassadors. Create military-specific success stories and testimonials. Develop mentorship program messaging for recruitment materials. Position military talent as business drivers, not charity cases.
With unprecedented transparency tools giving all candidates deeper insight into company culture, employer brand authenticity becomes both more challenging and more critical than ever.
Doro: Authenticity in an employer brand is important. Military candidates are "very online and very social"—news travels quickly and word-of-mouth is powerful. Companies need to meet these candidates where they are spending time online.
Start with exit interviews before checking Glassdoor or other sites. Whatever impression exists in the marketplace, you cannot escape it as it lives today. You can only hope to mold that for the future. With 48 percent of Gulf War-era II veterans having service-connected disabilities, workplace transparency about accommodation becomes even more critical.
As the talent marketplace shifts from reactive job posting to proactive relationship building, quality candidates avoid traditional channels while high-volume, low-fit applicants flood them. Military veteran recruitment challenges require RPO expertise to bridge the gap between standard employer branding and military-specific value propositions.
Doro: We go to market as our clients, which often includes an employer brand overhaul. Pre-COVID, this involved helping with job descriptions because job boards dominated. This evolved post-COVID into proactive branding strategy because quality candidates are not filling the top of the funnel the way they used to.
Candidates now rely more on trust in familiar employers or referrals from their networks. Traditional job board effectiveness has declined significantly, making referral-based hiring of military candidates a critical competitive advantage.
As talent acquisition leaders seek to demonstrate employer brand effectiveness, measuring impact on business outcomes becomes increasingly important for strategic decision-making.
Doro: n a tough talent market, TA leaders feel pressure to prove their employer brand works. They need measurable results to show other business areas that this investment drives value.
A strong employer brand reduces time to fill by minimizing the amount of “selling” recruiters must do to convince candidates. Faster hiring translates directly into lower vacancy costs, improving TA outcomes.
As veteran hiring shares decline industry-wide, companies that invest in authentic military talent branding will gain outsized access to a high-performing, loyal workforce with proven ROI.
When organizational changes damage employer reputation, rebuilding trust requires strategic messaging that acknowledges reality while demonstrating future stability.
Doro: Leaders who know that this is coming, or are the ones delivering the news, really need to focus first on transparency, and second, on demonstrating empathy in their messaging and in their actions. Some of the negative press that companies have gotten for their downsizing is because of the impersonal way that their layoffs have occurred and been shared with the market.
Companies need to reaffirm the steps being taken to signal to employees that their well-being is a concern. Ignoring it is a huge mistake. Pretending like reductions haven't happened is a huge mistake.
Employers have a real opportunity after reorganizations to highlight authentic employee stories that demonstrate their resilience and collaboration through tough times. Veterans understand organizational restructuring from military experience, making honest communication significantly more effective than corporate spin. There's a real opportunity for employers to create an open dialogue that can be effectively used in future employer branding messaging.
With distributed work models becoming permanent fixtures, employer brands must unify diverse employee experiences around shared values rather than physical presence.
Doro: The expectation isn't that we're going to meet in person, but the expectation is that we're going to focus on our core values and our purpose to allow for the adaptation of that work environment. Leaders have an opportunity to activate an employer value proposition that is focused on a remote environment through real-world examples of how this collaboration that all companies hope for has worked.
Using employee voices to provide real-world examples creates a feeling of unity among new hires. If companies are really investing in fostering the connection between their employees, for example, through a mentorship program, that is something that absolutely can be shared during the interview process, to let potential hires know that they will have that safety, reinforce a sense of belonging, even though the opportunity is remote.
Military personnel's experience with distributed operations and remote coordination makes them ideal candidates for companies that can authentically demonstrate remote culture strength.
For more insights from other Talent Leader Council contributors, check out our TA Leader Council on the RPO Voice blog, which features interviews with top talent acquisition experts.