What Veterans Bring to Civilian Workplaces

Veterans have a great deal to offer to potential civilian employers, including valuable nontechnical skills, such as leadership, decisionmaking, being dependable, and attention to detail. However, for civilian employers, understanding what nontechnical skills veterans have received through training, education, and on-the-job experiences can be challenging, because military and civilian workplace cultures and languages can seem radically different from one another.

This prototype toolkit is intended to help civilian employers understand the full value veterans can bring to their organizations. It focuses on the nontechnical skills addressed through selected formal military training and education courses and on-the-job experiences that are typical of enlisted combat arms jobs in the Army and Marine Corps. The toolkit begins with a letter that can be sent to employers, explaining the purpose of the other materials enclosed in the packet. The material following the letter is organized into three parts: (1) an introductory section that provides more information on the materials and how to use them, as well as some background on military terms; (2) descriptions of the specific formal courses selected, discussion of the nontechnical skills addressed in each course, and quick-access summary tables for all courses listing the top skills and competencies addressed; and (3) vignettes that illustrate on-the-job experiences relating to the nontechnical skills that are typical in a select set of combat arms occupations, as well as quick-access summary tables showing the criticality of each skill for performance in those jobs.