What Veterans Bring to Civilian Workplaces: A Prototype Toolkit for Helping Private-Sector Employers Understand the Nontechnical Skills Developed in the Military

Abstract

Prepared for the Office of the Secretary of DefenseApproved for public release; distribution unlimited NATIONAL DEFENSE RESEARCH INSTITUTE Limited Print and Electronic Distribution RightsThis document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited. Permission is given to duplicate this document for personal use only, as long as it is unaltered and complete. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial use. For information on reprint and linking permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions.html.The RAND Corporation is a research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges to help make communities throughout the world safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous. RAND is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and committed to the public interest.RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.Support RAND Make a tax-deductible charitable contribution at www.rand.org/giving/contribute www.rand.org For more information on this publication, visit www.rand.org/t/TL160-1Published by the RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, Calif. © Copyright 2017 RAND CorporationR® is a registered trademark.iii PrefaceVeterans 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 the nontechnical skills veterans have developed through military training, education, and on-the-job experience can be challenging, because military and civilian workplace cultures and languages can seem radically different from one another. To help address this issue, the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness asked the RAND Corporation to develop prototype tools to translate the valued nontechnical skills that enlisted personnel acquire during military service into civilian terms. This report documents one of the prototype tools, a prototype toolkit for use by civilian employers.In this toolkit, we describe how 19 general skills, important to civilian job success, are developed through on-the-job experience and selected formal military education courses for enlisted personnel in the Army and Marine Corps in selected combat arms occupations. The methodology used to develop the prototype toolkit is detailed in a separate report (available at www.rand.org/t/RR1919). Further, a high-level summary of this toolkit for employers is also available in a separate handout (www.rand.org/t/TL160z5).This prototype toolkit is intended as a packet of materials that can help employers better understand the important general civilian job-related skills that veterans may develop through on-the-job experience and formal courses. The packet begins with a letter from the Office of the...

An Empirical Investigation of the Acquisition of Leadership KSAs in the U.S. Army: Implications for Veterans’ Career Transitions

“…One reason for veterans' postmilitary employment challenge lies in their struggle to commmunicate the leadership knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) acquired during military service. Servicemembers develop KSAs frequently cited as essential for employees in non-military organizations (Hardison et al, 2017;Harrell & Berglass, 2012;Kirchner, 2018). However, articulating these leadership attributes into post-military job applications has periodically been difficult for veterans (Burton Blatt Institute, 2013;Hardison et al, 2017;Prudential Financial, 2012).…”

“…Servicemembers develop KSAs frequently cited as essential for employees in non-military organizations (Hardison et al, 2017;Harrell & Berglass, 2012;Kirchner, 2018). However, articulating these leadership attributes into post-military job applications has periodically been difficult for veterans (Burton Blatt Institute, 2013;Hardison et al, 2017;Prudential Financial, 2012). At the same time, organizations seeking to hire veterans face a similar challenge in understanding how former servicemembers may successfully transfer their military-acquired KSAs (Prudential Financial, 2012).…”

“…Researchers have only recently started exploring veterans' leadership KSAs. Hardison et al (2017), examined the attributes acquired through Army training and highlighted specifically the various soft skills, including leadership, teamwork, effective communication, and supervision. Their findings provided a comprehensive assessment of the non-technical skills servicemembers acquire during military training.…”

“…The leadership skills described often align with attributes of desirable employees. Because of their training and service, the leadership KSAs acquired by veterans are generally retained and may be transferable into non-military careers (Hardison et al, 2017;Harrell & Berglass, 2012;Kirchner & Akdere, 2014). Although veterans may be hired for multiple reasons, none appear more frequently than their prescribed leadership KSAs.…”

The Business Case for Hiring Military Veterans/Reservists: Stock Price Performance of Military Friendly Firms

“…It has been widely noted (Bender, 2014;Brooks, 2015, Burton Blatt Institute, 2013Davis & Minnis, 2017;Hardison & Shanley, 2016;Harrel & Berglass 2012;Hardison et. al., 2017;Institute for Veterans and Military Families, 2012;Justice, 2013;Monster, 2016;Society for Human Resource Management, 2010;Teclaw et al, 2016;Yanchus et al, 2018) that people with military training and experience have the following critical competencies and attributes that are relevant to civilian employers: (1) leadership, (2) teamwork, (3) resilience, (4) work ethic, (5) communication, (6) attention to detail (7) self-discipline, (8) dependability, (9) experience training others, (10) experience with safety compliance, (11) flexibility, (12) mission-focused, (13) initiative, (14) crosscultural understanding, (15) maturity, (16) global perspective, (17) trustworthiness, (18) loyalty, (19) organizational commitment, (20) problem solving, (21) responsibility, (22) courage, and (23) knowledge/expertise in defense issues.…”