4 strategies to recruit and hire veterans at your car dealership

According to the Department of Labor, approximately 200,000 men and women in the military transition out of the service to civilian life each year. Many of these veterans are looking to make their way into careers that can put their skills to good use.

But, like many other forms of intentional hiring, locating military talent can be challenging. It can be hard to know where to look to find veterans who are the best fit for your dealership. Fortunately, there are some strategies you can use to make your military personnel recruitment plans successful. 

In honor of Memorial Day and Military Appreciation Month, we have some tips to help you assist veterans in transitioning to a career outside of the service and find a capable and talented professional. 

Get help from your current veteran employees

Do you have any current veterans working at your dealership? See if they can tap into their networks to find any peers who may be a fit for what you need. Initiatives like this can work even better with an employee referral program that incentivizes employees to send in the names of individuals they know would be a good fit for your job. The rewards could be a salary bonus, gift card, or another perk. 

Go to military job fairs 

There are military job fair events held throughout the country. This is a great way to get an “in” with veteran professionals. Organizations like DAV and Recruit Military put on military job fairs, some even being virtual. Reach out to organizations like these to see how you can participate in their job fair. You can also attend military-related events like appreciation dinners to network with veterans. 

Post on military job boards 

There are many military-related job boards like Military.com, HireHeroesUSA.org, or HireVeterans.com. Additionally, even if you post jobs outside of military-related job boards, making your job posting military-friendly is a great idea. This can include having clear language about what the job entails and how performance is assessed, and mentioning how your dealership shows commitment to veteran populations. 

Create a reputation that shows your dealership is military-friendly 

While you want to publicize positions at your dealership to veterans, you also want to increase the likelihood that they’ll accept an offer. For example, if you have a company video that potential job candidates can view during the application process, include any veteran team members. This is a great way to tie your dealership to military-related causes. 

Additionally, you may want to sponsor military-related events in your town or have your teams volunteer for veteran-related causes. You want to show potential veteran candidates that you genuinely care about military populations, which can display your dealership team as a welcoming community. 

Make hiring veterans a priority at your dealership 

Like any intentional hiring strategy, you want to ensure your initiatives are successful. So, create metrics to track your hiring process and retention. You want to not only hire talented veterans but also keep them once they are on staff at your dealership. 

Also, make sure that you have a hiring committee that includes veterans so that they can help create inclusive interview questions and inform the hiring process. 

Again, veterans have a lot of excellent skills to bring to your dealership. The more you prioritize hiring veterans and establish strategies to move your processes forward, the easier it will be to ensure hiring success. 

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