Hard-working, motivated, disciplined, and ethical team players—these sound like unicorn employees, but there’s a whole pool of candidates just like these coming out of the U.S. military every day. While some organizations (particularly federal government and law enforcement agencies) have been eager to celebrate veterans for their service, many employers outside the military don’t realize the training, skills, and experiences that veterans acquire from their service, or how those skills translate to a civilian workplace. A company may not need to hire a veteran with top-secret security clearance, but what organization couldn’t use a reliable and trustworthy employee?

Let’s look past some common misconceptions about military skills to see the highly desirable soft skills present in our nation’s veterans.

Leadership

Veterans have been trained to lead by example, as well as through direction, delegation, motivation, and inspiration—all desirable qualities in a successful organizational leader. They understand leadership dynamics in both chain-of-command and peer structures. They have been prepared to make decisions in changing or uncertain situations (an awesome skill in this changing work environment), and they know how to manage behaviors for results, even under trying circumstances.

Teamwork

There is no I in team, and few understand this better than veterans, who feel a strong sense of responsibility to their colleagues. What’s best for the team, how they can strengthen and improve the team, ways to support the team’s objectives—it all translates to the team-based environment of the working world. But veterans are not just about teamwork; they also understand the importance of an individual’s contribution to that team. And what’s even better, veterans have experience in a diverse work environment, having achieved goals alongside individuals of all backgrounds and ways of life.

Efficiency Under Pressure

Stress? Deadlines? Limited resources? Veterans have operated under every kind of challenging condition, and have developed the ability to achieve goals and priorities within nonoptimal frameworks. It’s part of a veteran’s training to stick with the goal until it is completed, which also shows persistence and determination.

Goal-Focused Improvement

Veterans are used to making timely assessments, devising a plan, debriefing about what worked and what didn’t, and then working to improve for next time. Isn’t this a desirable background for any organizational leader?

In Conclusion

This closer look at veterans reveals a fraction of the soft skills they learn from active duty—skills that will successfully translate to any civilian job. Hiring a veteran not only recognizes our military men and women for their service, it also makes for good business!