Challenge Factory works hard to help employers meet their employment, leadership, and other workforce needs in an increasingly uncertain labour market. Understanding and getting ahead in the talent revolution—those seismic shifts in human- and tech-driven innovation that are affecting workforce structures, relationships, and cultures everyone—requires harnessing a competitive edge from talent pools that may be hidden, invisible, or undervalued.
Canada’s military Veterans are one such talent pool.
How can asking better questions about military Veterans help advance Canada’s key priorities for building a learning nation?
Canada’s military Veterans are a skilled source of talent for workforces across sectors—public, private, non-profit, large, medium, small…and everything in between. Consider the added value their crisis and risk management, operational enhancement, and scenario planning skills and expertise could bring to COVID-19 recovery plans in businesses.
Yet employers and hiring managers are often uncertain or wary of hiring Veterans. Current workforce conditions are challenging, and determining whether a Veteran’s skills are applicable to the civilian workplace, supporting their civilian transition, and onboarding them can feel too taxing for busy employers.
However, these complex times are the exact right moment to take advantage of and capitalize on the skills and experiences that Veterans bring to their organizations. In many cases, only minor shifts in thinking are needed to gain a new understanding of the value of Veterans in civilian workforces.
Hidden talent pools and the power of asking better questions
One way to make productive shifts in thinking is by learning to ask better questions. This can be a powerful tool in the hands of employers who are struggling to meet their hiring and labour needs. Check out the reframed questions below and consider how they might help employers think about Veterans in new ways.
Common Hiring Question |
Better Hiring Question |
| Do we want someone who is very “command and control” to join our small team? | Who can I talk with to test if my assumptions about military experience are valid or based on pop culture? |
| What jobs related to security or manual labour can we offer to Veterans? | What business skills, training, and competencies are learned in the military and needed in our organization? |
| Will we have time to help a Veteran learn what they need to know to get used to our organization, culture, and clients? | How might our organization benefit from military-grade crisis/risk management as we navigate through COVID-19 recovery? |
By recognizing Veterans as a valuable talent pool, we can also advance the key priorities that have been set out by the Future Skills Council for building Canada into a learning nation ready to thrive in the Future of Work. Let’s test how each priority can apply to improving Veteran participation in the civilian workforce.
Priority 1: Helping Canadians make informed choices
There are two sides to the labour market information and tools that allow Canadians to make informed workforce decisions: the supply and the demand. When it comes to filling labour and skills gaps, employers also need to be well- informed about Canadian workers and jobseekers, such as Veterans, and the value they bring to their organizations.
Priority 2: Equality of opportunity for lifelong learning
Veterans continue to face barriers to participation in the workforce due to misperceptions and lack of awareness about their military service, training, experience, skills, and fit in civilian workplaces. Myth-busting and raising employer awareness is a key step to increasing Veterans’ career and learning opportunities.
Priority 3: Skills development to support Indigenous self-determination
First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people from coast to coast to coast serve in the Canadian Armed Forces. In 2019, approximately 2,750 servicemembers self-identified as Indigenous. Supporting Canada’s First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Veterans supports Indigenous self- determination.
Priority 4: New and innovative approaches to skills development and validation
Veterans bring a unique set of skills, training, and experience to their civilian work. These should be leveraged and valued, not viewed as something that needs to be downplayed or ignored. Drawing on Veterans’ military knowledge will only increase innovation in civilian environments.
Priority 5: Skills development for sustainable futures
Living in communities across the country, Veterans are versatile, adaptable, and resilient. They are an asset to developing a skilled workforce capable of adopting new technologies and business models while ensuring the well-being of Canada’s communities.
“We consider Veterans a valuable talent pool that’s often overlooked in the business community. They are highly trained and have highly developed characteristics, such as teamwork, leadership, and problem solving. When we hire Veterans, we tend to look beyond their specific technical skills unless they’re a match for a specific position that we’re filling.
Instead, we turn the thinking upside down. We want to know about the Veteran’s leadership capability, planning skills, and interpersonal ability. We want to start with these characteristics and then figure out what specific skills the new hire needs.”
This excerpt is from The Canadian Guide to Hiring Veterans, created with the generous support of Veterans Affairs Canada’s Veteran and Family Well-Being Fund. Learn more about Challenge Factory’s work to demystify Canada’s Veterans as a highly skilled, hidden talent pool.