I see a lot of companies say they want to hire veterans, but when I dig deeper into their hiring practices, it seems like they're only paying lip service.
Veterans are very disciplined and have well honed leadership skills which are very helpful in tech or for that matter any business. The only issue is they are used to following a chain or command and this habit takes a while to undo. With the right mentorship, these guys and gals make a serious impact to the top line. I also have several friends who were great in school (kick ass grades and class contributions) and now work in FAANG. I would say Amazon is leading the pack when it comes to hiring veterans. If you are a veteran, reach out to other former service members who work there. I don’t think the bar is lower for hiring veterans. My veteran colleagues will give you a run for your money. They were stellar in every way.
Veteran or not, they still have to pass the interview. And they’re competing with civilians with CS degrees from top tier schools. You can say the same for hiring from coding boot camps.
Why would you even remotely think my post implued that one's veteran status meant hiring them without merit? 🙄😒
My point is that it’s the same “funnel” problem that exists for women and people of color in tech. The few that attempt to interview are still competing with the (predominantly white or Asian male) CS grads from elite schools and ex-FAANG. It’s a sampling problem because the system is biased towards internships for MIT/Stanford students for L1/L2 and industry hires (from FAANG) for L3+. So it’s hard for people outside this bubble to get in.
I personally know a veteran who works in our org I can ask them more about the program if you want to dm me
Military folks end up in operations.
If you’re a veteran you get an interview almost automatically. Still have to pass the interview like anyone else. Once in the room we don’t care if they are veteran or not we care about what leadership they have. But make no mistake recruiters pass every veteran on for an interview so that part is true.
General recruiters or those that get stuck at the career fair may not be the real vet team just the ones who were in the area. I believe most companies do well with a few vets and other recruiting efforts but also get overwhelmed by the volume and can’t respond to them all or work with them all. Apply for a job you are qualified for and indicate your are a vet and likely you’ll have a better chance then anyone similarly qualified to get to talk to someone. Typically a vet will be flagged and skip in line to be looked at and if they meet some level of competence for that job move forward.
Uber has veteran ERG and has a lot of successful veterans in ops.
Could you explain how you dug deeper?
If you go to their career fairs, recruiters are clueless about their own veteran hiring programs. Go to Google's website for hiring veterans and hyperlinks don't work properly, no one returns emails from the listed contacts, etc. Talk to employers at the companies and they couldn't tell your veteran they work with.