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Oncentive veterans Hire Heroes USA — OnCentive is a supporter of Hire Heroes USA (Jacob Blankenship / Bham Now)

Shannon Scott’s grandfather served in World War II. His father served in Vietnam. When both men came home, rather than a hero’s welcome, they faced job discrimination. Fortunately, the transition to civilian life can be easier for today’s veterans. Keep reading to learn more, including how you can attend Salute to Our Heroes June 22 at The Florentine.

To learn more about programs that can help veterans transition to civilian life, we talked to three people at OnCentive:

Shannon Scott, CEO
John Baumgartner, Senior Executive Vice President of Enterprise Accounts, Army veteran
Sara Morgan, Calculations Specialist, Army Reserves

1. Transitioning from the military into civilian life can be a monumental task

john Helping veterans transition to civilian life while saving businesses money

John Baumgartner in Iraq (l) + working at OnCentive (r). (John Baumgartner)

Reasons range from the stigma around PTSD to the difficulty of translating military experience.

John explained that the military doesn’t have a lot of resources to help with the transition.

“Your VMET transfers your military skills into civilian terms. But it’s a flawed system. In most cases, you need somebody to help you realize what these skills really mean to XYZ company and what they do on a daily basis.

A lot of recruiting companies try to do that, but they don’t have a military background themselves, so there’s a lot of trial and error and frustration with the process.”
John Baumgartner

Get your ticket today to Salute to Our Heroes June 22, 6-10PM at The Florentine. Military + veteran discounts available.

2. Hire Heroes USA helps veterans + their spouses

This is where Hire Heroes USA steps in. They help veterans, their spouses and businesses in multiple ways, far beyond what a recruiting firm might do:

Educating business owners on the advantage of hiring veterans or their spouses.
Providing career coaching, including:
- Digging deep into veterans’ experience to help discover jobs they would do well.
- Helping veterans + their spouses build resumes that are easy for a civilian employer to understand.
- Teaching interview skills.
- Providing networking opportunities.
Positioning veterans with companies that are looking for the skills they have.

“Veterans trying to go at this alone can sometimes be highly frustrated and not necessarily understand the landscape they need to navigate. In that situation, Hire Heroes USA is like the compass, helping to guide them.

It’s an excellent organization to help people understand where their skills can best be utilized along with how best to make the transition from A to B. It really is the bridge throughout the entire process.”
John Baumgartner

3. Veterans bring a lot to their employers

Sara Morgan, veterans — Sara Morgan. (Sara Morgan)

Scott explained that they’ve found that veteran turnover rates are much lower than those of typical employees because of their sense of loyalty and work ethic.

“Ultimately, veterans are usually disciplined. They know how to be self starters, they know how to understand what needs to happen and put a plan in place and carry through on that order.”
John Baumgartner

4. Tax credits + other incentives are available to businesses that hire veterans

OnCentive, veterans — OnCentive. (Bham Now)

OnCentive consults with businesses on how they can be incentivized to hire veterans via tax credits and other tools.

Part of this is working with the largest companies in the United States to understand ways they can save money, and this includes incentives to hire veterans, such as the Work Opportunity Tax Credit. This program not only aids our heroes in finding gainful employment but also provides employers with a substantial tax credit—up to $9,600 per new hire.

Baumgartner explained that Home Depot sees a substantial amount of tax credits as a result of their veteran hiring program which hires tens of thousands of veterans.