The Table: Look at veterans’ work skills, not military job description

Veterans should be prepared to articulate to employers the skills that the military has provided

November 4, 2020

When active duty members are preparing to separate from the military, how do they articulate to employers the skills they’ve learned while serving? And if they are lacking a skill, where do they turn to get that credential? These issues are particularly critical as the country continues to deal with the changing employment landscape resulting from COVID-19.

To help veterans navigate the return to the civilian workforce, WorkingNation gathered business and education leaders to discuss workforce challenges and some solutions. The result is The Table: Veterans and Work, a roundtable conversation moderated by journalist and CNBC contributor Ron Insana, and taped before a live audience at Howard University in Washington, D.C. in November 2019.

In this second of four episodes, we examine the issue of translating military skills into the civilian workforce.

Employers Should Take Skills into Account

Brandon Busteed, president, University Partners & Global Head, Learn-Work Innovation at Kaplan, said there are opportunities for those without a college degree. He said, “There are a lot of nonprofit, for-profit, and even universities getting into the credentialing space.”

Patrick McKenna is the founder of HighRidge Ventures and an Army veteran. He said there are jobs for people who come from non-traditional backgrounds. “There’s a trend—particularly in tech hiring—that is positive and that is the use of skills-based interviewing.”

“HR needs to be able to recognize the skills-adjacent angle,” said Fernando Snowden-Lorence, VP of Corporate Responsibility, JPMorgan Chase and a Marine veteran.

Employers Should Post Better Job Descriptions

The panelists agreed that employers need to be better at describing the jobs for which they’re hiring. James Banks, General Counsel, Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM), is an Army veteran. He said, “Does the job description really fit what the job does and what you need it to do?”

“Our job descriptions need to be military-friendly,” said Carol Eggert, SVP of Military and Veteran Affairs, Comcast NBCUniversal, and an Army Brigadier General (Ret.) Eggert said small-to medium size companies need help to become more attuned to veteran hiring.

Busteed added that a liberal arts degree is still valued by employers, as it comes with skills in critical thinking and communication. But he also noted a hard skillset—like a cybersecurity designation—is sought after by employers. Busteed said, “With that in mind, a military veteran with a liberal arts degree is a homerun.”

Also among the panelists was Stuart Ruffin, Director of Operations, North Carolina for Military Employment (NC4ME).

You can watch all four episodes, and see all our Veterans and Work stories here on WorkingNation.com.

The Table: Veterans and Work was made possible by the generous financial support of JPMorgan Chase, Comcast NBCUniversal, and the Clint Eastwood Family Foundation.

A former hospital becomes an engine for community workforce development

Broward College student pilot in flight simulator with instructor

Wanted: A new generation of pilots

WorkingNation Hispanic Communities Digital Magazine

Hispanic Communities – Powering a New American Economy

A careers initiative aims to give underserved communities in South Florida jobs in the financial sector

Get the latest from WorkingNation

Our Mission

Dana Beth Ardi

Executive Committee

Dana Beth Ardi, PhD, Executive Committee, is a thought leader and expert in the fields of executive search, talent management, organizational design, assessment, leadership and coaching. As an innovator in the human capital movement, Ardi creates enhanced value in companies by matching the most sought after talent with the best opportunities. Ardi coaches boards and investors on the art and science of building high caliber management teams. She provides them with the necessary skills to seek out and attract top-level management, to design the ideal organizational architectures and to deploy people against strategy. Ardi unearths the way a business works and the most effective way for people to work in them.

Ardi is an experienced business executive and senior consultant who leverages business organizational transformation through talent strategies. She uses her knowledge and experience to develop talent strategies to enhance revenue and profit contributions. She has a deep expertise in change management and organizational effectiveness and has designed and built high performance cultures. Ardi has significant experience in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, IPO’s and turnarounds.

Ardi is an expert on the multi-generational workforce. She understands the four intersecting generations of workers coming together in contemporary companies, each with their own mindsets, leadership and communications styles, values and motivations. Ardi is sought after to assist companies manage and thrive by bringing the generations together. Her book, Fall of the Alphas: How Beta Leaders Win Through Connection, Collaboration and Influence, will be published by St. Martin’s Press. The book reflects Ardi’s deep expertise in understanding organizations and our changing society. It focuses on building a winning culture, how companies must grow and evolve, and how talent influences and shapes communities of work. This is what she has coined “Corporate Anthropology.” It is a playbook on how modern companies must meet challenges – culturally, globally, digitally, across genders and generations.

Ardi is currently the Managing Director and Founder of Corporate Anthropology Advisors, LLC, a consulting company that provides human capital advisory and innovative solutions to companies building value through people. Corporate Anthropology works with organizations, their cultures, the way they grow and develop, and the people who are responsible for forming their communities of work.

Prior to her position at Corporate Anthropology Advisors, Ardi served as a Partner/Managing Director at the private equity firms CCMP Capital and JPMorgan Partners. She was a partner at Flatiron Partners, a venture capital firm working with early state companies where she pioneered the human capital role within an investment portfolio.

Ardi holds a BS from the State University of New York at Buffalo as well as a Masters degree and PhD from Boston College. She started her career as professor at the Graduate Center at Fordham University in New York.