Military Veteran Hirings In India

Imagine the kind of challenge a toddler feels on the first day of kindergarten. For him or her, it's a completely new environment away from the comfort zone. There is resistance to the sudden change, an element of homesickness coupled with a heightened sense of curiosity in the mind of the child. In the words of Major Sharad Kapoor, the challenge is no different when a military veteran transitions to a job in the corporate world. 

But Life in the army prepares a person to face death. This requires the highest standards of physical and mental training. The rigours of the training come with unmatched peer group support and the best kind of perks on the job. 

In recent years, thousands of ex-army men are taking the route after retiring from service. The incentive of a challenging and rewarding career comes with expectations. Expectations in terms of similar perks and disciplined work culture.

On the other side of the spectrum, it is a win-win situation for HR managers looking to hire mid-to-level professionals.  Ask any HR manager or recruiter and he will tell you how difficult it is to find prospective employees with the right work ethos and industrious attitude. Life in the army prepares an individual with over hundred-character traits and life skills. Any HR manager would trade traits of sincerity, organisational skills and immaculate problem-solving ability for 100 per cent skills for the job. Experts believe that job skills are teachable, but elements of integrity and honesty are not as easy to find. Army veterans, by default, get prepared in the right milieu for acing their corporate roles when they get the opportunity.

While corporates have welcomed army veterans in the hiring scheme of things, being conscious of including them in D&I ethos and policies still has some ground to cover. 

From a diversity and inclusivity standpoint, Army veterans come after women and the LGBT community in the D&I queue. There is still some time to go for corporates to realise the inevitable prerogative. 

Well, military veteran hiring in India inc. is witnessing a positive curve; it is only a matter of time when the other aspects of veteran hirings become ingrained in the organisational ethos and policy framework. After all, the discipline, adaptability and integrity that come with hiring an army veteran are second to none. 

Watch Major General Sharad Kapur, YSM, SM, Director General, Resettlement; Sonika Aron, Managing Partner, Marching Sheep; Tarun Vohra, Tarun Vohra, Senior Operations Manager Amazon; and Parv Kaushik, Program Manager, Amazon Global Military Affairs & Indian Navy Veteran; talk about facets of military veteran hiring in India at the BW People HR Excellence Summit on the link below.