The Society for Human Resource Management Toolkit Helps Make Hiring Practices “Military Ready”

News Release – Corporate Connection

The Society for Human Resource Management Toolkit Helps Make Hiring Practices “Military Ready”
April 30, 2012

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) has published a toolkit that can help companies learn what they need to know to make their hiring practices military friendly. The toolkit, Support from Behind the Lines: 10 Steps to Becoming a Military-Ready Employer, written by Sherrill A. Curtis, SPHR, principal and creative director for Curtis Consulting Group, a New Jersey-based HR consulting practice, guides HR professionals and business leaders in how to source, assimilate and support military-connected talent – veterans, guard, reservists and their supporting family members – effectively in the workplace. It describes how to assess an organization’s culture and resources related to military-connected employees and how to develop initiatives that will fulfill the organizations needs best.

The toolkit outlines 10 steps employers can take to make their hiring practices military ready, the first of which are to understand the issues and challenges that this population faces and to build a business case for hiring these highly-skilled professionals. Curtis writes that programs with the continuing support of so-called executive “champions” are most likely to gain traction, including gaining necessary time, talent, budget, equipment and space. Other useful steps expounded on in the toolkit:

Develop a vision and program concept.

Conduct a culture and needs assessment.

Establish program elements across the employment life cycle that incorporates flexibility strategies.