America’s Largest Human Resources Organization Joining Forces to Hire Veterans and Military Spouses

When the creation of Joining Forces was officially announced last year by the First Lady and Dr. Biden, seated right behind them in the White House were representatives of several organizations that had already taken the step forward to support our veterans and military families.

This is a fitting time to salute one of those groups, the Society for Human Resource Management, or SHRM. Not only is SHRM having its annual conference in Atlanta right now, but the opening ceremonies of that meeting includes a renewed commitment to the career transition needs of military service members and their families.

We talk often here about forward-thinking employers making special efforts to encourage and support the transition of service members and their spouses back into the civilian workforce. And its members of SHRM who are doing the work to actually get our veterans hired.

A year ago, at SHRM’s annual conference in Las Vegas, CEO Hank Jackson told attendees that the society had renewed its signed commitment to the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve. Mr. Jackson said 50 percent of SHRM’s local chapters and state councils had done the same, and he gently suggested, “It would be great if that number was doubled by the time we meet next year in Atlanta.”

Right now, he is telling the 13,000 members assembled in Atlanta, “You did it!” The more than 630 SHRM chapters and councils have all signed the statement of support.

Thanks to SHRM and its more than 260,000 members, thousands of HR specialists are ready to accommodate military-connected job applicants and enable companies across the country to to take advantage of the admirable traits these devoted new employees bring to the table.

Plus, SHRM has just distributed to its members a 29-page toolkit called, “Support from Behind the Lines: 10 Steps to Becoming a Military-Ready Employer.” It explains how to effectively recruit, assimilate and support military-connected talent in the workforce.

We were pleased to have Hank Jackson onstage with us at our announcement last year, and we’re happy to report that the SHRM is continuing to join forces for America’s veterans.