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The Value Of a Veteran

Monthly Archives: June 2014

Why Starbucks’ offer of tuition reimbursement will significantly improve veteran and military spouse recruiting

16 Monday Jun 2014

Posted by Lisa Rosser in Corporate, Employer Type, Franchise, Guard and Reserve, Higher Education, Military Spouses, Recruiting, Student Veterans

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

degree, military spouse, Post 9/11 GI Bill, Starbucks, student veterans, tuition reimbursement

Starbucks announced this morning that it will offer an incredibly generous tuition reimbursement plan for its partners (employees) who work an average of 20 or more hours per week in one of their more than 8,500 company operated stores.

Starbucks partnered with Arizona State University (ASU), which offers more than 40 undergraduate degree programs online including electrical engineering, global logistics management, health sciences, information technology, nursing, operations management, organizational leadership, software engineering, criminal justice and criminology and technological entrepreneurship and management.  Starbucks partners have no obligation to stay with Starbucks past graduation.

For eligible partners who are admitted to ASU as a junior or senior, Starbucks will provide full tuition reimbursement to allow them to complete their degrees.  Those admitted as freshman or sophomores will receive a partial tuition scholarship and need-based financial aid for two years of full time study.

Starbucks has broken the mold before when it comes to how they treat their employees.  Partners working an average of 20 or more hours per week receive access to a wide range of benefits that in most companies (and particularly, many retailers) would only be available to starbucks military coffee cupthose working full time (40 hours).  To add the tuition plan to the benefits package really changes the game when it comes to attracting and retaining quality people in general and veterans in particular.

Starbucks has a military veteran and military spouse recruiting program.  Last November it committed to hiring 10,000 veterans and military spouses over the next 5 years.  I think the addition of the tuition reimbursement benefit for degrees obtained through ASU could significantly boost their ability to attract transitioning military, veterans and military spouses for the following reasons:

  1. Many veterans who transition directly to college out of the military soon find out that the Post 9/11 GI Bill, while very generous, does not cover all of the non-study related expenses like housing, childcare and transportation.  So, many student veterans find that they need at least a part time job while in school to cover those additional expenses.  Starbucks’ tuition reimbursement program applies to employees who work an average of 20 hours a week, making this the perfect blend (pun intended) of hours committed to work and school.
  2. ASU is already considered to be a “military friendly” school in that it offers the Yellow Ribbon program, which covers the gap between in-state and out-of-state tuition, it has the Pat Tillman Veterans Center to support student veterans, and it offers the Tillman Military Scholars program which helps to cover other financial gaps experienced by student veterans (a non-traditional student body) such as housing and childcare expenses.  There are lots of colleges that offer online degrees, but not all are as supportive of the needs of their student veteran population, so Starbucks selected a perfect partner in ASU.
  3. The Post 9/11 GI Bill benefit is transferrable to military spouses or children, so if the veteran is hired by Starbucks and, through the ASU tuition reimbursement program, does not need to use their entire GI Bill benefit, they can transfer the unused portion to the spouse or child.  Double win for that military family!
  4. The Post 9/11 GI Bill benefit can be used for undergraduate or graduate programs.  So, if the veteran hired by Starbucks completes their undergraduate degree through the ASU tuition reimbursement program, they will have benefit left over to use toward a graduate degree later.

 

Since there are still too many employers that are less enthusiastic to hire veterans who do not have a bachelor’s degree, I wonder what those employers would be willing to do to fix that situation.  Starbucks’ program is not specifically for veterans, but because it exists it can significantly improve their ability to attract veterans and military spouses.  Are other employers willing to offer scholarships, internships, work/study arrangements to support student veterans and military spouses?

What do you think?  What challenges and benefits do you see with this model (in general) and its potential for veteran recruiting specifically?  Post your comments below!

Why the Zappos recruiting strategy could work brilliantly for hiring transitioning military

02 Monday Jun 2014

Posted by Lisa Rosser in Corporate, Employer Type, Recruiting

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

job postings, pipeline, recruiting, talent acquisition, transitioning military, veteran, zappos

Jaws dropped in the talent acquisition community last week when when Zappos announced that it was doing away with job postings.  Moving away from the traditional “post and pray” model, which generally results in an overwhelming number of applicants which makes it hard for amazing candidates to stand out, Zappos has created an “Insiders” group.  People interested in working for Zappos can join the group, which will allow them to engage directly with Zappos employees and respond to digital Q&A’s and contests which are designed to screen for cultural fit.

I think this model could work brilliantly for hiring transitioning military and veterans for the following reasons:

  1. Employers will learn far more about a veteran’s skills, capabilities and potential by actually talking to them and asking questions versus expecting the resume to tell the story
  2. The veteran will not be discouraged from applying by the jargon and industry-speak typically found in traditional job postings
  3. Transitioning military begin exploring civilian career opportunities far in advance of their service contract end date, making them ideal candidates to work within a pipeline recruiting model like this one
  4. Having tests for cultural fit and adaptability in advance of a hire will help dispel myths that veterans are rigid, command-and-control driven, un-creative and non-innovative
  5. Zappos is using software to sort those that apply for the Insiders group by skills and personal interests.  Presumably, software like that could help recruiters understand more quickly where an infantryman or a yeoman would fit within the organization since they have already identified the critical knowledge and applied skills required by position and the service member will indicate the knowledge and applied skills they have.

What do you think?  What challenges and benefits do you see with this model (in general) and it potential for veteran recruiting specifically?  Post your comments below!  Also, take a moment to vote on whether you like this recruiting model.

Recent Posts

  • What If We Held a Nationwide Veteran Job Fair and Nobody Came?
  • Military Suicide and Corporate Social Responsibility
  • Why Starbucks’ offer of tuition reimbursement will significantly improve veteran and military spouse recruiting
  • Why the Zappos recruiting strategy could work brilliantly for hiring transitioning military
  • New OFCCP FAQ’s and Changes Coming to VETS-100A Form

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