Dive Brief:

• While the unemployment rates of veterans aged 18-25 continue to trend above national rates, most employers are “actively committed” to recruiting and hiring veterans. 38% of employers are actively recruiting veterans over the next year, up from 33% in 2014 and 27% in 2013, according to CareerBuilder.
• But veterans are considerably less content with their jobs than last year. Nearly a third (31%) are underemployed, up from 23% last year. Last year, 67% of veterans were satisfied with their jobs, while only 65% are satisfied this year.
• The top three positions hiring veterans include customer service (38%), information technology (32%) and sales (31%).

Dive Insight:

Employers are taking note as veterans start to step out and test the job market. About 47% of employers say they “pay more attention to the applications submitted by veterans” and would be more likely to hire a veteran if a veteran was competing with an equally qualified non-veteran for the same position. Employers tend to praise veterans disciplined approach to work, ability to work as a team and ability to perform under pressure.

"Over the past few years companies have focused heavily on marketing their veteran hiring initiatives, which was necessary and has paid off," said Rosemary Haefner, chief human resource officer at CareerBuilder. "But employers may still not understand the skills veterans had in the military, which may land them in positions that don't use all their skills and not get them the higher salary levels that they deserve.”