Best for Vets: Verizon is the No. 1 Ranked Employer for Military Veterans

Verizon is known for being the best at many things – the best wireless network quality and reliability, and the best Internet service provider are perhaps what we are most well known for. But there’s a new category that Verizon is now the best at, and that’s hiring military veterans and service members.

The Military Times Best for Vets: Employers 2015 rankings are now out, and for the first time Verizon is the No. 1 company on the list. Other top companies are USAA, Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems.

While many companies promote hiring veterans as the right thing to do, that’s not what made Verizon the top military recruiter. We hire veterans because their leadership and skill sets make us a much better company.

Verizon’s leadership has noticed, too. “Whenever we refer a veteran or service member job candidate, the most common reaction we get from the hiring manager is, “Send me more,” says Evan Guzman, Verizon’s head of military programs. “There’s rarely a position within the military that we can’t find a place for in Verizon.”

More specifically, 85 percent of military jobs have a direct civilian counterpart at Verizon. And the veterans we’ve hired have had such a positive impact that we increased our number of such hires by 90 percent from 2013 to 2014. Verizon hired nearly 2,000 veterans last year and now employs nearly 13,000.

Verizon uses all possible outlets to engage, recruit and hire veteran and service members. Our dedicated military recruitment team of seven full-time employees, including veterans from each branch of service as well as a military spouse, works year round on this mission.

Last year, team members attended more than 200 military job fairs and participated in 15 virtual recruitment fairs. For veterans not sure where they would fit in at Verizon, our career website has a Military Skills Matcher that identifies job openings that coincide with the candidate’s military experience.

We also believe that military spouses serve their country as well, and Verizon offers career opportunities for them that help balance the work/life challenges that come with deployments and relocations.

Once hired at Verizon, veterans benefit from an active network of service members to help them adjust from military to civilian life. Our employee resource group, the Veterans Advisory Board), also provides mentoring and other opportunities to further engage with the Verizon community.

Veteran and service member job seekers can search all career opportunities at Verizon and use the Military Skills Matcher at http://www.verizon.com/about/careers/.