The Science of Recruiting, Hiring, and Training
Veterans for the Civilian Workforce
Lorin Mueller
Dan J. Putka
Kristin N. Saboe
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Applying I-O Science to Support the
Transitioning of Veterans to Civilian Work
Dan J. Putka
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Overview
• Putting the value of I-O in context
• Transitioning veterans to civilian work
• Takeaways
People are Critical
• The goal of any organization is to achieve its
mission – its purpose
• Missions are achieved through people
• People aim to find work that is satisfying and
meets their needs
Successful Organizations
Effective human capital management (HCM)
policies, procedures, and systems are required
These processes allow organizations to retain a
high performing, satisfied workforce
I-O Scientific Expertise
For nearly a century, I-O psychologists have been
conducting research on how best to recruit, hire,
train, manage, and retain a workforce
I-O provides the science behind these processes
I-O Expertise in Practice
I-O psychologists also help design, implement,
and improve these processes in practice
I-O psychologists can be found in in most large
private-sector organizations, and large civilian and
military agencies
Transitioning of Veterans
Labor Sources
Schools
Civilian Jobs
Veterans
Civilian “On-Boarding”
Challenge
1. Difficulty in understanding how military skills and
experience translate to civilian jobs
• Issue for veterans and organizations
• Hundreds of military specialties, 1000+ of civilian occupations
• Lack of direct analogues for several high density military
specialties (e.g., 11B - Infantry)
How can I-O help?
1. Difficulty in understanding how military skills and
experience translate to civilian jobs
How can I-O help?
• Expertise on how jobs differ and their requirements
• Well-established methods for linking skills – tasks – jobs
• Ability to offer a common “job” language grounded in science
Challenge
2. Measuring characteristics of veterans and jobs, and
evaluating their “fit” requires specialized expertise
• What is best to measure?
• How best to measure it?
• How best to evaluate fit?
How can I-O help?
2. Measuring characteristics of veterans and jobs, and
evaluating their “fit” requires specialized expertise
How can I-O help?
• I-Os have been studying “person-job fit" for decades
• Well-established frameworks and standards for describing
and validly measuring people and jobs
• Expertise with measuring all major influencers of fit, such as
aptitudes – knowledge/skills – work values – interests
Challenge
3. Veterans can face difficulty transitioning because
their skills and experience may not be immediately
transferable to civilian jobs
• Misfit and gaps happen
• How best to deal with those gaps and “re-tool”?
How can I-O help?
3. Veterans can face difficulty transitioning because
their skills and experience may not be immediately
transferable to civilian jobs
How can I-O help?
• Deep understanding of “malleability” of individual differences
• Expertise in best closure of gaps (e.g., hiring vs. training issue)
• Expertise on design and evaluation of training interventions
• Expertise on classification of personnel across jobs
Takeaways
I-O psychology offers foundational, scientific and practical
expertise in areas critical to the transitioning of veterans:
• Helping organizations recruit, hire, train, manage, and retain a high
performing, satisfied workforce
• Helping veterans identify satisfying work that meets their needs
• Translating military skills and experience to civilian work
• Validly and reliably measuring veterans, jobs, and their match
• Helping veterans “re-tool” for civilian work
I-O Science in Practice:
Programs and Policies to Support Veterans’
Transitioning to Civilian Work
Kristin N. Saboe
Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Overview
• Veteran’s Transition Initiative: Pilot Program
• Program Assessment & After Action Review
• I-O as a multi-purpose tool
SIOP’s Veterans Transition Initiative
• Pilot Program began in 2011
• Mission: SIOP volunteers provide vocational
coaching to transitioning veterans
• Coaching and training focused on
- Cultural transition
- Career exploration
- Translating military experience into civilian verbiage
After Action Review
• Veterans are skeptical of assistance
- Crowded marketplace
- Military cultural disconnect
• Culturally, transitioning to the civilian workforce is akin to
working in a foreign country – translators needed
• Military timeline for separation does not parallel hiring in
a civilian job market
SIOP’s Veterans Transition Initiative 2.0
• Services for Veterans
- Modeled after pilot coaching program
- Focused on translating skills & interests
• Consult universities and corporations on veteran
transition issues and hiring
• Serve as SME’s on panels and committees
• Engage in public relations efforts
-
Organizational & Policy Insights
1. Veterans need assistance with translating unique
experiences into civilian applications and timely
assistance that coincides with their motivation.
How can I-O help?
• Expertise in conducting job analyses and identifying KSAOs
• Serving as inter-organizational translators
• Appreciation for the benefits of individual differences
Organizational & Policy Insights
2. The cultural transition is akin to starting a new job
on foreign soil
How can I-O help?
• Consultants on cultural change and employee transition
• Authors of employee onboarding programs
• Experts in cultural and organizational culture and fit
Organizational & Policy Insights
3. The military assigns jobs; the civilian job market
requires job seeking and proactivity
How can I-O help?
• “Insider knowledge” of hiring practices and procedures
• Experts in employee motivation
• Authors of the largest occupational database, O*NET, amongst
other job aptitude assessments and benchmarking tools
Organizational & Policy Insights
• How do we know policy and programs are
effective?
- I-Os are experts in measurement and psychometrics
• I-Os serve as an internal audit mechanism that
seeks to promote employee’s health, well-being,
and productivity
Questions?
Lorin Mueller - LMueller@aon.fsbpt.org
Dan J. Putka - dputka@humrro.org
Kristin N. Saboe - kristin.saboe@gmail.com
http://www.siop.org/