6 Essential Tips to Hire Veterans

Maybe you have an open position or two at your restaurant, and you’re ready to consider

veteran candidates for the role. However, many food-service employers don’t know how to go

about hiring veterans. The following guide from TipHaus can help you with finding candidates,

interviewing, and more!

Why Hire Veterans?

Employers do not always recognize all the qualities that veterans bring to the food-service

industry. But because of the skills they master during their military service, veterans are

naturally great candidates for certain jobs in fields like law enforcement, skilled trades, logistics,

and even customer service. Many veterans have experience in technical, medical, or security

professions, and some are also adept at managing or working with large teams.

Legal Considerations

You might be ready to start seeking veteran candidates for your open role, but first, it’s

important to familiarize yourself with the legal considerations around hiring veterans. Fleet

Maintenance states that in some states, you cannot show preference to veterans in the hiring

process. Furthermore, you will also need to avoid age discrimination and be willing to make

reasonable accommodations for candidates with disabilities. If you approach the process

correctly, your business might qualify for certain perks, like tax breaks through the Work

Opportunity Tax Credit.

Establish Your Payroll System

Before you even start looking for veteran candidates, you need to set up your payroll system.

Using a service to allow direct deposit with payroll will enable you to easily pay your employees

when you want without delay. Plus, a system like this can eliminate potential issues with last-

minute adjustments or reissuing misplaced paper checks. To implement the direct deposit

function, you just need to input your employees’ hours and choose your payroll schedule —

your employees will receive payments in their bank accounts on the same day.

In addition to lining up your payroll system, it’s also important to have a system in place for tip

distribution. Software like TipHaus provides an easy-to-use tip tracking system that can save

you countless hours and headaches. TipHaus also integrates with your POS, and it even

provides an employee app so your staff has a clear picture of take-home and tips.

Recruitment Strategy

To recruit veterans, you might need to think outside the box. In addition to sharing a job posting

on job hunting websites, consider attending job fairs and career gatherings specifically for

veterans. You may also want to advertise at local colleges and reach out to veteran community

organizations.

Interview Process

Perhaps you’ve received several promising applications from veterans, and you’re about to start

scheduling interviews. But you may not know which questions to ask while interviewing

someone who may have never worked at a civilian job before.

It’s important to spend some additional time preparing a comprehensive list of questions in

advance. For instance, you can ask veteran candidates about the training and education that

they completed during their service, whether or not they supervised other people, or if they

gained any management experience. Be advised that you should not ask them about what kind

of discharge they received or their experiences in combat.

Providing Support

Many veterans find it challenging to transition back into a civilian job. Even a veteran with a wide

range of relevant professional skills and a strong work ethic may need some time to adjust to

this new environment. To support your new veteran hires, you can provide additional guidance

on which responsibilities and tasks to prioritize, encourage them to share creative ideas in

meetings, and demonstrate how to communicate effectively in the workplace. If you have

several veterans on your team, you may want to set up an employee resource group to give

them a space to connect and learn from each other.

Veteran employees can be an asset to your restaurant business. And the process for hiring

veterans does not have to be confusing! With these tips, you’ll be prepared to bring veteran

hires on board with your team.