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Updated 08/14/2012 05:00 AM

Money Matters: Military veterans welcome as new hires in many companies

Companies across the country are actively recruiting former military members into their ranks. YNN's Money Matters reporter Tara Lynn Wagner filed the following report.

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Plenty of companies want to hire former servicemen and servicewomen. In fact, many companies have created programs specifically dedicated to recruiting members of the military.

"It's a profit driver. You're talking about folks with skilled backgrounds that are used to switching jobs and retooling," said G.I. Jobs Director Sean Collins.

Among them is Verizon, which currently employs some 12,000 veterans nationwide.

"They can take basically take what they've learned in the military -- working with a team, independently -- and they bring that to the business and adapt," says Evan Guzman of Strategic Talent Acquisitions in Verizon.

Guzman, who helms the company's military recruiting program, says what other employers may not realize is that a vast majority of military jobs have a direct civilian counterpart.

"So when they are coming into your business, whether in finance, logistics, supply, IT and engineering, they have the skill sets, they've been trained and they've been vetted," said Guzman.

For veterans, the key to successfully bridging that communication gap is to craft a resume with experiences and skills a civilian employer will understand.

"Like leading diverse teams of people, like rapid decision-making and a large amount of accountability at a young age, those are skills to leverage for your job search," said Collins.

The government is also invested in making sure veterans successfully transition into civilian jobs. They offer companies a tax credit of up to $5,600 for hiring a veteran, or up to $9,600 for hiring a veteran with a service-related disability.

While such tax credits are a nice incentive, for companies they are hardly the main motivator.

"They are staffing and funding these veteran hiring programs not out of charity, but because they know that it is a strategic advantage that is going to help their company to grow," said Collins.

"All it takes is hiring a few vets, spending the day with them and learning a little bit about them and you realize, man, we've got some quality folks here," said Guzman.

For a list of military-friendly companies, visit www.gijobs.com.