How Strategic Staffing Solutions Helps Military Veterans Kickstart Careers in Tech

Staffing a business or organization is no easy feat, which is why some companies look for outside help.

Strategic Staffing Solutions is a global consulting and business services corporation that provides staff augmentation, direct hire recruiting, workforce programs, and outsourced solutions. Also known as S3, their global industry expertise spans the energy and utility space, healthcare services, insurance, communications, and financial services.

On top of the services they provide, S3 is women-owned, with more than 3,600 direct consultants in 49 states and 22 countries. But what makes them truly unique is their veteran hiring initiative. 

What is the S3 hiring initiative? 

Founded in Detroit more than 30 years ago, veterans or veteran affiliates (spouses, children, dependants, and more) make up 59% of their employee base and 80% of their sourcing teams.

“We always joke about how at S3, the civilians are the minority,” said Monnisha Hawkins, operating director of talent at S3. 

As part of their initiative, S3 has specific recruiting teams assigned to search for individuals with military backgrounds. They frequent career fairs, participate in relevant networking events, and use tools such as Indeed, Hire Veterans, and Military Spouse Employment Partnership, to find candidates they feel will be a good fit at various companies.

“We work with individuals who we are considering for our customers,” said Monnisha. “We help them format their resumes, draft cover letters, and provide professional guidance and coaching.”

In providing service members with career-ready materials, S3 helps veterans transition into the working lives of civilians. The specific process varies on a case-by-case basis, but when service members reach out for assistance, S3 gets them started within five business days. As of 2021, S3 has placed veterans at companies in every U.S. state except one.

How and why does S3 help veterans? 

In addition to their desire to help veterans without industry experience enter or reenter the workforce, S3 focuses on military and military-affiliated candidates because of their high potential for success in the technology field. 

“They served our country, so it’s the right thing to do. Beyond that, military veterans and their spouses are agile,” said Monnisha. “They’re able to turn on a dime, adapt, and learn quickly. These individuals are highly structured, reliable, and easy to train. If they lack a particular hard skill, we’ll sell all of these soft skills, and then we’ll offer additional training to those candidates to get them up to speed.” 

To provide this support, S3 offers resources and training courses on platforms such as IBM and LinkedIn Learning, helping candidates gain an edge in areas they may be lacking. 

What is the broader S3 mission? 

In addition to the career support provided to individual veterans, S3 maintains a much larger vision for veteran hiring. The organization is a public leader in promoting the benefits of hiring veterans and their spouses; encouraging other staffing firms and businesses to do the same. 

As part of their public leadership role, S3 participates in a ton of veteran-focused events, appointing guest speakers to speak about their initiatives and communities. The organization frequently has booths at career fairs, regularly communicates through its social channels, and generally speaks to any large groups that will listen.

“It’s part of our core values as a diverse company, and that includes the military,” said Monnisha. “We’re all for hiring military candidates and communicating with our customers as much as we possibly can about the benefits of being career-ready, and using hiring resources like ours.”

Monnisha is a veteran herself, a former bomb tech who came to S3 with very little technology experience. Now a director, she learned a lot in a short period of time — and says there are countless cases similar to her own to come out of S3.

“I’m not a unique case. We hire individuals who join the industry with no experience, and we’re able to place them into exciting roles,” said Monnisha. “Success stories happen all the time at S3.”