As our Veteran Programs Manager, it's my job to take a hard look at where LinkedIn fits into the veteran support ecosystem. While career opportunities, learning on Lynda.com, and access to the Veterans Mentor Network are some benefits we already offer the veteran community, a much bigger role and opportunity for veterans within the Economic Graph remains.
We currently have 2 million+ self-identified U.S. military and veteran members on LinkedIn and this member base is growing at roughly 300,000 members annually. When we analyze how military and veteran members interact with the Economic Graph, some interesting data points begin to surface:
For example, military and veteran members have, on average, 14% more connections than non-veteran members, meaning the military and veteran community is arguably “out networking” non-vets.
Additionally, veteran and military members are very active within LinkedIn Groups, demonstrated by 55% more group views than non-veterans. This community is also following companies at rates 46% higher than non-veteran members. Simply put: U.S. military and veteran members are LinkedIn power users.
We're also beginning to use Economic Graph data to learn more about the veteran transition process. Sandeep Chalam from our data science team dug into related data and discovered that 56% of U.S. veteran members went back to school after service to get an education (of some form).
Additionally, we took a look at what industries had the greatest number of veteran members. Information Technology and Services was the most popular industry among our member base:
We will continue to analyze and track veteran career paths to more thoroughly understand trends and patterns within this data. This career data could also potentially provide predictive analysis for military members and transitioning veterans to inform their post-military professional decisions.
There are currently more than 25 million U.S. veterans and active service members, so while I know we have work to do, when I look at this data I see great progress. I’m proud to share all the ways LinkedIn supports veterans and excited to continue the conversation around helping veterans realize their potential. Please join me in sharing this with your network, tell your family and friends, and become part of the movement that will help U.S. veterans connect to opportunity.