LinkedIn and America’s veterans share a common ethos: instead of resting on our laurels, we’re always looking for the next challenge. As a company, we take a forward-looking approach to supporting the veteran community, continually seeking opportunities to invest in its great potential, and mobilizing our extended member community in support of veterans.
Honor Our Future – What’s Next?
Last year, LinkedIn challenged America to re-think the way we honor veterans, reorienting our focus from what veterans have done in the past, toward all they have yet to achieve. We’re proud to highlight the recent achievements of two veterans from our Honor Our Future campaign: Donte Burney successfully applied to, completed and was hired from LinkedIn’s REACH apprenticeship program; and Florent Groberg has been making a considerable impact on his community as Boeing’s Director of Veteran Outreach.
What You Can Do
One veteran recently said, “I know a lot of people who are in the military, I don’t know a lot of people who aren’t.” One of the best ways we can support veterans in pursuit of their next goal is to provide advice and mentorship in order to help them navigate the way forward in civilian life:
Join LinkedIn’s Veteran Mentor Network (VMN). The largest group of veterans assembled on LinkedIn, the Veteran Mentor Network is a place where veterans seek advice, resources and connections. More than 20,000 nonveterans are members of this group, and contribute by sharing their professional insights or helping veterans navigate their way in to their company.
Sign up as a Veterati mentor. Veterati is a powerful platform leveraging LinkedIn’s API, through which nonveterans can volunteer one hour increments of their time to mentor veterans via phone. Without exchanging contact information or haggling over calendars, this platform connects veterans with mentors with incredible ease. Even if you only sign up for one hour per year as your way of recognizing Veterans Day, you can truly make a difference in a veteran’s life.
Mentor a veteran for one year. American Corporate Partners takes a high-touch approach to connecting veterans with professional mentors. ACP’s team matches veterans and mentors on numerous dimensions of compatibility and professional goals for a one-year mentor/mentee relationship. While VMN and Veterati give you “quick hit” ways to impact many veterans, ACP will foster a deeper, longer-term relationship with one veteran at a time.
LinkedIn’s Veterans Program
Since 2011, LinkedIn has provided eligible veterans with one year of free access to our Premium subscription. Each year, we strive to go further in our support of this community:
LinkedIn Learning Paths. We recently launched more than 45 hours of training for veterans seeking transition from the military either to civilian employment or to higher education.
Veteran Insights Report. As in 2016, this year LinkedIn has produced a deep-dive study into our veteran member community. For 2017, we’ve examined the skills, roles and education that can make veterans stand out from the crowd and make them more likely to be approached by recruiters.
In-Person Events. Nearly 100 LinkedIn employees volunteered this year to coach veterans on how to optimize their use of LinkedIn through events in our offices and around the country, including three transition summits hosted by the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Hiring Our Heroes program at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Fort Carson, Colorado and Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington.
Please visit veterans.linkedin.com to learn more about LinkedIn’s efforts to support veterans as they pursue their next play.