Forming partnerships to promote veteran employment

Collaboration can bolster your efforts in supporting veteran employment. Forming partnerships with other organisations, including veteran employers and veteran support organisations, is an effective way to enhance and promote your veteran employment initiatives. 

Joining the Veteran Employment Commitment (VEC) not only demonstrates your organisations commitment to veteran employment, it also allows you to work with others to establish best practices for veteran employment across Australia.

Build your networks and collaborate

Ways in which your organisation can build your networks and collaborate with other like-minded organisations may include engaging with veteran employers, veteran support organisations and veteran-related procurement.

Veteran employers

A wide variety of organisations have developed expertise in veteran employment. Partnerships with other employers means you can benefit from:

• sharing knowledge and experience related to veteran employment
• sharing resources and the workload involved in developing and running veteran employment initiatives
• increased exposure for your initiatives.

You might start by reaching out to a like-minded employer. This may lead to a formal partnership, involving regular scheduled meetings, or a more ad hoc informal partnership. 

Your partnership may focus on:

• sharing insights, expertise and resources
• co-producing initiatives 
• co-hosting events, such as job fairs, careers seminars or professional networking events
• referring veteran job applicants who might be a better fit for another organisation.

Connect with organisations that have joined the VEC

Organisations that join the VEC become part of a wide and diverse network of employers who support veteran employment. Connecting with these employers can help to build a community where employers support each other in promoting veteran employment.

Mentor other organisations

Experienced veteran employers are well-placed to mentor organisations that are just getting started in veteran employment. Your expertise can help others establish their own veteran employment initiatives. You can mentor others based on your knowledge of working with veterans.

You can mentor other organisations by:

• sharing challenges, successes and lessons learned
• supporting them to connect with and learn from your experienced staff
• providing resources, templates or guides used to develop and run your veteran initiatives

Veteran support organisations

Veteran support organisations are groups dedicated to assisting veterans of the ADF. Partnering with veteran support organisations allows you to benefit from their expert knowledge and experience. These partnerships can help make your veteran initiatives more targeted and effective. 

You can partner with veteran support organisations by:

• Participating in veteran employment initiatives or events
• Developing joint initiatives
• Participating in volunteering or pro-bono work
• Learning from them to expand your understanding of the veteran experience
• Sponsoring, donating or becoming a patron

You can find a directory of ex-service organisations here, and the Department of Defence also provides a list of veteran support organisations here.

Veteran-related procurement

Purchasing goods and services from veteran-owned businesses is a practical way to support veteran employment outside of your organisation. To do this, you can seek to prioritise veteran-owned businesses when purchasing goods and services for your organisation, where possible.

Supporting veteran-related procurement can:

• support underrepresented veteran entrepreneurs and small businesses 
• build your organisation’s reputation as a supporter of veterans in the community
• expand your networks within veteran circles. 

To identify veteran-owned businesses, you can search for veteran-owned VEC member organisations or search via the non-profit organisation Australian Veteran Owned Business. Equally, many businesses proudly self-identify as veteran-owned.