Service to Skills

When service members leave the military, they take with them a wealth of leadership, technical, and problem-solving experience. Yet, too often, employers overlook those skills.

According to the Veterans Metrics Initiative, nearly 60 percent of US military veterans report being underemployed in civilian life, finding themselves in roles that underutilize their training and potential. For organizations that prize skilled, motivated employees, that represents both a missed opportunity and a challenge.

Penn State's Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness is addressing the gap head-on with a new, Walmart Foundation–funded study focusing on evaluating whether skills-based training and digital credentials can improve career outcomes for military veterans. The three-year project will assess the effectiveness of skills-based training and digital credentialing programs that Hire Heroes USA and the Manufacturing Institute offer.

The Walmart Foundation awarded Clearinghouse a $500,000 grant to carry out the project.

The program's approach is noteworthy for starting with an evaluability assessment, ensuring that the Hire Heroes USA and the Manufacturing Institute programs have the data, structure, and delivery models necessary for a meaningful outcome evaluation. That level of rigor sets the stage for reliable evidence on what works.

By converting military experience into verifiable digital credentials that employers can easily recognize, veterans are better able to communicate their skills in a language that hiring managers understand. That enables veterans to effortlessly translate their military expertise into civilian terms. Project researchers hope that digital credentials will offer a scalable model for validating employee capabilities, supporting internal mobility, and aligning talent pipelines with business needs.

Equally important is the project's commitment to dissemination. The Clearinghouse for Military Family Readiness intends to share its findings in Washington, DC, to engage lawmakers in discussions about workforce-related policies. The project aligns with the Clearinghouse's mission, VETeran Evaluation and Research Applications Network, to help veterans and their families successfully transition to civilian life. VETERANetwork also connects funders and researchers to post-9/11 veterans who need such support.