Part of growing any company is finding and hiring the right people. When you have a group of people that work well as a team and understand their goal, anything is possible. While individual contributions are important, any good company understands that the team and their goal is more important than any individual.

It can be difficult to search for this teamwork skill when attempting to sort through multiple resumes for a position. Often I will see younger applicants with so many years at this college, clubs, internships, etc on their resumes; whereas folks who are a few years removed from school will have expanded upon their college/school years with some individual achievements while working at this company or that company. While all of that is great and will give us something to talk about during an interview I’m still left thinking about how this person will fit in with the team they are looking to work with. It can sometimes be a gamble to hire people on resumes and references alone. While some are brilliant and great individual contributors they may not fit in well on a team. On the opposite end of the spectrum, you may end up with someone that needs to be pulled along and does not live up to their resume.

Looking back on past hires at intlx Solutions we have been very lucky to have found some amazing people. Some of our employees are veterans of the US Armed Forces and this post is dedicated to them.

The veterans on my team are some of the most selfless, hard-working and dedicated people you will ever meet. When you see someone who served in the armed forces apply for a position give that person serious consideration for the position they are applying for. The sense of team, mission, and selflessness they learn while serving is exactly what you want if you are building a great team. You can count on these folks to show up every day and be more concerned with how their contribution can help the company than they are with any personal achievement. I have so many examples of this selfless behavior and dedication to our company mission of great customer service that it is easy to take it for granted.

The impact veterans have on other employees is a benefit as well. You will see their dedication and pride in their work rub off on your employees who did not have the fortune to serve in the armed forces. Other employees will see the willingness of veterans to perform any task to accomplish the goal, you rarely ever hear “that task is beneath me”, or “not my job”.

A final note from a fortunate business owner

• look at a veteran’s resume as a person you can plug into your company tomorrow not 3 months from now.
• look at their resume as a person who can hit the ground running and not have to be told twice what to do.
• look at their resume as a person who is both deserving and worthy of your consideration.