It takes two to hire well: Making military hiring work for employers and job seekers

The sharing of non-VA information does not constitute an endorsement of products or services by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Veterans should always verify information with the organization offering the program.

Recent reports show that Veterans face high underemployment and military spouses face high unemployment. On the other side of these employment challenges are well-intentioned employers who struggle with time, tools and translation to fit military experience and skills to job requirements.

A practical approach

Bridge My Return (BMR) is a military-only platform designed to reduce friction for both sides:

• Skills translation that fits real jobs. 
  • BMR maps military experience to civilian skills (technical, trade, software and professional) so recruiters see relevant matches instead of generic resumes.
• Shortlists fast.
  • An AI-assisted matcher considers skills, minimum education, location preference and other factors to produce a focused shortlist for each job. Recruiters can adjust, filter and review. AI supports decisions; it doesn’t replace them.
• Little to no manual work. 
  • Job imports and application fields can be auto-populated from job descriptions to keep listings fresh without manual effort. (For HR readers: integrates with common Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS.)
• Flexible implementation. 
  • Employers and nonprofits can integrate BMR into existing career pages and workflows.

Why this matters to employers

Time-pressed HR teams tell us their top barriers are: (1) translating military experience, (2) finding qualified candidates quickly and (3) keeping requirements fresh across platforms. BMR aims to help by:

• Reducing screening time with skill-based shortlists.
• Improving match quality to support retention.
• Automating repetitive posting tasks.

Once a job is published on the platform, employers see a rank-order of matched candidates instantly. Jobseekers see rank-ordered matched jobs once their profile is complete.

Example: Thermo Fisher Scientific experienced faster and more accurate matching, reduced time-to-hire and better initial individual performance using BMR’s software. One story: A former Navy Petty Officer with no manufacturing experience landed a manufacturing team lead position because of what he brought to the table (leadership, critical thinking, problem-solving, communication) even though he hadn’t ever sat in the chair. Already, he is a top performer in their Southern California plant and is even leading their local Veteran Resource Group.

What employers can do this week

1. Identify five roles that benefit from skill translation (e.g., techs, sales, logistics, operations).
2. Enable job feed/integration or upload those roles to BMR.
3. Review BMR’s shortlists and interview the top three candidates per role.
4. Track two metrics: time-to-interview and 90-day retention.

What job seekers can expect

• Free registration and a profile that highlights your skills, with no guesswork on keywords.
• Matches you can act on based on where you want to live and work, all with military-ready employers.
• Auto-generated resume with a completed BMR profile (can be used outside the platform, too).
• Ongoing support from a community focused on military-connected talent.

Cost

BMR is free for military job seekers. Employers pay a tiered subscription fee for unlimited hires. For employers, nonprofits or government agencies with sufficient amounts of jobs and job applicants, BMR can create a customized, branded, white-label solution of the software.

Get started

Employers: Learn how to partner with Bridge My Return. 

Job seekers: Join Bridge My Return (free). 

About Bridge My Return

If we can make the employer’s life easier, we will make the Veteran’s life better.