Newsroom

Research

Original analysis on how military experience translates to civilian work — and where the labor market still gets it wrong.

Research Brief

Semper Forward

The Missing Major

There is no front-line supervisor major, no supervisory licensure board, and no national pipeline that returns a trained supervisor after four years. Employers fill roughly 1.6 million of these roles a year by promoting their best individual contributor, and about 60% of those first-time managers underperform or fail within 24 months. A supply of formally trained front-line leaders does exist: roughly 100,000 return to civilian work from the armed forces every year, and the federal government's own occupational matching identifies civilian first-line-supervisor roles as their top fit. This paper sets out why the arbitrage stays open, and why it closes through people rather than software.

Read the summary

Research Brief

Semper Forward

Build the Apprenticeship, Win the Veteran

An employer can attach a federally funded, tax-free monthly payment to an open role at no cost to payroll. The Department of Veterans Affairs pays it directly to the apprentice, it comes to roughly $42,000 across a two-year apprenticeship at the national-average rate, and a competing employer can only match it out of their own pocket. Federal and state programs offset part of what it costs to train them, and expanding apprenticeship is current national policy with money behind it. Almost none of this is being claimed: by the Urban Institute's count, 1% of GI Bill education benefits go to apprenticeship and on-the-job training. This brief argues the constraint is the supply of approved programs, because clearing the two federal approvals means dealing with two different bodies with nearly the same name in every state where apprentices train. This brief covers the money, the obstacle, and what it takes to get on the right side of both.

Read the summary

Research Brief

Semper Forward

The Combat-Arms Discount

Veterans who did the hardest jobs in the military — infantry, combat engineers, artillery — start civilian life earning about $33,000 a year, the bottom of every Defense Department occupational group. Not because they are worth less, but because civilian hiring systems cannot read what their record proves. This brief measures the distance between that placement and the skilled, licensed, and supervisory work a combat-arms record already qualifies for, and argues that the shortage employers cannot fill and the talent they overlook are the same story.

Read the summary

Connect to your next mission — and your next hire.

One national network, two missions. Whether you're transitioning out of service or building a veteran-ready workforce, we're your partner for the mission ahead.

I'm Transitioning I'm Hiring