VETERANS WORKING GROUP

The Veterans Working Group supports veteran-friendly employers who implement best practices in veteran recruitment, hiring, and retention.

Veterans returning to Illinois bring tremendous strengths and skills to potential employers, but some face significant challenges in moving from military to civilian employment. As the region’s largest employers, no one is better positioned than Commercial Club members to recruit new employees from this pool of talented and dedicated men and women.

In the summer of 2013, more than fifty companies with strong commitments to veteran employment, including many Commercial Club member organizations, came together to form the Veterans Working Group under the leadership of Chair David Hiller, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.

The Veterans Working Group’s mission is to work with Commercial Club members to help them become veteran-friendly employers who implement best practices in veteran recruitment, hiring, and retention. We pursue our mission through the efforts of our Veterans Working Group members and by providing numerous resources to employers across the state who are looking to implement and enhance their veteran employment practices. We have continued to meet regularly since our founding.

The Veterans Working Group has also established its first Key Benchmark for employers seeking to have exemplary practices.

Key Benchmark #1: Join the Illinois Hires Heroes Consortium (IHHC) and adopt the IHHC best practices for recruiting, human resource training, and veteran retention.