You already have job reqs posted. People are applying. But veterans are not making it through, and you are not sure why. The role fits them on paper. Their skills line up. Yet the pipeline stays thin.

The problem is often the posting itself. Not the salary. Not the title. The words. Small phrases in a req can push qualified veterans away before they ever click apply. Most of these phrases are accidental. Nobody wrote them to exclude anyone.

This is an audit. You are not writing a new job description from scratch. You are taking the reqs you already have and finding the language that quietly costs you candidates. We will walk through what to look for, why it matters, and how to fix it. At the end you get a checklist you can run on every posting.

If you want the from-scratch version, read our guide on how to write a job description that attracts veterans. This piece is about fixing what is already live.

Why Does Your Job Req Language Matter So Much?

The veteran talent pool is competitive. In 2025 the unemployment rate for all veterans was 3.5 percent, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is a tight market. Good veteran candidates have options. They do not stay long on a posting that feels like it was not written for them.

Veterans also read reqs differently. Many come from a culture where words are precise and rules are followed. So a req that lists ten "must-haves" reads as ten hard gates. A civilian applicant might shrug and apply anyway. A veteran often will not. If the posting says it needs a degree, and they do not have one, they close the tab.

That is the trap. The language was meant to describe a nice-to-have. The veteran read it as a wall. You lost the candidate, and you never knew it happened.

Is Your Degree Requirement Doing Real Work?

The most common veteran-blocker is an arbitrary degree line. "Bachelor's degree required." It sits on most reqs out of habit. Often the work does not actually need it.

Many veterans built the exact skill the role needs while in uniform. A logistics NCO ran multimillion-dollar supply operations. A signals tech managed networks under pressure. They learned by doing, not in a classroom. A blanket degree screen sends all of that to the bottom of the stack.

There is a legal angle too. The EEOC has long held that a degree requirement can be unlawful if it screens out protected groups and is not job-related and consistent with business necessity. The standard goes back to the Griggs v. Duke Power case. The point for you is simple. A degree line you cannot defend is both a candidate problem and a risk.

Audit each degree line with one question. Does the work truly require this degree, or could equivalent experience do the job? If experience works, say so. Write "Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience." That one change opens the door to a huge group of veteran candidates.

For more on this, see our guide on skills-based hiring and dropping the degree screen. And if you worry about how to judge a veteran without a degree, we cover that in evaluating a veteran candidate with no civilian degree.

Does Your Req Demand "Civilian" Experience?

Watch for one sneaky phrase. "X years of civilian experience." Or "X years in a corporate environment." Or "industry experience required."

These phrases do real damage. A veteran with twelve years of leadership reads "5 years of corporate experience" and counts zero. Their time does not say "corporate." So they assume it does not count. They move on.

The fix is to describe the skill, not the setting. You do not need someone who worked at a company. You need someone who can lead a team, manage a budget, or run a process. Veterans did all of that. Just not at a company.

Rewrite the line to focus on what the person did. "5 plus years managing teams and budgets" counts military and civilian work the same way. Now the veteran sees their fit.

Is Your Req Full of Unexplained Jargon and Acronyms?

Every workplace has its own shorthand. Your req may be packed with it. Internal tool names. Industry acronyms. Process labels only your team knows.

A veteran reading your posting is already translating their own world into yours. Pile on a wall of unknown acronyms and you make that harder. The candidate cannot tell if they qualify. When people cannot tell, they do not apply.

Run your req through a plain-language check. Spell out every acronym on first use. Replace internal tool names with the function they serve. Say "project tracking software" instead of a brand name they may not recognize. You can name the tool, but explain what it does.

This is not about dumbing it down. It is about removing guesswork. A clear req lets a strong candidate see their fit fast. That is the whole goal.

Are Your "Must-Haves" Actually Must-Haves?

Look at your requirements list. Count the items marked "required." On most reqs, half of them are really nice-to-haves wearing a "required" label.

Research on job postings has shown for years that long must-have lists shrink the applicant pool. The effect hits veterans hard. They read rules literally. Ten required items means ten gates that must all be cleared. Miss one and a veteran often will not apply, even if they are a great fit on the other nine.

Split your list. Keep a short "required" section with only the true deal-breakers. Move everything else to "nice to have" or "preferred." Three or four real must-haves beat a list of ten. You will get more applicants, and the strong veterans will stay in the pool.

Does Your Req Use Age-Coded or Culture-Coded Words?

Some phrases signal a type of person, not a skill. "Digital native." "Recent grad." "High-energy, fast-paced startup vibe." "Work hard, play hard culture." These read as code.

"Digital native" suggests you want someone young. That can be an age-bias problem, and it pushes away mid-career veterans who are sharp with tech but did not grow up on it. "Recent grad" does the same. A veteran in their thirties or forties reads those words and assumes the role is not for them.

Culture-coded jargon causes its own trouble. "Crush it" and "rockstar ninja" mean nothing concrete. A veteran wants to know what the job is and who they report to. Vague hype language reads as noise. It does not tell them whether they fit.

Audit for these terms and swap them for plain description. Want someone comfortable with technology? Write "comfortable learning new software tools." Want energy? Describe the actual pace of the work. Say what you mean and the right people raise their hand.

Does Your Req Show You Welcome Veterans At All?

Here is what most reqs are missing. Nothing in them says a veteran is wanted. No skills translation. No note about supporting Guard and Reserve duty. No line that says veterans are welcome to apply.

A veteran reads dozens of postings. The ones that signal "we get you" stand out. You do not need a big program. You need a few honest signals.

Add a short line that names military experience as valued. Mention that you support Guard and Reserve service if you do. If your team has veterans, you can say so. These small touches tell a candidate they will not have to explain their background from scratch. That alone can move someone from "maybe" to "apply."

For more on this, our guide on why a military-friendly brand is not converting veterans digs into the gap between saying you welcome veterans and actually showing it.

How Do You Translate Military Skills In the Req?

Your req lists civilian terms. A veteran's resume often uses military terms. Somebody has to bridge the two. If your posting does no translation, the burden falls fully on the candidate.

You can help. When you list a skill, hint at the military equivalent. Looking for a project manager? Note that you value people who have planned and run operations. Looking for a security lead? Note that force protection or military police experience applies.

This does two things. It tells the veteran you understand their background. And it helps your own team rank the application fairly later. A recruiter who sees the bridge in the req is less likely to pass over a strong veteran resume.

If translating military career fields to your open roles feels hard, our guide on mapping a military career field to your open reqs walks through it step by step.

A Before and After Rewrite

Here is how a single paragraph changes. The first version blocks veterans without meaning to. The second invites them in.

Look at what changed. The degree opened up. "Corporate" became "any setting, including military." The internal tool got explained. The hype words went away. And one line told veterans they are welcome. Same role. Same pay. A far wider pool.

The Repeatable Veteran-Hostile Language Audit

Run this checklist on every req before it goes live. It takes a few minutes per posting. Do it once and you start catching these issues by habit.

The Department of Labor's Veterans' Employment and Training Service offers more employer resources on attracting and retaining veteran talent. Pair their guidance with this audit and your reqs will work much harder for you.

What Happens After You Clean Up the Req?

Fixing your reqs is step one. It widens the top of your funnel. But a clean req only helps if veterans are actually finding it and getting through your process.

Two things matter next. First, make sure veterans do not drop out later in your process. We cover the common leaks in why veterans drop out of your hiring process. Second, if you use software to screen, make sure it ranks veteran skills fairly. A good applicant tracking system racks and stacks resumes. It does not throw them out. But a weak veteran-skills match can sink a strong candidate to the bottom of the list. Our guide on using AI to source veterans responsibly covers how to keep that fair.

There is also a faster path. Instead of waiting for the right veterans to find your cleaned-up posting, you can go to them. BMR adds over 1,000 new veteran profiles every month, with more than 60,000 resumes built on the platform. That is a fresh, growing pool of veteran talent who have already translated their military experience into civilian terms. You can reach out directly rather than hope your req language pulls them in.

Want to skip the wait and meet veteran candidates directly? Reach out to access BMR's veteran talent pool and start connecting with candidates whose skills already match your open roles.