If you hire veterans and do it well, there is a federal award that says so. It is called the HIRE Vets Medallion Award. The U.S. Department of Labor runs it. It is the only federal-level recognition for employers who recruit, hire, and keep veterans on staff.

This is not a logo you buy. You apply. You prove your numbers. A federal agency checks them. If you pass, you get a medallion you can put on your careers page, your job posts, and your front door.

Most midsize companies have never heard of it. That is the opening. You are already hiring veterans. You might already qualify and not know it. This guide walks through who can apply, the two award tiers, the three size categories, the exact criteria, the application window, and what it costs. I have spent the last two years watching companies court veteran talent. The ones that win this award are not always the biggest. They are the ones that track their hiring and treat it like a real program.

What Is the HIRE Vets Medallion Award?

HIRE Vets stands for Honoring Investments in Recruiting and Employing American Military Veterans. Congress passed the HIRE Vets Act in 2017. It told the Department of Labor to build one national award for employers who do right by veterans.

The program lives inside the DOL's Veterans Employment and Training Service. You can read the program page at dol.gov/agencies/vets. The rules that govern it are written into 20 CFR Part 1011. That is the part of federal regulation that spells out who qualifies and how.

The award means something because the government backs it. It is not a paid badge from a job board. It is not a marketing club. You earn it by proving real numbers to a real agency. That is why it carries weight with veterans deciding where to apply.

For your company, the medallion does two jobs. It tells veteran candidates you are a serious place to work. And it gives your recruiters a true signal to put in job posts and on your job descriptions that attract veterans. Veterans notice it. They know the difference between a real federal mark and a slogan.

Who Can Apply for the Award?

Almost any private employer in the United States can apply. The program splits applicants by size. Your size sets which criteria you must hit. The DOL counts your headcount as of December 31 of the year before you apply.

The three size categories are simple:

• Small employer: 50 or fewer employees
• Medium employer: 51 to 499 employees
• Large employer: 500 or more employees

Most midsize companies land in the medium bucket. That is the sweet spot for this award. You are big enough to have real veteran hires to count. You are small enough that the criteria are reachable without a giant HR department.

What Are the Two Award Tiers?

There are two levels. Gold and Platinum. Gold is the base award. Platinum is the higher one. Platinum asks for more. You must hit the Gold bar and then add extra criteria on top.

Think of Gold as proof that you hire and keep veterans. Think of Platinum as proof that you build real programs around them. A small shop that hires a few veterans and keeps them can win Gold. To win Platinum, you usually need veteran support programs, leadership tracks, and dedicated staff.

The exact bar shifts by your size. A large company faces tougher percentage targets than a small one. That is on purpose. The DOL scales the criteria so the award stays fair across a five-person team and a five-thousand-person firm.

What Are the Exact Criteria You Must Meet?

The criteria come from a set list. Your size and tier decide which ones apply and how high the bar sits. Here are the core criteria the DOL uses. Tuition assistance for veteran employees is an additional Platinum criterion, required for large employers and optional for medium and small. Pull the complete list for your size and tier from hirevets.gov.

Hiring and retention numbers

These are the core of the award. You report real counts from the prior calendar year.

• Veteran new-hire rate: the share of your new hires last year who were veterans.
• Veteran retention rate: the share of veterans you hired who stayed at least 12 months.
• Veteran workforce share: the share of your total staff who are veterans (used for some tiers).

The percentages scale by size. Large employers face higher targets than small ones. As one example, a small employer can satisfy a Platinum requirement by showing veterans made up at least 10 percent of new hires last year. Or by retaining at least 85 percent of veteran hires from the year before that. Pull the exact target for your size and tier from the official criteria table at hirevets.gov before you start.

Programs and support

The higher tiers want more than hires. They want a system around your veterans. The DOL looks for these:

• A veteran employee resource group or organization that helps new veteran hires settle in.
• Programs that build leadership skills for veteran employees.
• A dedicated HR person or set of efforts focused on hiring, training, and keeping veterans.
• Pay support for employees who serve on active duty in the National Guard or Reserve.

Some tiers let you pick. A medium Platinum or small Platinum applicant chooses which of these support items to satisfy. You do not always need all of them. Check your tier's table to see how many you must meet.

When Is the Application Window?

The window opens early in the year and stays open for about three months. By rule, the DOL starts taking applications no later than January 31. It stops accepting them on April 30. So you have a clear window in the first part of the year.

After that, the DOL completes its review no later than August 31. It then notifies employers of their decision by October 11. The award recipients are announced in November, timed to Veterans Day. Then you get your medallion and the right to use the mark.

Plan backward from April 30. Pull your prior-year numbers in January. That means total headcount, veteran hires, and 12-month retention. Get your program proof in order. Then apply with room to spare. Do not wait for the last week. A rushed application with shaky numbers is how good companies miss.

How Much Does It Cost to Apply?

There is a fee. It scales with your size. Small employers pay the least. Large employers pay the most. The fee covers the cost of running the review.

The DOL adjusts these fees for inflation, and they changed in 2026. Because the numbers move, do not trust a figure from an old blog post or a cached page. Check the current fee for your size on the hirevets.gov FAQ before you apply. The fee is set by size category: one rate for small, a higher rate for medium, and the highest for large.

For a midsize firm, the fee is small next to what one good veteran hire returns. You are not buying the award. You are paying the cost of having a federal agency verify your work. The medallion you can earn from it pays for itself in candidate trust.

How Do You Actually Apply?

The application is online. You file it through the portal at hirevets.gov. You report your numbers, answer the criteria questions for your size and tier, and pay the fee. The DOL then verifies what you submitted.

Here is the order that works:

• Confirm your size. Count total employees as of December 31 of last year. That sets your category.
• Pick your tier. Look at the Gold and Platinum tables for your size. See which one your numbers can support.
• Gather your proof. Hire counts, retention counts, and records of your veteran programs.
• Fill out the application. Answer each criterion honestly. The DOL can ask you to back up your claims.
• Pay and submit. Before April 30. Then wait for the October decision.

Honesty matters here. This is a federal application. Do not round up your numbers or claim a program you do not run. If you fall short of Platinum this year, take the Gold. Then build the programs and aim higher next year.

What If You Do Not Qualify Yet?

If your veteran numbers are thin, the award is a goal, not a door that is closed. The fix is upstream. You need more veteran hires and better retention before the percentages work in your favor.

Start with sourcing. You cannot hit a veteran new-hire rate if veterans are not in your pipeline. A few moves help. Build a real veteran recruiting strategy instead of hoping veterans find you. Write postings that speak to military experience, not just civilian buzzwords. And open a pipeline of transitioning service members through a SkillBridge host program, which lets you trial talent before you hire.

Then work on the parts the award also measures. Make your workplace a place veterans stay. A veteran-inclusive workplace checklist covers the basics. While you build toward the federal medallion, private designations like Military Friendly and VETS Indexes can signal that commitment now. Our guide on how to become a military-friendly employer compares all four programs side by side. And do not leave money on the table. The Work Opportunity Tax Credit can offset part of the cost of hiring veterans while you build toward the award.

Do those things for a year. Track the numbers as you go. Next January, your application will be a lot stronger.

Where the Talent Comes From

The award rewards companies that hire veterans. The hard part is finding them in the first place. That is the gap most midsize employers hit. They want to hire veterans but do not have a steady source of candidates.

That is where Best Military Resume comes in. BMR adds over 1,000 new veteran profiles every month. More than 60,000 resumes have been built on the platform. That is a fresh, growing pool of veterans actively looking for work, with resumes already written in plain language a hiring manager can read fast.

If you want to build the veteran hires that earn an award like this, you need supply. Reach out through our employer hiring page to get access to BMR's veteran talent pool. Start the pipeline now. Apply for the medallion once your numbers tell the story.

The Bottom Line for Employers

The HIRE Vets Medallion Award is the only federal mark for employers who hire and keep veterans. Two tiers, Gold and Platinum. Three sizes, small, medium, and large. You apply between late January and April 30, prove your numbers, and find out by October. Recipients are named in November around Veterans Day.

If you already hire veterans well, you may qualify right now. Pull your numbers and check the criteria table at hirevets.gov. If you are not there yet, build the pipeline and the programs this year, then apply next year. Either way, the work that earns the award is the same work that builds a stronger team.