Colorado Springs is one of the most military-dense cities in the country. Five of Colorado's six active installations sit in or around it. Fort Carson runs Army operations. Peterson and Schriever handle Space Force missions. Cheyenne Mountain serves as the alternate command center for NORAD and Northern Command. The Air Force Academy trains officers up on the ridge.

That means a steady stream of people separate from service here every year. Many of them want to stay. Their kids are in local schools. Their spouse has a job. They like the mountains. So they look for civilian work close to base.

If you run a midsize company in the Springs, that is your edge. You do not have to compete with big defense primes on signing bonuses. You have to know where this talent is and how to read it. This guide walks through both. It also covers cleared and space-trained candidates, since that is what makes the local pool unusual.

What kind of talent does Colorado Springs produce?

The local pool is shaped by the missions on each base. Knowing the missions tells you what skills come off the base each year. Here is the short version.

Fort Carson is the Army side. It is home to the 4th Infantry Division and the 10th Special Forces Group. It also holds a long list of support units. That includes combat aviation, ordnance and EOD, military police, a hospital center, and a sustainment brigade. Fort Carson alone supports more than 29,000 people. So the Army talent here runs deep in operations, logistics, maintenance, security, and healthcare support.

The Peterson and Schriever Space Force Bases are the space side. Peterson has been home to U.S. Space Command, which is in a phased move to Alabama through 2031. Schriever runs satellite command and control. Cheyenne Mountain serves as the alternate command center for NORAD and U.S. Northern Command, whose headquarters sit at Peterson. The Air Force Academy adds newly commissioned officers. So the space and air talent here skews toward satellite operations, missile warning, cyber, intelligence, and systems work.

Put it together and you get a mix you will not find in most cities. Ground combat and logistics from the Army. Space, cyber, and intel from the Space Force and Air Force. A lot of it carries a clearance.

Why should a midsize Colorado Springs company hire veterans?

You may think the big defense names grab all of this talent. Some of it, yes. But not all of it. Not even close.

A lot of separating service members do not want to chase a clearance job two hours away. They want a normal job, near home, with a company that treats them well. Many do not want defense work at all after years in it. They want construction, healthcare, manufacturing, finance, or trades. That is where a midsize local employer wins.

The hiring market also favors you right now. The unemployment rate for all veterans was 3.5 percent in 2025. That is based on Bureau of Labor Statistics data. It was still lower than the 4.2 percent rate for nonveterans. So you are hiring from a group that works. The catch is they move fast once they decide on a city. If you wait, someone else grabs them.

Veterans from the Springs bring something else too. They show up. They follow process. They lead small teams under stress. A 10th Special Forces team sergeant has run more under pressure than most civilian hires. So has a 4th ID supply NCO. You are getting maturity early.

Where do you find veteran candidates in Colorado Springs?

The mistake most local employers make is to post a job and wait. That works for civilian hiring. It does not work for finding the veteran who just separated last month. He is not scrolling job boards yet. You have to reach him before he settles.

Here is where to look.

BMR fits the third one. Our pool adds over 1,000 new profiles every month. You can search by field and target the Colorado Springs area. That beats waiting for resumes to come to you. We also reach the candidate early, before they go public on a job board.

For more on the online side, see our guide on how to source veterans on LinkedIn. It pairs well with a local-first approach.

How do you read a Colorado Springs veteran resume?

This is where most local hiring managers stall. The resume lands and it reads like another language. Acronyms everywhere. Unit names. Award lines. You cannot tell if the person can do the job.

Slow down. The skill is there. The words just need translating. A satellite operator at Schriever ran complex systems on a strict timeline. A 4th ID supply sergeant managed millions in inventory with zero room for error. Read for the work, not the title.

One more tip. Applicant tracking systems do not throw resumes out. They rank them. A veteran resume packed with military terms can sink to the bottom of your list. That happens even when the person is a strong fit. So search using both languages. Add the military terms a veteran would use next to the civilian ones. You will surface people your competitors miss.

Want a deeper look at how to read this kind of background? Our piece on hiring veterans for physical security roles walks through it step by step.

How do you handle clearances when you hire near base?

Colorado Springs has a lot of cleared talent. A clearance is the single highest-value filter in defense and space work. So this deserves its own section.

A clearance comes in three levels. Confidential, Secret, and Top Secret. The vetting is run by the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency. There is a program called Trusted Workforce 2.0. Under it, the old model of reinvestigating every 5 or 10 years is going away. Continuous vetting is replacing it. That means automated checks that run all the time. Millions of cleared personnel are already enrolled.

If your company does not do cleared work, that is fine. A cleared veteran is still a strong hire. The clearance tells you they passed a deep background check. That is a trust signal on its own. You do not need a contract to value it.

If you do need cleared staff, Colorado Springs is one of the best places to find it. Want a cleared-talent playbook from another defense hub? See how employers approach it in the Washington DC area and in Tampa near MacDill. The same logic applies in the Springs.

Which local roles fit Colorado Springs veterans best?

The Springs talent pool is broad. That is the point of a five-base town. So almost any midsize employer can find a fit. Here is how the local fields line up.

Operations and logistics is the biggest bucket. Fort Carson turns out supply NCOs, transportation leads, and maintenance managers by the hundreds. They fit warehouse, distribution, fleet, and plant operations work cleanly. The military runs on logistics. So does your supply chain.

Skilled trades and maintenance is next. Aviation mechanics, ground equipment techs, and EOD-trained problem solvers all carry hands-on skill. They move into HVAC, electrical, diesel, and facilities work fast. They already know how to follow a maintenance schedule and document it.

Security and emergency response is a natural fit too. Military police, force protection, and watch-floor crews from NORAD know how to run a calm operation under pressure. They fit corporate security, dispatch, and emergency operations roles. For more on that last one, see our guide on hiring veterans for emergency operations center roles.

Then there is the technical side. Satellite operators, cyber crews, and systems folks from the Space Force bring degreed, high-skill backgrounds. They fit IT, network, and technical roles. Some of them also fit aerospace work. If that is your lane, our guide on hiring veterans for aerospace roles is a good companion read.

Do not box people in by branch, though. A Space Force veteran can run a warehouse. An infantry NCO can manage a team in any field. Read the resume for the work and the skills. The branch on the top line is the least useful thing on the page.

How does a midsize employer compete for this talent?

You are not going to outbid a large prime on salary. So do not try. Compete on the things that actually matter to a separating service member with a family in the Springs.

Speed is the first lever. Veterans plan their separation months out. The employer who reaches out early and moves fast wins. A slow, multi-week process loses people to faster offers.

Write your job posting in plain words. Drop the jargon. A veteran scanning postings wants three things. What the job is, what it pays, and whether you will respect their background. Say that clearly and you stand out from the firms that hide behind corporate language.

The U.S. Department of Labor has solid free resources for employers who want to hire veterans. Their VETS employer hub is worth a read before you build your process.

What is the fastest way to start hiring veterans here?

Do not overthink it. You do not need a big formal program. You need a way to reach the people leaving these bases. And you need a manager who can read their value.

Start small. Pick one open role. Search a veteran pool for candidates in the Colorado Springs area who fit that field. Reach out directly. Move fast. Then do it again with the next role.

BMR makes that first step easy. Our pool adds over 1,000 new profiles every month. We have also built more than 60,000 resumes for the military community. So when you search by field and location, you are looking at real, current candidates. Many of them are right there in the Springs, getting ready to take off the uniform.

If you want to tap into that talent, reach out to access BMR's veteran talent pool. Tell us the roles you are hiring for in Colorado Springs. We will help you find the people who fit.