How to Hire Veterans for NDT Technician and NDI Roles

Your NDT req has been open for six weeks. The posting asks for a current Level II in eddy current and ultrasonic. A veteran applies with years of NDI work on military aircraft. She has no civilian card. Your recruiter passes on her.

That pass just cost you a good tech. The FAA has a guide on NDI staff. It says the United States has no national body that certifies this work. It adds that most certifications "are employer-based and are not transferrable" as a result. So almost nobody walks in with a Level II that is good at your shop. That goes for the tech from the shop down the road too.

The skill moves with the person. The card stays with the old employer. Your job is to bridge that gap the right way, with records and exams. This guide shows you how.

It is written for the NDT manager, quality lead, HR lead, or recruiter at a midsize company. You might run aircraft repair, a fab shop, a pipeline crew, or a shipyard contract. We stay on the inspection seat itself. The trades around it have their own guides. See aircraft MRO hiring, welding and fabrication, pipeline operations, and QA and QC roles. This piece sits under our broader aviation and aerospace hiring guide.

Why don't veterans arrive with a current Level II card?

NDT in the US runs on employer-based certification. Each employer writes its own rules for its own people. That document is called a written practice. It says how your techs get trained and certified, one method at a time.

Most shops build their written practice on a published standard. Which one you use depends on your work and your customers.

• ASNT SNT-TC-1A: A recommended practice. The FAA guide calls it a guideline for writing your own written practice. You can follow it as is or adjust it to your work.
• ASNT CP-189: A stricter ASNT standard. Its rules are fixed, so your program can't loosen them.
• NAS 410 and EN 4179: The aerospace pair. The FAA guide says EN 4179 is now harmonized with NAS 410. Aerospace customers may call one of them out in your contract.
• NAVSEA T9074-AS-GIB-010/271: The Navy's own NDT rules for naval ship work. A shipyard contract may call it out by number.

Each one gives a senior examiner the final say. Most shops call that person the Level III. Your Level III approves procedures, writes the exams, grades them, and signs off on who is qualified.

ASNT is updating SNT-TC-1A right now. But its modernization page says there is no immediate change. It also says "employers remain responsible for qualifying their own personnel" under the new plan. So keep using your current written practice.

What does this mean for a veteran? The military trained them under its own program. The FAA guide lists the old military-wide standard, MIL-STD-410E, as rescinded. No rule turns a military NDI qual into a civilian Level II on its own. But you can give real credit for what they did. We cover how below.

Which military jobs train NDT technicians?

The cleanest match is in the Air Force. It runs a full career field for this work, AFSC 2A7X2 Nondestructive Inspection. The Air Force job directory sums it up in one line. These airmen inspect "aerospace weapon systems components and support equipment for structural integrity" and do fluid analysis.

The duty list reads like a civilian NDT posting. It names penetrant, eddy current, magnetic particle, radiographic, optical, and ultrasonic equipment. It names cracks, delaminations, voids, and heat damage. It also covers setting up radiation areas for radiographic work and tracking crew exposure.

Two parts of the job may not map to your seat. A 2A7X2 also checks wear metal in engine oil. Ask yourself if your seat needs that. If it doesn't, don't weigh it either way. And their parts are aircraft parts and support gear. Welds, pipe, and plate may be new to them.

What about the other branches?

Candidates from other services may list NDI work inside a broader maintenance job. So read the bullets, not just the job code. Look for method names, part types, dates, and who signed off on their work. A bullet like "eddy current checks on wheel halves" tells you more than any title.

Where is the trainee pool?

Structural and metals trades make a second pool. These techs repair aircraft structure every day. In the Air Force, look at 2A7X3 aircraft structural maintenance. The Army has 15G aircraft structural repairers. The Navy has AM aviation structural mechanics.

Don't assume they hold any NDT method. Some will have none. Treat them as trainees who already know aircraft structure and metal. That is a real head start for a Level I seat in penetrant or magnetic particle.

Which NDT methods carry over, and which need more work?

Method names carry over. Codes and acceptance rules often do not. Here is how each method tends to land in a civilian shop.

How do penetrant and magnetic particle carry over?

These two move fastest. The physics is the same on a landing gear part and a weld. The new piece is your acceptance criteria. An aircraft tech judged indications against military tech data. Your shop may judge them against an AWS, ASME, or API code instead.

Your Level III closes that gap with the specific exam. The FAA guide defines it as a written test on the procedures, codes, and specs your shop uses. That is the right tool here.

How does eddy current carry over?

Eddy current is a big part of aircraft inspection. The FAA guide even uses aircraft wheel checks as its example of a narrow, task-only qualification. So an NDI veteran is often a strong fit for aerospace and MRO eddy current seats.

Plant work can be a different story. Tube inspection in a heat exchanger uses other probes and setups. Expect real training time if that is your seat.

How does ultrasonic carry over?

Military UT may mean thickness checks and flaw checks on aircraft parts. The Air Force duty list names delaminations, which points to bonded and composite work. Weld UT under a structural welding code is its own skill. So is phased array, if your shop runs it. Ask what gear they used and what they judged against.

Why does radiography need the most planning?

Radiography carries the most rules from outside your shop. The Air Force duty list shows that 2A7X2s set up radiation areas and track exposure. That is real safety work. But if your crews shoot with a sealed gamma source, federal rules add a separate gate.

Look at 10 CFR 34.43. It bars an NRC licensee from using anyone as a radiographer until they meet set terms. The person needs the listed safety training plus at least two months of on-the-job training. They need certification through a recognized radiographer certification program. They also need instruction and exams on your license and procedures. Then they need hands-on training with your gear.

Many states run this work themselves under an agreement with the NRC. Their rules follow the same idea. So check with your state radiation program. A military radiography background does not let someone run a gamma camera on day one. Build that time into the start date.

What does your Level III still have to do?

Your program can credit past work. It just can't swap a military qual straight across. The FAA guide gives a clean model for aviation shops. Many other programs work the same way.

The FAA's Advisory Circular 65-31B covers qualification based on previous experience. A person brings records of past training and experience. Your Level III can then grandfather them to a level. But the burden sits with you. The guide says the gaining employer must check that the old program meets your program's rules.

So records decide how fast this goes. A veteran with clean training records and hours by method moves quickly. One with no paper starts closer to trainee. Ask for records in the first phone screen, not after the offer.

Does a gap since separation matter?

Yes, and it is easy to miss. Take someone who has been out of a method for six months. The FAA guide says to retrain or retest them. Your written practice may set a shorter window. A veteran who left the service last year has likely been out of their methods longer than that. So plan a short refresher plus the exams.

What can a trainee do before they pass?

Until they pass, they work as trainees. The FAA guide says a trainee works only under direct watch. That means a qualified instructor, Level II, or Level III in the same method. They should not make accept or reject calls on their own. That still puts an extra pair of trained hands on your floor from week one.

Two more points for aviation shops. An A&P mechanic certificate is only needed when your own program asks for it. Someone qualified under the FAA guide may also be able to seek one more credential. That is an FAA repairman certificate with an NDI rating.

Pipeline shops have their own floor too. For gas lines, 49 CFR 192.243 says weld NDT must follow written procedures. The people doing it must be trained and qualified in those procedures and that gear. The same records-first approach works there.

How do you screen an NDI veteran in one interview?

Good screening here is plain. Ask for detail and listen for it. A real NDI tech talks in setups and calls. Use these six questions, and have your Level III sit in if you can.

1. Which methods did you perform, and at what level? A strong answer names each method and the level their unit gave them. It also names who signed off.
2. Walk me through your last eddy current setup. Listen for the probe and the reference standard. Then listen for how they set up the scope. Vague answers here are a flag.
3. What did you judge indications against? They should name a type of document, like a tech order or a spec. The answer should not just be the book.
4. Tell me about a part you rejected. Ask what happened next and who pushed back. You want someone who held the line with a reason.
5. When did you last perform each method? This sets your refresher plan. It ties straight to the six-month gap above.
6. Can you get copies of your training records? This one decides your timeline. Ask it early.

Score every answer the same way for every candidate. Our structured interview scorecard shows how to set that up. It keeps a smooth talker from beating a quiet tech who knows the work.

Where do you find veteran NDT technicians?

Start with the words in your posting. Veterans search in their own terms. Put NDI, NDE, nondestructive inspection, and 2A7X2 in the text next to NDT. Name each method in full, like eddy current and magnetic particle. Use the "or able to qualify" line from above.

Then look at the Guard. Air National Guard wings in several states post NDI openings, both part-time drill seats and full-time jobs. Part-time members may already live near your shop. Many hold civilian jobs too, so they may be open to a full-time NDT seat.

SkillBridge is a third channel. It lets service members train with an employer near the end of their service. Your company must have been in business at least three years to host. Federal, state, and local government offices are exempt from that rule. Our guide on how to become a SkillBridge host walks through the steps. An NDI tech could spend that time as a trainee under your Level III.

Last, search a veteran talent pool directly, like the one on BMR. Employers can search it by skill or job title. That lets you look for terms like eddy current or NDI.

How should the first 90 days run?

Here is a sample plan for an NDI veteran with good records. Adjust it to your written practice and your methods. Certify one method at a time, and start with the one they used most recently.

Pair the new hire with one senior tech for the whole stretch. That person answers the small questions that don't fit in a procedure. Our guide to onboarding veteran employees in 90 days covers the rest of the first quarter.

Keep the paperwork tight the whole way. The FAA guide says your records should show when, and to what level, each person was qualified. It also says to note when someone was grandfathered. An auditor will ask for that file.

What to Do Next

Pick one open NDT seat this week. Fix the Level II line in the posting. Add the words "or able to qualify under our written practice" to it. Then add NDI and 2A7X2 to the text. That edit takes ten minutes.

Then sit down with your Level III for half an hour. Ask them to write out how your program credits past experience. Ask what records they need to see. Put that list in your phone screen so candidates know what to bring.

Now you need candidates. 74,391 resumes have been built on BMR. Employers can search candidates who agreed to employer search, by skill or job title. Talk to us about hiring through BMR, or go straight to the employer hiring page. Tell us which methods your seat needs. We will show you how to reach people who have done the work.