You need plumbers. The pipeline is dry. The journeyman you trained left for a competitor. Your best apprentice ghosted you after three weeks. Sound about right? Most plumbing contractors are fighting the same fight. The skilled trades are short on people, and the people who show up often quit before they learn the trade.

There is a group of workers most plumbing shops never think to call. Veterans. Not just any veterans. People who ran water systems, repaired pumps, built bases, and fixed pipes while they were in uniform. They already know how to read a code book. They already show up on time. And right now, they are looking for work.

This guide is for the owner or hiring manager at a midsize plumbing company. You run crews, not a corporate HR department. You want people who can be useful fast and who will stay. Below is where these veterans come from, how to read their experience, and how to bring them onto your crew without guessing.

Why Are Veterans a Good Fit for Plumbing Work?

Plumbing is a trade built on a few hard skills. Mechanical aptitude. Safety discipline. Reading and following code. Working clean and finishing the job. The military trains those exact habits into people every day.

A service member learns to follow a technical manual to the letter. They learn that a shortcut on a safety step can hurt someone. They learn to work in tight crews under a deadline. That is the same mindset a good plumber needs on a job site.

The hiring math also works in your favor. The veteran unemployment rate sat at 3.5% in 2025, below the rate for nonveterans, per the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. These are people who want to work. Many leave the service with hands-on trade experience and no civilian job lined up. That gap is your opening.

Which Military Jobs Map to Plumbing Roles?

You do not need to learn every military job code. You need to know which ones produce people who already work with pipe, water, and tools. A handful of jobs map almost one to one. Others map close enough that the gap is small.

The closest fit is the Army plumber. That is a real military job. These soldiers install and repair plumbing, water systems, and waste systems. The Navy has utilitiesmen, the trade backbone of the Seabees. They run water, sewage, heating, and air systems on bases around the world.

You can read the full civilian career background for these jobs on our deep pages. Start with the Army 12K Plumber career guide and the Navy Utilitiesman career guide. For the broader build trades, see the Navy Builder page, the Air Force Water and Fuel Systems page, and the Army Utilities Equipment Repairer page.

How Do You Read a Veteran's Resume for a Plumbing Job?

A military resume can look strange at first. It is full of job codes, base names, and short terms you have never seen. Do not let that stop you. The skills are there. You just have to translate the words.

The applicant tracking system you may use does not reject these resumes. It ranks them. When the words on the page do not match your job posting, the resume sinks to the bottom of the pile. So a strong plumber can look weak on screen for one reason. The military language has not been turned into trade language yet.

Here is how the same work reads in two languages.

When you read these resumes, look past the codes. Look for the work. Did they touch pipe? Did they run a pump? Did they keep a system up and running? Did they follow a maintenance schedule? Those are the answers that matter. If the resume is thin on detail, ask in the interview. Most veterans will explain the work in plain terms once you ask.

Where Do You Find These Veterans Before They Get Hired Elsewhere?

The good ones go fast. You want to reach them while they are still looking, not after a bigger company snaps them up. There are a few channels that work for a midsize shop without a recruiting team.

The strongest channel is SkillBridge. It is a Department of Defense program that lets service members do a civilian work stint during their last few months in uniform. The military keeps paying their salary during that time. You get to try a worker before you make an offer. Learn the host rules at the official SkillBridge program site.

Think of SkillBridge as a working tryout. The service member is still in the military and still getting paid by the military. You are not hiring them yet. You make the offer when they separate, if it is a fit. For a plumbing shop, that is a low-risk way to test a Seabee or an Army plumber on real jobs.

The Department of Labor also runs free help for employers who want to hire veterans. You can start at the DOL VETS employer hiring page. None of this takes a big budget. It takes knowing where to look.

Should You Hire Apprentices or Journeymen?

Most plumbing shops need both. A veteran can fit either spot, depending on what they did in service. The trick is matching their background to the right rung.

A Seabee utilitiesman or an Army plumber often has years of real pipe work. They may be ready for a journeyman track or close to it. A combat engineer or a builder may not have plumbing-specific time. But they have the tools, the safety habits, and the work ethic to make a strong apprentice.

A registered apprenticeship can also bring veteran money to the table. Many veterans can use GI Bill benefits while they learn on the job. That means a steady paycheck from you plus a benefit from the VA. It makes your apprentice slot more attractive than a competitor's. You can set up or join a program through the Department of Labor Registered Apprenticeship program.

How Does a Midsize Plumbing Shop Compete for This Talent?

You may worry that a big national contractor will outbid you. They might on pay alone. But pay is not all a veteran weighs. Many of them want a place where the work feels real and the crew has their back. That is a midsize shop's home turf.

Move fast. Big companies run slow hiring loops with many rounds. A veteran fresh out of service needs a paycheck now. If you can interview this week and offer next week, you win against a slow giant. Speed is a real edge for a smaller shop.

Be clear in your job posting. Drop the buzzwords. Say what the job pays, where the work is, and what tools and skills you need. A plain, honest posting reads well to someone who spent years in a results-first culture. Vague corporate language turns them off.

What Should You Watch Out for When Hiring Veterans?

Hiring veterans is not magic. A few simple mistakes can cost you a good worker. Avoid these and your hiring gets cleaner.

Do not assume every veteran is the same. A pilot and a plumber both wore the uniform. Their trade skills are nothing alike. Read each resume for the actual work, not the branch or the rank.

Where Does BMR Fit Into Your Hiring?

Best Military Resume runs a large and growing pool of veteran and military spouse talent. Over 1,000 new veteran profiles are added every month. The platform has built more than 60,000 resumes. That is a steady stream of fresh, trade-ready people, and it includes plumbers, Seabees, and construction trades.

This is the lane every plumbing shop should be working. The trade is short on people. The skilled-trades demand is set to stay strong for years, with about 44,000 plumbing openings a year over the decade, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook. Many of those seats can be filled by veterans who already know the work.

If you want access to that talent pool, reach out through our employer hiring page. You can also explore a deeper relationship through our partner program. For the broader trades hiring playbook, see our guides on how to hire veterans for HVAC and electrical contractor roles and how to hire veterans for construction roles. For building and grounds work, the facilities maintenance hiring guide covers the same kind of skilled-trade talent. For the building-services side, our guide on hiring veterans for facilities and janitorial contractors draws from the same crew-ready pool.