Most recruiters treat veteran hiring like a light switch. A req opens. They blast it out. They wait. They hear nothing back. Then the req closes and the whole thing resets.

That approach fights the way veterans actually leave the military. A service member knows their separation date months in advance. They are not job hunting the day you first reach them. They are finishing a deployment, planning a move, or starting terminal leave. Timing is everything, and one cold message almost never lands on the right day.

An email nurture campaign fixes this. You stay in front of a veteran candidate over their whole exit timeline. You send useful, low-pressure emails on a schedule. When their move-out window finally opens, you are the company they already know. This guide shows you how to build that sequence step by step.

What Is a Veteran Email Nurture Campaign?

A nurture campaign is a planned series of emails. You send them to candidates who are not ready to apply yet. Each email gives value and keeps your company top of mind.

This works well for veterans for one simple reason. Their timeline is known and long. A service member may have nine months left before they separate. They cannot start a job today. But they will remember a company that showed up the right way over those nine months.

Cold outreach asks for a yes right now. A nurture sequence earns that yes over time. You trade one loud pitch for many small, helpful touches. By the time the veteran is ready to move, you have already built trust.

Why Does Nurture Beat Cold Outreach for Veterans?

Veterans move on a clock the military sets. That clock gives you a planning edge most candidate pools do not.

Here is the timeline you are working with. A service member gets a separation date. They may enter DoD SkillBridge in their last 180 days. They take terminal leave at the end. Each stage is a chance to send the right message at the right time.

A cold blast ignores all of this. You hit one random day in a long window. Most days, the answer is no, because the timing is wrong, not the fit. A nurture sequence spreads your touches across the whole window. You raise your odds of landing on a day when the veteran can act.

Nurture also respects how veterans make moves. They tend to research hard before they commit. They want to know the culture, the mission, and the people. A drip of honest emails answers those questions early. That builds a warmer pool than any single req ever could.

How Do You Build the List?

A nurture campaign needs a list to nurture. Build it with care, because the segments matter as much as the size.

Start with where veteran candidates already are. A platform like BMR is the top of your funnel. New veteran and military spouse profiles land there every week. That is a fresh, growing source you can feed into your list instead of cold scraping from scratch.

Once you have candidates, segment them. Different timelines need different messages. Do not send the same email to someone with two years left and someone with two weeks left.

Segment by Separation Date

This is the most important split. Group candidates by how close they are to leaving. Someone 12 months out gets culture and mission content. Someone 60 days out gets role specifics and a clear next step. The closer they are, the more direct you get.

Group SkillBridge Cohorts Together

SkillBridge interns are a hot segment. They are in their last 180 days and already testing civilian work. If you host SkillBridge or hire from it, build a list just for them. A SkillBridge intern can become a full hire when their service ends. For the rules behind this window, see the official DoD SkillBridge program page.

Build a Military Spouse Segment

Do not forget military spouses. They job hunt on their own timeline, often around a family move. Many want remote or portable roles. A spouse segment lets you speak to that directly. It widens your pool without extra sourcing work.

What Should You Send Across the Sequence?

The content is where most campaigns fail. Recruiters either pitch too hard or send nothing worth opening. The fix is a clear arc. Each email has one job.

Think of the sequence as a story. You introduce yourself. You show what the work is like. You spotlight real roles and real people. Then you point to a clear next step. Spread these over the candidate's timeline.

Lead With Value, Not the Pitch

The first emails should help, not sell. Tell the veteran what your company is really like. Share how a team runs. Explain how military experience maps to your roles. A candidate who feels informed trusts you more.

Save the hard ask for later in the sequence. By email five or six, the veteran knows you. Now a direct next step feels natural, not pushy.

Use Real Voices

Veterans can smell a canned pitch. So use real people. Let a hiring manager speak in plain words. Quote a veteran already on your team about their move. These voices do more than any polished brochure. They show the move is real and it works.

How Do You Set the Cadence?

Cadence is how often you send. Get it wrong and you either annoy people or get forgotten. Tie your cadence to the veteran's exit milestones, not to a fixed calendar.

Early on, go slow. Someone 12 months out does not need weekly emails. One a month keeps you present without crowding them. As their date gets close, pick up the pace.

These windows map to real military milestones. PCS moves, terminal leave, and the SkillBridge window all fall in the back half. To plan around those cycles, read our guide on how to build a veteran sourcing calendar around PCS and ETS. You can also start your touches early. Our piece on how to source veterans before their separation date pairs well with a nurture sequence.

How Do You Avoid the Ghosting Problem?

Ghosting cuts both ways. Candidates ghost recruiters. But recruiters ghost candidates more often, and it kills your nurture campaign fast.

A nurture sequence sets an expectation. The veteran expects to hear from you on a rhythm. If you go quiet, you break that trust. Worse, if a candidate replies and you do not answer, your whole list learns you are not serious.

Answer every reply. If someone responds to email three, a human should follow up within a day or two. Automation gets the touches out. People close the loop. Never let a warm reply sit in a queue.

Set clear next steps in every email. A vague "let us stay in touch" goes nowhere. A specific "reply with your target start date" gives the veteran something to do. For more on this, see our guide on how to avoid ghosting veteran candidates. If you have an old list that went cold, our piece on how to re-engage veteran candidates you passed on can help you restart it.

How Do You Measure a Nurture Campaign?

You cannot improve what you do not track. A nurture campaign gives you clear numbers. Watch the right ones and ignore the vanity stats.

Open rate tells you if your subject lines work. Reply rate tells you if the content connects. But the number that matters most is hires. Track how many people in your nurtured list end up in a real interview and then on your team.

Test one thing at a time. Try a new subject line on email one. See if opens go up. Swap the order of two emails. See if replies improve. Small tests beat big guesses. Over time, your sequence gets sharper.

A nurture campaign is not the whole sourcing job. It works best as one piece of a wider motion. To see why a single posting will not carry you, read why posting a job is not a veteran sourcing strategy. To make your list refill on its own, see how to build a veteran talent pipeline before reqs open.

What Are the Compliance Basics?

Email marketing has rules. Break them and you risk fines and lost trust. Two areas matter most for a veteran nurture campaign.

Follow CAN-SPAM

The federal CAN-SPAM Act sets the rules for commercial email. The FTC compliance guide spells them out. The basics are simple. Use accurate header and "from" information. Keep your subject line honest. Tell recipients where you are located with a real physical postal address.

You also must give people a clear way to opt out. Honor that opt-out promptly. The FTC requires you to process it within 10 business days. If you use a third party to send for you, you are still on the hook for what they do. Each email that breaks the rules can carry a steep penalty, so build compliance in from day one.

Do Not Imply Preference That Breaks EEO Law

Targeting veterans for outreach is fine. Many federal programs encourage it. The DOL VETS employer page lays out how employers can recruit and support veterans. But there is a line. Your hiring decisions still have to follow equal employment law.

Reaching out to a veteran pool widens your funnel. It does not let you screen anyone out based on a protected trait. Keep your nurture content focused on what your company offers and what the work is like. Let the actual hiring decision rest on the role and the fit. When in doubt, run your email copy past your legal or HR team.

How Does BMR Feed Your Nurture List?

A nurture campaign is only as good as the list behind it. That is where BMR comes in. It is the top-of-funnel source that keeps your list fresh.

BMR has over 60,000 resumes built by veterans and military spouses. More than 1,000 new profiles get added every month. That is a steady flow of separating service members you can pull into your segments. You are not scraping cold names. You are working a pool that is actively preparing to enter the civilian workforce.

That fresh supply is what makes a nurture campaign run. You always have new candidates to welcome at the top while warmer ones move toward a hire at the bottom. The list never runs dry. To learn how to pull the right people from a pool like this, see our guide on how to search a veteran resume database effectively. And once you find a strong candidate, our guide on how to contact a veteran candidate directly shows you the first touch that starts the sequence.

Start Building Your Veteran Nurture Campaign

Cold blasting one req at a time wastes the biggest edge veteran hiring gives you. These candidates run on a known clock. A nurture campaign lets you work that clock instead of fighting it.

Build your list from a fresh source. Segment by separation date, SkillBridge, and spouse status. Send a clear arc of helpful emails. Tie the cadence to exit milestones. Answer every reply. Track hires, not vanity stats. Stay inside the compliance lines.

BMR gives you the top of that funnel. Over 1,000 new veteran and military spouse profiles arrive every month. Reach out to access BMR's veteran talent pool and start feeding your nurture list today. If you want to build a deeper hiring relationship, learn how to partner with us.