You want to hire veterans, and you want to hire them near where your company already sits. The problem is you do not know where the local ones are. Job boards send you strangers from three states away. National programs feel built for Fortune 500 firms with a full veteran-hiring team. You are a midsize company. You have real openings and no dedicated military-sourcing person.

Here is a channel most employers walk right past. Your local chamber of commerce. Many chambers run a military affairs committee or a defense council. Near a base, those groups exist to connect local businesses with the installation and the people leaving it. This guide shows you how to find one, join it, and use it to source veteran talent close to home.

What is a chamber of commerce veteran hiring program?

A chamber of commerce is a local business network. Companies pay dues and get referrals, events, and a seat at the table on local issues. Most chambers have committees. One of them, in a lot of regions, is focused on the military.

These groups go by a few names. Some call it a military affairs committee. Others use "defense council" or "military and veterans affairs council." The San Diego Regional Chamber runs a Defense, Veterans and Military Affairs Council. The Tempe Chamber in Arizona runs a Military Affairs Committee that helps employers build veteran hiring programs. The names change. The purpose is the same.

The committee connects local employers with the base, with transitioning service members, and with veteran-focused groups in the area. It is a warm room full of people who already work with the talent you want. That is the local layer.

There is also a national layer. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation runs Hiring Our Heroes, a nationwide veteran and spouse employment program. We cover that below. First, why the local channel works.

Why do chambers work as a veteran hiring channel?

Chambers solve the two problems that make veteran hiring hard for a midsize company. First, location. Second, trust.

Start with location. Chambers are local by design. A chamber near Fort Bragg, Norfolk, or San Antonio sits in a market thick with separating service members and military spouses. Their committee meetings and hiring events pull from that pool. You are not fishing in a national lake. You are fishing where the fish already are.

Now trust. A cold job post asks a veteran to gamble on a company they have never heard of. A chamber introduction does not. When a committee member vouches for you, the candidate shows up warm. That warm intro is worth more than another paid listing.

Chambers also cost less than most sourcing channels. You are likely paying dues already, or the dues are modest for a midsize firm. The committee seat usually comes with membership. Compare that to job board spend or an agency fee. The math favors the chamber.

There is a second payoff most employers miss. The committee is a two-way street. When you support base events and local veteran causes, you build a name in that community. Word travels fast on and around a base. A company known as a good place for veterans gets referrals it never asked for.

How do you find a chamber program near you?

This part takes an afternoon, not a budget. Work through it in order.

One tip on scope. If your city chamber has nothing, check the regional or metro chamber. Bigger chambers are more likely to staff a full military council. A defense contractor hub like San Diego, Huntsville, or Hampton Roads will have a deep bench. A smaller market may run a lighter committee. Both can send you candidates.

State workforce agencies overlap here too. Your chamber committee will often know the local staff. To go straight to that source, see our guide on state veteran employment offices.

What is Hiring Our Heroes and how do you use it?

Hiring Our Heroes is the national arm of this channel. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation started it in 2011 as a series of on-base hiring fairs. It has grown into a full workforce program. The Foundation reports more than 1,100 job fairs across all 50 states, Puerto Rico, Washington D.C., and overseas installations.

For a midsize employer, two pieces matter most.

The first is the hiring fairs. These events put you in a room with transitioning service members, veterans, and military spouses who are actively looking. You do not need a program at your company to attend. You need open roles and someone to staff a table.

The second is the Corporate Fellowship Program. This is a 12-week fellowship that places a transitioning service member with a host company. It runs three times a year at select installations and host cities. The fellow spends five days a week with you and does professional development with Hiring Our Heroes on Fridays. It is authorized under the Department of Defense SkillBridge program. More than 10,000 fellows had completed it as of 2024.

The local committee and the national program work together. Use the committee for warm intros and steady local flow. Use Hiring Our Heroes for the big fairs and the fellowship pipeline. Here is how the two layers split.

How do you join and actually use a chamber to source veterans?

Joining is easy. Using it well is where employers slip. Follow this order.

The pattern here is the same one that makes any local network pay off. Show up, be specific, and follow through. If you want to run your own event on top of the chamber's, read our playbook on hosting a veteran hiring event at your company.

Which roles does this channel fill best?

Chamber and Hiring Our Heroes events skew toward talent that is leaving the service now or recently left. Near a base, that means a lot of maintenance, logistics, security, operations, and technical roles. It also means junior leaders. A separating sergeant has already run a team and owned equipment worth more than your building.

Do not skip the military spouses at these events. Hiring Our Heroes and most chamber fairs serve spouses right alongside veterans. Spouses often hold a degree, a certification, or years of remote work history. Many are looking for a role they can keep through the next move. If your job supports remote or flexible work, a military spouse is a strong, loyal hire that most employers overlook.

The catch is that this talent describes itself in military terms. A great candidate can look like a bad fit on paper if you read the resume literally. Read for the work, not the wording.

Your recruiters can learn to translate this, or you can meet candidates who have already done it. That is where a standing veteran pool helps. BMR adds more than 1,000 new veteran profiles every month, and veterans have built over 60,000 resumes on the platform. That is a steady, growing bench you can tap between chamber events, not once a quarter when the fair rolls around.

What mistakes trip up employers here?

Most chamber failures come from treating it like a purchase instead of a relationship. Watch for these.

If you want to see how much weight this channel should carry against the others, our ranked field guide to veteran hiring channels lays out the tradeoffs.

How does this fit the rest of your veteran pipeline?

Chambers are one channel. They are strong near a base and weaker far from one. No single source should carry your whole veteran hiring plan. Stack a few and you get steady flow instead of feast or famine.

Pair the chamber with the other local and organizational channels. Community colleges reach veterans using the GI Bill to retrain. Campus veteran resource centers reach student veterans on four-year campuses. Veteran service organizations reach members through their local posts, and you can partner with VSOs by type to target the right ones. Military association conferences reach mid-career and cleared talent.

For the ground rules on hiring veterans as an employer, the Department of Labor VETS program keeps a solid employer hiring resource page, and its HIRE Vets Medallion Program recognizes employers that commit to hiring and retaining veterans.

Ready to source veterans without waiting for the next fair?

Chamber programs are worth the afternoon it takes to find one. They put you in the room with local veteran talent and cost far less than a job board or an agency. Join, be specific about your roles, and follow through fast.

To keep candidates flowing between events, get direct access to BMR's veteran talent pool. Over 1,000 new veteran profiles are added every month. Reach out through our hire page to tap it, or partner with us to build a longer-term veteran hiring pipeline.