Recruit Veterans Near Tobyhanna Army Depot, Scranton PA

You run a company in northeast Pennsylvania. You have open roles for electronics techs, repair leads, quality inspectors, or warehouse supervisors. And you keep getting the same thin stack of resumes.

There is a talent pool near you that most local employers walk right past. It sits around Tobyhanna Army Depot, the Army's electronics maintenance hub in the Poconos. The region is full of veterans who fix radios, repair radar, calibrate gear, and run supply lines.

This guide shows you how to reach them. You will learn which military jobs map to your open roles. You will learn where these veterans are near Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. And you will learn how to read a military resume when you have never served.

Why does northeast PA have so many veterans with electronics skills?

One place sets the tone for the whole region. Tobyhanna Army Depot sits in Coolbaugh Township, just north of the Scranton and Wilkes-Barre metro area. It is the Army's repair source for C5ISR gear. That stands for command, control, communications, computers, cyber, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance.

In plain terms, they fix the electronics that keep the military connected. Radios. Radar. Satellite terminals. Test and calibration equipment. The Army named it a Center of Industrial and Technical Excellence for electronics and avionics work.

Thousands of people work there. It is the largest industrial employer in northeast Pennsylvania. Most of that workforce is civilian. But the depot pulls skilled people into the region and keeps them here.

Here is what that means for you. The area holds a deep bench of veterans who trained on electronics and comms gear. Some served in Pennsylvania National Guard and Reserve units. Some settled here after active duty. Many have hands-on repair skills that transfer straight to your shop floor.

The region also keeps this talent in place. A veteran who trains at the depot or serves in a nearby unit often puts down roots here. They buy homes in the Poconos and the valley. They want to stay. For a local employer, that means lower flight risk. Your hire is not planning to leave in a year.

What military jobs map to your open roles?

Military job codes look like a foreign language at first. But many of them line up cleanly with civilian work. Here are the ones that matter most in this region.

Army 94E, the Radio and COMSEC Repairer, fixes secure radios down to the circuit board. That is an electronics repair tech in your language. Army 25S, the Satellite Communication Systems Operator-Maintainer, runs and repairs complex comms systems. That is a field service or systems tech.

The Navy trains its own strong bench. A Navy Electronics Technician (ET) troubleshoots and repairs advanced electronics on ships and shore stations. The Air Force 1C8X3, Radar and Airfield Systems tech installs and repairs radar. Each one has done real repair work, not just theory.

Do not screen these people out because the title looks odd. The skill under the title is what you need. A veteran resume may need a quick translation. Once you translate it, the fit is often obvious.

What can a veteran electronics tech do on day one?

You are not hiring a trainee. You are hiring someone who has already done the work under real pressure. The military spends months teaching these skills. Then it puts people on the gear for years.

A veteran repair tech shows up able to do a lot right away. Here is what that looks like in a shop.

Calibration is worth a special note. Depot work runs on precise, traceable measurements. A veteran with that background knows why a reading has to be right and how to prove it. That habit is gold on a production line or a quality bench. You do not have to teach it from scratch.

The federal data backs this up. The Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks these roles under electrical and electronics installers and repairers. It is skilled, hands-on work that pays well and stays in demand. Veterans arrive with the core of it already built.

How do you read a veteran resume with no military background?

This is where most hiring managers get stuck. The resume is full of codes and acronyms. You cannot tell if the person is a fit. So the resume goes to the bottom of the pile.

You do not need to learn the whole military. You need to find a few signals. Look for the type of gear they worked on. Look for the level of repair, like board-level or system-level. Look for how many people or how much equipment they were responsible for.

A good veteran resume already does this translation for you. The strong ones name the civilian equivalent right next to the military role. Our guide on how to evaluate a veteran resume walks through exactly what to scan for.

One warning. Do not reject someone just because they lack a civilian job title you recognize. A 25S never had the words "field service technician" on an old resume. But that is the job they did. Read for the work, not the label.

Where do you find these veterans near Scranton and Wilkes-Barre?

You will not find most of them on a single job board. You have to go where they already are. There are a few good channels near you.

Start with the Pennsylvania National Guard and Reserve units in the region. Many members hold full-time civilian jobs and want better ones. You can build a real relationship with a local unit. Our guide on partnering with Reserve and Guard units shows how. The Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs is a good starting point for state programs.

Next, reach people before they leave the service. Transitioning members start looking months out. If you connect early, you get first pick. Read our guide on hiring service members before separation.

You do not need a big career fair booth to do this. A steady, useful email flow works better for a midsize employer. See how to source veterans without a booth and our veteran email nurture playbook.

Do you need a defense or cleared background to hire them?

No. This is a common myth, and it costs employers good hires. You can hire a veteran electronics tech into a plain commercial job. No clearance. No government contract. No special program.

Most veterans want normal, stable civilian work close to home. A repair role at a local manufacturer is a strong fit for them. The skill was built on military gear. But the skill itself is commercial.

If you have never hired from the military before, that is fine. You do not need a defense HR team to do this well. Our guide for a midsize company hiring veterans with no defense background walks you through it.

What about your logistics and manufacturing roles?

Northeast PA is not only an electronics story. It is one of the biggest logistics hubs on the East Coast. The region sits where several interstates meet. Thousands of warehousing and transport jobs run here every day.

The military builds strong logistics and supply talent. These veterans manage inventory, run motor pools, and keep parts flowing. They handle deadlines that cannot slip. That maps to warehouse leads, supply planners, and fleet roles.

The same goes for skilled trades on the manufacturing floor. Veterans bring mechanical, electrical, and maintenance skills that plants need. Our guide on recruiting veterans for skilled trades and field operations covers those roles in depth.

Some of these veterans also fit public safety and dispatch work. If you run a comms center, a radio-trained veteran is a natural fit. See our guide on hiring veterans for 911 dispatch and public safety comms.

How do NEPA veterans compare to your usual applicants?

Skills get a veteran through the door. The way they work is what keeps them there. This matters most for a midsize employer that cannot afford heavy turnover.

Veterans tend to show up on time and stay on task. Shift work and odd hours do not scare them. They have run 24-hour operations before. Safety rules and checklists feel normal to them, not like red tape.

They also lead young. A repair NCO may have run a shop and trained junior techs by age 24. That leadership does not disappear when the uniform comes off. You often get a future team lead, not just a set of hands.

Turnover is the hidden cost that eats a midsize budget. Every time a tech quits, you pay to hire and train again. A veteran who wants a stable local job can break that cycle. The upfront work of translating one resume is small next to the cost of a revolving door.

One more point on fairness. A veteran who has been out a few years may have a work gap. The civilian record can look mixed. Read past it. The military skills and the work habits are still there. A short gap is not a reason to skip a strong technician.

Want to build a wider Pennsylvania plan? The central part of the state has its own base region. See our sibling guide on recruiting veterans near Mechanicsburg and Carlisle. You can run the same playbook across both regions.

How does BMR help you reach NEPA veterans?

Finding these veterans one at a time is slow. That is the problem BMR solves for employers. We are a veteran talent platform, and the pool keeps growing.

More than 1,000 new profiles are added every month. Over 60,000 resumes have been built on the platform. Many of those veterans hold the electronics, comms, and logistics skills that northeast PA employers need.

You get to search for the skills that fit your open roles. No booth. No long defense program. You reach out and start a real conversation with people who want stable work near home.

If you hire near Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, this is the fastest way to reach local veterans. It also connects you with veterans across other base regions. See our guides on Dover AFB in Delaware and Wright-Patterson in Dayton.

Ready to see the pool near you? Reach out to access BMR's veteran talent pool. You can also learn more about how we work with companies on the partner with us page. The government also offers a solid primer for new employers at the Department of Labor VETS hiring page.