You need good people. You keep hearing veterans make strong hires. But you do not know where to find them at scale. So you post a job, wait, and hope a veteran applies. Most do not. That is not a talent problem. It is a sourcing problem.

Here is a channel most midsize employers skip: community colleges. Not the big four-year schools. The two-year colleges down the road from you. They are full of student veterans using the GI Bill. These are adults with real work history. Many are local and want to stay local. And almost nobody is recruiting them on purpose.

This guide shows you how to build that channel. We will cover what a campus Veterans Resource Center does, how to partner with one, how to work with student-veteran groups, and how to set up a steady flow of candidates year after year. No big program required. You just need a plan and a few hours a month.

Why are community colleges an overlooked veteran talent pool?

Start with who actually goes to a community college after service. These are not 18-year-olds fresh out of high school. Many are veterans in their late 20s and 30s. They led teams. They ran equipment worth millions. Now they are retraining for a civilian career. They want a job, not a gap year.

Three things make this pool worth your time.

First, they are using the GI Bill. The Post-9/11 GI Bill pays their tuition and a housing stipend. They picked a two-year program for a reason. Often it is to get a specific skill fast and get to work. That timeline matches your hiring need.

Second, they are local. Most community college students live near campus. They are not planning to move across the country. If you hire local and struggle with people leaving, this matters. A veteran who chose to settle in your town is a veteran who may stay.

Third, almost no one is competing for them here. Big companies send recruiters to four-year universities and military bases. The two-year college veteran gets missed. That is your opening. Less noise means your outreach lands harder.

And the pool is real. In California alone, 114 of the state's 116 community colleges run a veterans center, serving around 55,000 veterans, service members, and dependents each year, according to the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office. Every state has its own version of this.

What is a campus Veterans Resource Center and why does it matter?

A Veterans Resource Center, or VRC, is the office on campus that supports student veterans. Most community colleges have one. Some call it a Veterans Services office or a Military and Veterans Center. Same idea.

The VRC is your way in. It is where student veterans go for help. The staff certify GI Bill benefits, run study space, host workshops, and connect students to jobs. They know the veterans on campus by name. That trust is built. You want to borrow it, not bypass it.

Look at what these centers actually do. A typical VRC offers priority registration, GI Bill certification, academic advising, and career help. Many run a student veteran club too. The Austin Community College Veterans Resource Center is a good example of the model: one office that handles benefits, advising, and transition support in one place.

So the VRC director is the person you call. Not the general career office. The VRC. That director wants their veterans to land good jobs. A solid local employer who shows up is a gift to them. You are not asking for a favor. You are offering one.

How do you partner with a Veterans Resource Center?

Partnering with a VRC is simple. The mistake is treating it like a one-time job post. This is a relationship. You build it over time. Here is how to start.

Send a short, plain email to the VRC director. Tell them who you are, what roles you hire for, and that you want to support their student veterans. Ask for a quick call. Do not send a job link and walk away. Ask what they need.

On the call, ask three things. What do their veterans study most? What do employers usually get wrong with them? And how do they like employers to share openings? Let the director steer. They will tell you exactly how to reach their students.

Then give before you take. Offer a resume review session. Offer to speak at a transition workshop. Offer a tour of your site. These cost you little and build real trust. The job offers come after the relationship, not before it.

One more tip. Keep your roles realistic. A student veteran finishing a two-year program wants an entry or mid-level role with a path up. If all you send are senior jobs, the director cannot use them. Match your openings to where these students are.

How do you work with student-veteran organizations?

Student veterans often run their own group on campus. Many are chapters of Student Veterans of America. SVA has a network of more than 1,600 campus chapters across all 50 states, reaching close to 600,000 student veterans. That is a built-in audience already organized for you.

These chapters are run by veterans, for veterans. They meet, do community service, and help each other find work. When a member vouches for an employer, the whole group hears it. That word of mouth beats any job board. One good experience with your company spreads fast.

Reach out through the VRC or the chapter's own contact page. Offer the same things you offer the VRC. Speak at a meeting. Sponsor a chapter event. Host a small networking night at your office. Keep it low key. These are working adults. They smell a sales pitch a mile away.

The goal is to be known and trusted. When a member is ready to job hunt, you want your company to be the first name they think of. That only happens if you show up before they need you.

How do apprenticeships and work-study tie in?

You do not have to wait for graduation to bring a student veteran on board. Two programs let you start the relationship while they are still in school. Both are low cost and low risk.

Registered Apprenticeships

A Registered Apprenticeship is an earn-and-learn job. The veteran works for you and gets paid from day one while they finish training. It is a proven model. The U.S. Department of Labor reports that 90% of apprentices stay employed after they finish, and employers see about $1.44 back for every $1 they put in. Veterans can often use GI Bill benefits alongside an apprenticeship, which sweetens the deal for them.

This works well in trades, manufacturing, IT, healthcare, and more. If you already run an apprenticeship, a community college VRC is a perfect feeder. For a deeper look at this model, see our guide on apprenticeship pathways to hire veterans.

VA Work-Study

VA Work-Study lets a student veteran work part time in a VA-related role and get paid by the VA, not by you. It is tax-exempt for the student. They earn at least the federal or state minimum wage, whichever is higher, for up to about 25 hours a week. The student must be enrolled at least three-quarter time. You can read the full rules on VA's work-study page.

Work-study roles must connect to the VA, so they often sit inside the campus VRC itself. You cannot use it to staff your own jobs directly. But it matters to you for one reason. The students doing work-study are organized, reliable, and known to the VRC. They are exactly the people the director will point you to first.

One more feeder worth naming: SkillBridge. Some student veterans are still finishing service and can intern with you at no salary cost to you, since the military keeps paying them. A campus VRC often knows who is in that window. If you want to host these interns, start with our guide on becoming a SkillBridge host company.

How do you build a repeatable campus recruiting cadence?

One campus visit is not a channel. A channel is a habit. The employers who win here show up on a schedule, every term, year after year. The VRC remembers them. The students expect them. Here is the cadence to run.

Hit campus career fairs each term. Most community colleges run one or two a year. Ask the VRC for the date and a spot near the veterans section. Send a team member who can talk about the actual work, not just an HR rep with a banner.

Run an info session once a term. A 45-minute talk about your company and your open roles. The VRC can book the room and invite the student veteran group. This is cheaper than a fair and gets you a warmer crowd.

Offer internships every cycle. An internship is the best test-drive there is. Bring on one or two student veterans a term. Treat it as a long interview. Many will convert to full hires once they finish their program.

And ask to join an advisory board. Many community colleges run program advisory boards where local employers help shape the curriculum. A seat there puts you in front of faculty and the best students all year. It also signals you are in this for real.

You can lean on free public help too. The Department of Labor runs American Job Centers that help employers recruit at no cost. Call 1-877-US2-JOBS to reach one, or start at the DOL VETS hire page. They can connect you to campus and community events you would never find alone.

How do you measure if the campus channel works?

A channel you cannot measure is a channel you will cut the first slow quarter. So track it from day one. The numbers do not need to be fancy. They need to be honest.

Track four things. How many candidates came from each campus. How many got an interview. How many got hired. And how many are still with you at six and twelve months. That last one is the whole point. Retention is where veteran hires often shine.

Give it real time before you judge it. A campus channel takes a year or two to warm up. The first term may bring zero hires and a lot of handshakes. That is normal. Trust is slow. The payoff comes when the VRC starts sending you people without being asked.

Compare cost too. A few hours a month and a small event budget against the price of a staffing agency fee. For most midsize employers, the campus channel is far cheaper per hire once it is running. To pull the broader numbers together for your leadership, our guide on the internal business case for veteran hiring can help.

You can also earn formal recognition for this work. The HIRE Vets Medallion Award from the Department of Labor honors employers for veteran hiring and retention. It has tiers for small, medium, and large companies, so a midsize firm can compete. It is a nice signal to put on your careers page.

Build the channel, then fill it fast

The campus channel is a slow build with a strong payoff. You partner with a VRC. You support a student veteran group. You show up every term with real roles. Over a year or two, that becomes a steady flow of local, motivated hires that your competitors are not even chasing.

But you have roles to fill now, not in two years. That is where a ready talent pool helps. BMR adds over 1,000 new veteran and military spouse profiles every month and has built more than 60,000 resumes. While you grow your campus pipeline for the long game, you can tap a pool that is ready today.

Want both the slow build and the fast fill? Partner with us to reach BMR's veteran talent pool. You can also keep building your plan with our guides on recruiting veterans for government contracts, recruiting veterans for skilled trades, and screening with our recruiter's checklist for veteran applicants.