You set up the apprenticeship-to-hire track. The slots are open. Now you need people to fill them. That is the part most employers underplan for.

Setting up the program is one job. Finding the right people to put in it is a separate job. They need different work, and the second one is where good programs stall. A track with empty seats does not convert anyone to a full-time hire.

Veterans are a strong fit for earn-and-learn tracks. They are used to structured training. They show up. They follow a standard and they finish what they start. But you have to go find them, and most of them will not be searching the same way a civilian apprentice candidate searches. This guide is about the sourcing side. Where to look, how to read a thin resume for apprenticeship potential, and how to set the track up so people convert to full-time when they finish.

What is different about sourcing for an apprenticeship-to-hire track?

A normal job opening asks for someone who can already do the work. An apprenticeship-to-hire track asks for someone who can learn the work fast and stick around. That changes who you look for and how you read their background.

You are not screening for years of experience. You are screening for trainability, reliability, and fit with the trade. A veteran who ran a maintenance shop in the Navy may have zero civilian electrician hours. That does not mean they cannot learn the trade in your program. It means the resume needs a second read.

The other shift is the close. A standard hire ends when the offer is signed. An apprenticeship-to-hire track only pays off when the person finishes and converts to a full-time role. So your sourcing has to screen for staying power too, not just a strong start.

Where do you find veterans for apprenticeship slots?

The people you want are not all in one place. They split across a few stages of transition. Some are still in uniform with months left. Some got out last year and are working a stopgap job. You want a channel for each.

Lead with a candidate database

The fastest way to fill slots is to search, not wait. A veteran candidate database lets you filter by field and skill and reach out first. You are not stuck hoping the right person finds your posting.

BMR is that database. There are over 1,000 new veteran profiles added every month, and more than 60,000 resumes have been built on the platform. For an apprenticeship track that needs a steady feed of candidates, a growing pool matters more than a one-time job fair. You can reach out to access the talent pool and search by the field your track covers.

Pull from SkillBridge before they separate

SkillBridge lets a service member train with a civilian company during their last 180 days of service. They stay on full military pay and benefits the whole time. For an apprenticeship-to-hire track, this is close to ideal. You get a working tryout of up to 180 days. They get hands-on time in the trade before they ever come off active duty.

A SkillBridge slot is not a job offer. The person is still in the military and still drawing military pay. The offer comes later, when they separate and you decide to convert them. You can read more about how this channel works on the official DoD SkillBridge site, and on our guide to sourcing veterans through the SkillBridge directory.

Work with VSOs and apprenticeship boards

Veteran service organizations talk to transitioning members every day. Many run trade-focused programs. They can point qualified people at your track if you tell them what you need. Our guide on partnering with VSOs by type breaks down which kinds fit which roles.

Job boards are the channel most employers reach for first. They work, but they are passive. You post and you wait. For the board side specifically, see our walkthrough on recruiting veterans through apprenticeship job boards. Use boards to widen the top of the funnel, but do not rely on them to fill the track alone.

How do you read a veteran resume for apprenticeship potential?

A veteran applying for an apprenticeship often has a resume that looks thin for the trade. No civilian hours in your field. Job titles you have never seen. This is where good candidates get passed over by mistake.

The skill is there. The words are written in military language. Your job is to read past the title and find the trainability underneath. A former aircraft mechanic has thousands of hours turning wrenches under a strict standard. A former gunner's mate ran and maintained complex systems. Neither one will say "apprentice-ready" on the page. Both are.

One note on how candidates get ranked. If you use software to score applicants, remember it racks and stacks them by keyword. A veteran whose resume uses military terms will sink low on that list, even when they are a strong fit. They do not get filtered out. They get buried. So when you source for an apprenticeship track, look past the auto-ranking and read the thin resumes yourself.

How do you set the track up so candidates convert to full-time?

Sourcing the right people is wasted if they walk before the track ends. The convert-to-hire part is the whole point. A few things on your side make the difference between a candidate who finishes and one who quits halfway.

Be clear about the path on day one. Tell the candidate what full-time looks like, what the pay is, and what they have to hit to get there. Veterans plan around mission and timeline. A vague "we will see how it goes" reads as a red flag to someone used to clear orders.

If you have not built the track yet, start there first. Our guide on setting up a registered apprenticeship to hire veterans covers the structure. You can register a program through the DOL apprenticeship system, which also helps candidates trust the track is real and certified.

Can you use GI Bill funding to make the track more attractive?

Money helps you compete for good candidates. A registered apprenticeship can be approved so the veteran draws a GI Bill housing stipend on top of their training wage. That stipend can be the deciding factor for someone choosing between your track and a regular job.

The approval runs through a State Approving Agency. It is a separate process from setting up the program itself, and it is worth doing if you want an edge in sourcing. We cover the full path in our guide on sponsoring a veteran apprenticeship with SAA and GI Bill approval.

One caution here. Funding rules and tax credits change, and some lapse. This is general guidance, not legal or tax advice. Confirm the current status of any benefit or credit with the agency before you put a dollar figure in front of a candidate.

How do you source for the trades specifically?

Apprenticeship-to-hire is most common in skilled trades and on the plant floor. That is where the model fits best. Welding, electrical, HVAC, diesel, machining, facilities. Veterans coming out of maintenance and equipment fields land in these tracks naturally.

If your track sits in a trade, two of our industry guides will help you frame the roles and the pitch. See hiring veterans for construction roles and hiring veterans for manufacturing roles. For the broader trades context, our overview of apprenticeship pathways to hire veterans for trades covers the workforce side.

Veterans bring a strong baseline to these tracks. The 2025 unemployment rate for all veterans sat at 3.5 percent, and for Gulf War-era II veterans at 3.6 percent, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A low jobless rate means the strong candidates move fast. If you want them in your apprenticeship slots, you have to source actively, not wait.

How do you source without crossing EEO lines?

You can target veterans as a source pool. You cannot screen other people out for not being veterans. The difference is real and it matters.

Sourcing from veteran channels, posting on veteran boards, and reaching out through a veteran database are all fine. Veteran status is a protected and favored class, so building a pipeline around it is allowed. What you cannot do is make non-veteran status a reason to reject an otherwise qualified candidate for the open slot.

This is general guidance and not legal advice. For the full picture, read our guide on sourcing veterans without violating EEO rules, and check the DOL VETS employer hiring page for the official employer guidance.

Where to start

An apprenticeship-to-hire track lives or dies on a steady feed of the right candidates. Build the channels before the slots open, not after. Lead with a candidate database you can search, add SkillBridge for the active-duty tryout, and use VSOs and boards to widen the top.

Then read the thin resumes yourself. The veteran who looks underqualified on paper is often the one who learns your trade fastest and stays the longest. That is the whole bet of an apprenticeship, and veterans are built for it.

When you are ready to fill your track, reach out to access BMR's veteran talent pool. Over 1,000 new veteran profiles are added every month, so you can search by your trade and reach out to candidates first instead of waiting on applications.