You posted three open roles. Most of the people who walk in have never run the gear your job needs. Then someone shows up who ran the same kind of work in the military. They led a team. They passed a background check years ago. They show up early. But you only found one of them, and you got lucky.

Military job fairs and hiring events fix that luck problem. They put a room full of transitioning service members and veterans in front of you on purpose. The trick is knowing which events are worth your time. And knowing what to do once you are there.

This guide is for the hiring manager or talent team at a midsize company. You do not need a big veteran program to start. You need a plan for the right events, a smart booth, and a follow up that does not let people go cold.

Why Are Military Job Fairs Worth Your Time?

The veteran unemployment rate was 3.0 percent in 2024. That is lower than the rate for people who never served. Good veteran candidates are not sitting around. They get hired fast.

So you cannot wait for them to find your job board post. You have to go where they gather. Military hiring events are that place. They pull together people who are leaving service or already out. Many are on a clock and ready to move.

Source: BLS Employment Situation of Veterans.

These events give you three things a job post cannot. You meet the person face to face. You read past the military jargon in real time. And you build a name on base, so the next round of separating folks already knows you.

One more reason. People who serve are trained to show up and finish the job. They work in teams. They handle pressure. That is the kind of hire that stays. Job fairs are the fastest way to meet a lot of them in one day.

Which Military Hiring Events Should You Pick?

Not every event is worth a booth fee and a travel day. Here is how the main types stack up. Pick based on the roles you need to fill and how far your team can travel.

Base transition fairs

Every base runs a transition program for people leaving service. These programs hold or host job fairs for members in their last months of service. The crowd is fresh talent, weeks or months from their start date.

To get in, you usually work with the base transition office or the installation's job fair coordinator. Your local DOL VETS Regional Veterans' Employment Coordinator can point you to the right contact. These events are gold for early pipeline. You meet people before they ever hit a job board.

Hiring Our Heroes Career Summits

Hiring Our Heroes runs hundreds of hiring events each year across the country. Their Career Summits bring employers together with transitioning service members, veterans, and military spouses. They are a known brand on base, so turnout is strong.

They also run a SkillBridge fellowship program. If you want a longer look at a candidate before you commit, that path lets you host an active-duty member for weeks before separation. Learn more at DoD SkillBridge.

RecruitMilitary and large career expos

RecruitMilitary and similar groups run big veteran career expos in major metro areas. These are higher volume. You will meet more people in a day, but the crowd is broader. Good if you have many open roles and want reach. Less ideal if you need one rare skill.

Virtual hiring events

Virtual events let you meet candidates anywhere. No travel, no booth haul. Great for remote roles or for testing a new region before you spend on a live event. The trade-off is less face time. It is harder to build a real connection over a screen.

Many base programs and Hiring Our Heroes run virtual events too. Mix them with live ones. Use virtual to widen your reach and live events to build your name on a specific base.

Whichever you pick, your local American Job Center can help too. The DOL runs more than 2,400 of them. Many have a veteran specialist on staff who knows the local hiring events. Call 1-877-US2-JOBS to find one near you.

How Do You Prep Before the Event?

Most booths fail before the doors open. They show up with a banner and a bowl of pens. No real roles ready. No plan for who to talk to. Veterans can spot a box-checking booth in two seconds. Do the prep and you stand out fast.

Bring real, open roles you can fill

Walk in with two or three roles you are actually hiring for now. Print one-pagers for each. List the pay range, the location, and the day-to-day work. Skip the vague "great culture" talk. Veterans want to know the mission and the money.

Send the right people to the booth

Do not send only HR. Send at least one person who does the actual work or runs the team. A hiring manager can answer real questions on the spot. If you have a veteran on staff, send them too. They build trust faster than anyone else on your team.

Train your booth team to read military experience

Your booth team will hear words like squad leader, NCO, and S-shop. Coach them to ask what the person did, not just what the code was. A motor sergeant who ran a 40-vehicle fleet is a strong fit for a field operations lead. But only if your team knows to dig past the title.

For more on this, read how to interview a veteran candidate the right way. The same skill applies at the booth.

Set a simple goal and a way to track it

Decide what a good event looks like before you go. Maybe it is 15 strong conversations. Maybe it is 5 resumes for a hard-to-fill role. Bring a fast way to log each contact. A phone form or a simple sheet works. You will forget names by the drive home if you do not write them down.

How Do You Work the Floor on Event Day?

The event itself is short. Hours, not days. A good booth team makes every minute count. Here is the play.

Stand up and greet people. Do not sit behind the table on your phone. Make eye contact. Ask what they did in service and what they want next. Listen more than you talk. Veterans size you up fast.

When you find a fit, do not just take a resume. Ask a few real questions. Tell them the next step and when they will hear from you. A clear promise sets you apart from the booths that say "apply online" and move on.

Keep a short list of must-ask questions. What did you do in service? What kind of work do you want next? When do you separate or when can you start? Those three answers tell you if a person fits one of your open roles.

Do not overpromise. If someone is not a fit, be honest and point them to a better lane. Word travels on base. A booth that treats people straight gets remembered. That helps your next event more than any banner.

How Do You Follow Up So Candidates Don't Go Cold?

This is where most employers lose the candidates they worked so hard to meet. The fair ends. The resumes sit in a folder. Two weeks later someone finally emails. By then the person took another offer. Good veteran talent moves fast, remember.

Follow up within 48 hours. Same week at the latest. Send a short note that names something from your talk. "Great to meet you. You mentioned you ran a comms team. Here is the next step for our network role." That one line proves you listened.

Make the path short. Every extra step loses people. If your apply page asks a separating service member to retype their whole record into 30 boxes, many will quit halfway. Offer a real person they can reach. That alone beats most of your competition.

One more tip. Many candidates you meet are still active duty and weeks from their start date. Stay in touch even if they cannot start now. A check-in note every few weeks keeps you top of mind. When they do separate, you are the first call.

How Do You Turn Fairs Into a Real Pipeline?

A single fair is a nice day. A steady pipeline is what changes your hiring. The goal is to make veteran sourcing a habit, not a one-time event. A few moves get you there.

Pick two or three events a year near a base you can build a relationship with. Go back to the same ones. The transition office starts to know your name. They send you the strong candidates first. That repeat presence is worth more than hitting ten random expos once.

Connect the fair to your earlier sourcing. The best veteran hires often start before separation. Read how to hire transitioning service members before they separate. A fair is the perfect place to meet them early. Pair it with a SkillBridge host plan and you get a long working look before you commit.

Fairs work best inside a bigger plan. They are one channel, not the whole motion. Fit them into your overall veteran recruiting strategy so each event feeds a system, not a folder.

And do not forget the money side. Hiring a qualified veteran can earn your business a federal tax credit. See the Work Opportunity Tax Credit guide for hiring veterans before your next event. It can offset the cost of the booth and then some.

Where Does BMR Fit Your Sourcing?

Job fairs put people in front of you on one day. But you hire all year. Between events, you still need a way to reach veteran talent. That is the gap a steady pool fills.

Best Military Resume gives midsize employers a direct line to that talent. More than 1,000 new veteran profiles are added every month. Over 60,000 resumes have been built on the platform. These are people actively working on their next move, in the fields you hire for.

Use fairs to build your name on base. Use a year-round pool to keep the roles filled between events. Together they turn veteran hiring from a lucky break into a steady source.

Want a direct line to veteran talent in the fields you hire for? Partner with us and we will connect you with our pool.