A recruiter sees a veteran's last "pay" listed as $48,000 base. So they anchor the offer near that. Or a little above it. They think they are being generous.

The veteran sees that same offer and walks. To them, it is a pay cut. Both sides are reading the same number. Both sides are reading it wrong.

Military pay does not work like a civilian salary. It is split into pieces. Some of it is taxed. A lot of it is not. When a recruiter treats "base pay" like a full salary, the math falls apart. The veteran feels lowballed even when the recruiter feels fair.

This article is about the comp mistakes that cost you good veteran hires. Not how a veteran should negotiate. That is a different topic. This is about what the company gets wrong, and how to make a fair offer that wins the candidate and keeps them.

Why doesn't military pay map to a civilian salary?

Here is the core problem. A civilian salary is one number. Military pay is many numbers stacked together.

A service member gets base pay. That part is taxed. Then they get a housing allowance, called BAH. They get a food allowance, called BAS. Those allowances are not taxed at all. The IRS excludes them from gross income under the tax code. They never show up in Box 1 of a W-2.

So a veteran who had $48,000 in base pay was not living on $48,000. With tax-free housing and food on top, plus full healthcare and a pension path, the real value was much higher. You can read how the allowances work on Military OneSource, the Defense Department's official benefits site.

This matters for one reason. When you ask a veteran "what did you make," the answer is messy. They might say their base. They might say their gross. They might add up the allowances and benefits and give you a big number. None of those is a clean civilian salary.

What is the "they will take anything" myth?

The first myth is that veterans are just happy to land a job. So they will accept whatever you offer.

This leads to down-leveling. You see a senior NCO who ran a 40-person section and managed millions in equipment. But the resume reads "military," so you slot them into an entry-level role. You offer entry-level pay. You tell yourself they need the break.

That is a costly read. A platoon sergeant or a chief petty officer was a mid-level to senior manager. They led people, owned budgets, and answered for results. Pricing that experience like a fresh graduate is not generous. It is a mismatch.

Here is what happens next. The veteran takes the job because they need income. Then they realize the role is below them. Within a year, they leave for a company that saw the real level. You paid to train a hire who walked. To read rank correctly, see our guide on military rank for civilian recruiters.

What is the opposite myth, that veterans overprice themselves?

The flip side is just as common. A recruiter hears a veteran ask for a number that sounds high. So they decide the candidate is unrealistic and move on.

Often the veteran is not overpricing. They are grossing up their military pay the wrong way. They added their base, their tax-free allowances, their bonus, and the cash value of healthcare. Then they handed you one big number and called it salary.

That number is real to them. It is what their family lived on. But it includes things a civilian salary does not, like tax-free money and a pension. So it looks inflated next to your salary band.

The fix is not to write them off. The fix is to translate. Walk through the pieces. Show them how a $70,000 salary with your benefits compares to their old package. Most veterans do this math gladly once someone explains it. The candidate who seemed "too expensive" is often right in your range.

How do you translate total military compensation to a salary?

You do not need a spreadsheet. You need to understand the pieces, then ignore the pieces and price the role. Here is the simple way to think about it.

First, know what made up their package. Base pay was taxed. Housing and food allowances were not taxed. There was a bonus or special pay in some cases. There was free or near-free healthcare. There was a pension building in the background.

Second, do not try to match that exact package. You cannot. A civilian salary is taxed all the way through. Instead, gross up the tax-free part so you compare apples to apples. A rough rule: tax-free money is worth more than the same dollar of salary, because the salary gets taxed.

Third, set that translation aside. Use it only to sanity-check, not to set the offer.

Why should you anchor on the role's market rate?

This is the whole fix in one line. Stop anchoring on what a veteran "made" before. Anchor on what the role pays.

The candidate's last military pay tells you almost nothing useful about a civilian offer. It was structured differently, taxed differently, and tied to a rank system that does not exist at your company. Using it as your anchor builds error into the offer from the start.

Your market rate, on the other hand, is solid ground. You know what the role pays. You know your band. You know what scope earns the top of the band. So price it like you would price any strong candidate.

For wage benchmarks by occupation, the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook gives you national medians. Pair that with your own band. Then judge the veteran's scope against the role, the same way you would judge anyone. To read that scope off a resume, use our veteran resume screening guide.

When you anchor on the role, both myths disappear. You will not down-level a senior NCO into entry pay. And you will not panic when a candidate quotes a high gross number, because your offer was never built on their number anyway.

What does lowballing actually cost you?

A low offer feels like a win on the day you make it. You saved a few thousand dollars. The cost shows up later, and it is bigger than the savings.

Start with the offer itself. A veteran who runs the math and sees a pay cut will decline. Now you reopen the role. You eat more recruiter time, more days with the seat empty, and the risk that your next candidate is weaker. Speed matters here, and a stalled offer kills it. See our notes on reducing time-to-hire for veteran candidates.

Now say they take the low offer anyway. You did not save money. You bought a retention problem. The hire feels underpaid from day one. They do the gross-up math at home and feel it more each month. They start looking. The single biggest reason a good hire walks is pay that does not match the work.

Replacing them costs far more than the gap you saved. You pay to recruit again, train again, and ramp again. Veterans tend to stay when the deal is fair, which is part of the ROI of hiring veterans in the first place. A lowball offer throws that away.

How do you make a fair offer that wins veteran talent?

Fair offers are not just nice. They are how you win the candidate and keep them. Here is how to handle comp so it works.

Lead with the role's pay, not their history. Tell them the band early. "This role pays $68,000 to $76,000 here." That one line removes the guessing on both sides. It shows you priced the work, not their old rank.

Translate when they quote a confusing number. Do not flinch and do not write them off. Walk through the pieces with them. Most veterans land in your range once the math is clear.

Name the total package, not just salary. Veterans came from a world of allowances and benefits. So your healthcare, retirement match, and PTO matter to them. Spell out the full value, the same way the military did.

Move fast and stay clear. A fair offer that drags loses to a faster one. Veterans tend to reward employers who treat them straight, which is a big part of why veteran hires stay.

How does fair pay tie to keeping veteran hires?

Comp is not a one-time event. The offer sets the tone, but the relationship is what keeps them. Veterans came from a system with a clear, public pay scale. Everyone knew what each rank earned. Promotions and raises followed known rules.

So a veteran notices when civilian pay feels random or hidden. They notice if they got slotted low and never caught up. They notice if peers who do less make more. That sense of an unfair deal is a top reason hires leave.

The fix carries past the offer. Keep their pay matched to their level as they grow. Review it like you would any strong performer. Be open about how raises and promotions work. We cover this in our guide to pay and promotion equity for veteran employees.

Do this and you get the upside everyone wants from veteran hiring. People who stay, lead, and bring more good candidates with them. The ones most likely to stay show clear signals early, which we break down in how to spot a veteran candidate who will stay.

Where can you find veteran candidates already translated?

Most of the comp confusion starts with a resume that reads "military." The pay, the rank, the scope all sit in language a recruiter has to decode. That is where the misreads begin.

Best Military Resume gives you a pool of veteran candidates whose experience is already written in civilian terms. You can see the scope, the level, and the skills without guessing at rank or pay structure. That makes it far easier to anchor a fair offer on the role and judge the candidate's real level.

The pool keeps growing. Over 1,000 new veteran profiles get added every month, and more than 60,000 resumes have been built on the platform. So you are sourcing from a fresh, deep, and growing supply of candidates ready for a clear, fair offer.

If you want to hire veterans without the comp guesswork, reach out to access BMR's veteran talent pool. Price the role, make a fair offer, and win talent that stays.