Most veteran sourcing runs the same way. A req opens. You go dig. You scan a database, fire off a job post, message a few people on LinkedIn, then wait. By the time you find someone good, the role has been open for weeks. Then the next req opens and you start the dig over again. It is slow, it is manual, and it resets to zero every time.

There is a better setup. You build alerts once and let new matching candidates come to you. A saved search on a veteran talent platform, a job-board alert, a LinkedIn search you save, an ATS search agent. Each one watches for the kind of person you hire and pings you when a fresh match shows up. You stop chasing. You start reviewing.

This guide shows you how to set those alerts up across the tools you already use, plus the BMR candidate search on the hire page. It also covers the part most teams skip: a simple review cadence so the alerts actually turn into hires and not another ignored inbox folder.

Why Should Sourcing Pull Candidates In, Not Chase Them?

Chasing does not scale. Every manual search dies the moment you close the tab. The work you did to find good people last month does not help you this month. You pay the same time cost again and again.

Alerts change the math. You spend the effort once to define what a good hire looks like. After that, the tools do the watching. New profiles, new job seekers, new candidates who just flipped to open. They get matched against your search and surface in your inbox while you work on something else.

This matters more for veteran roles than most. The talent pool moves on a cycle. People separate, finish a SkillBridge tour, or wrap an ETS date and start looking all in the same few weeks. A static search you ran in March misses the people who became available in May. An alert catches them the day they show up.

The veteran pool is also active, not idle. The 2025 jobless rate for Gulf War-era II veterans was 3.6 percent, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics. These candidates are working or move fast when they look. If you wait until a req opens to start your search, the strong ones are already gone. Alerts get you in front of them early.

Posting a job and hoping is the opposite of this. If you want the full breakdown on why that fails, read why posting a job is not a sourcing strategy. Alerts are the inbound fix for that gap.

What Should Your Saved Search Actually Filter On?

An alert is only as good as the search behind it. A sloppy search floods you with bad matches and you tune it out by week two. A tight search sends you a handful of people worth a real look. Build the search before you build the alert.

Start with the role, not the person. Pull the two or three things that actually make someone a fit. Skip the wish list. If the role needs hands-on logistics leadership, your search filters for logistics and supply roles, not for a 12-item degree-and-cert checklist that screens out good people.

Search Both Languages

Veterans describe their work two ways. The military term and the civilian term. A supply NCO might show up as "92A" or as "inventory manager" or as "supply chain lead." If your search only uses one, you miss half the pool. Build the search to catch both.

For the keyword side of this, our guide on writing a Boolean search string to find veterans walks through how to pair military and civilian terms in one query. Build that string once and it becomes the spine of every alert you set up.

Add Location and Recency

Two filters earn their keep on almost every search. Location, so you are not pinged about people 1,000 miles from a role that needs them onsite. And recency, so you favor people who just became active. A profile that updated last week beats one that went quiet a year ago.

How Do You Set Up Alerts on a Veteran Talent Platform?

A veteran-specific talent database is the highest-yield place to set up an alert. The whole pool is military. You are not filtering veterans out of a sea of everyone. You are searching inside a group that already fits, then narrowing to the role.

On the BMR candidate search, you build a search the same way: the skill, both terms, the location radius. The pool refreshes constantly. BMR adds over 1,000 new candidate profiles every month, so a saved search keeps surfacing fresh names long after you set it. You are not searching a frozen list. You are watching a moving one.

The play is simple. Set one saved search per role type you hire often. Not one per open req. You hire warehouse leads, field techs, and project managers on repeat? That is three standing searches, each watching its slice of the pool. When a req opens, you already have a warm list. No blank screen.

To get the most out of a veteran database before you even set the alert, read how to search a veteran resume database effectively. A good base search is what your alert runs on autopilot.

How Do You Set Up Job-Board and LinkedIn Alerts?

Veteran platforms are the core. Job boards and LinkedIn fill in around them. Each one has its own alert setup, and each catches people the others miss. Run all three and you cover most of the pool.

Job-Board Alerts

Veteran-focused job boards let you save a search and get emailed when a new candidate matches. Set the filters the same way: skill, both terms, location. Check the board's settings for a "save search" or "candidate alert" option. Most have one. To pick the right boards first, see our list of the best veteran job boards for employers.

LinkedIn Saved Searches

LinkedIn lets you save a people search and turns it into an alert. Run your search, then save it. LinkedIn pings you when new people fit. The free version is limited, but even a basic saved search beats running it by hand every week. For the full method, read how to source veterans on LinkedIn.

ATS Search Agents

Your ATS already holds veteran applicants you passed on or never got to. Most systems let you save a search or set a "search agent" that re-surfaces them when a new role matches. This is free pipeline you already paid to collect. Set one agent per role type and stop letting good past applicants rot in the database.

How Often Should You Review Your Alerts?

Alerts fail one of two ways. You set them and never look. Or they flood you and you tune them out. Both end the same way: a folder full of unread matches and zero hires. A review cadence is what turns alerts into outcomes.

Keep it light. The goal is a short standing block, not a new project. Most teams do well with a weekly pass and a monthly tune-up. One person owns it. If nobody owns the review, it does not happen.

Speed is the whole point of the weekly pass. A good veteran candidate who just became active will not sit on the market. If your alert pings you Monday and you reach out Friday, someone else got there first. Same-week contact is how the inbound setup actually beats the old chase.

How Do Alerts Fit Into the Rest of Your Sourcing?

Alerts are not the whole job. They are the inbound engine that keeps a base layer of fresh candidates flowing without daily effort. The rest of your sourcing layers on top.

The big lift alerts solve is the pipeline-before-reqs problem. You stop starting cold every time a role opens. You have a standing flow of matches you already vetted. That is the real start of a pipeline. To build the rest of it, see how to build a veteran talent pipeline before reqs open.

Alerts also pair well with passive outreach. The people your alert surfaces are not all actively applying. Many are open but quiet. Reaching them takes a different touch. Our guide on how to reach passive veteran candidates covers how to message someone who was not expecting your note.

To track whether the whole setup is working, tie it to a simple scorecard. Our guide on building a veteran sourcing scorecard shows how to measure which channels, including your alerts, actually produce qualified candidates.

What Mistakes Kill an Alert Setup?

The setup is easy. Keeping it useful is where teams slip. A few common errors turn a good alert system into noise nobody trusts.

There is one rule to keep your searches clean and legal. You can target where veterans gather and search on military skills. You cannot reject a candidate because they are a veteran, or refuse to consider non-veterans for the same role. Veteran status is a protected category. Build alerts to find people, not to screen anyone out. The Department of Labor VETS employer resources cover the rules, and the full sourcing breakdown is in how to source veterans without violating EEO rules.

What to Do This Week

You do not need a project plan to start. You need one good search and one place to run it. Pick the role you hire most. Write the search: the two real skills, the military and civilian terms, a location radius. Save it as an alert on a veteran talent platform. Then add the same search to a job board and your ATS.

Put a 15-minute weekly block on one person's calendar to open the new matches and reach out the same day. That is the whole system. One search, three places, one standing review. It runs while you work on everything else.

The BMR candidate search is built for exactly this. The pool is all military, it grows by over 1,000 new profiles a month, and you can save a search per role so fresh matches keep surfacing. Set yours up on the hire page and let qualified veterans start coming to you.