You typed "veteran jobs" into Indeed and got back 47,000 results. Half of them are warehouse positions. A quarter are security guard roles. And somewhere buried in there are the actual career-level jobs you spent years qualifying for in the military.

So you start wondering: does Indeed have a filter for veteran-friendly employers? Can you narrow results to companies that actually want to hire veterans, not just companies that slapped "veterans encouraged to apply" on a generic posting?

I went through this exact frustration after I separated from the Navy. I was a Navy Diver, and I spent 1.5 years applying to jobs with zero callbacks. Part of the problem was my resume. But a huge part was how I was searching. I was casting a wide net on platforms like Indeed without any real strategy, hoping the right job would surface on its own. It did not.

This article breaks down exactly what Indeed offers veterans, where it falls short, and the search strategies that actually produce results. No fluff. Just what works.

Does Indeed Actually Have a Veteran Job Filter?

Short answer: sort of, but not the way you probably want it to work.

Indeed does not have a dedicated "veteran-friendly employer" filter the way USAJOBS has veterans preference categories (VRA, VEOA, 30% disabled). You cannot check a box that says "show me only companies with veteran hiring commitments." That filter does not exist on Indeed.

What Indeed does have is a keyword-based search system. If you type "veteran" or "military" into the search bar alongside your job title, you will get results where those words appear in the posting. Sometimes that means the employer genuinely prioritizes veterans. Sometimes it means an HR coordinator copied a boilerplate equal opportunity statement that mentions veterans alongside 14 other categories.

Indeed also lets employers tag postings as part of their "veteran hiring" initiative. But this tagging is optional, inconsistent, and not something you can filter on from the job seeker side. The employer decides whether to use it. Many veteran-friendly companies skip the tag entirely because they do not know it exists.

So yes, Indeed has real opportunities for veterans. But it does not have structured veteran-specific filtering that would actually save you time. You need a smarter search strategy to make it work.

How to Search for Veteran-Friendly Jobs on Indeed

Since Indeed does not hand you a veteran filter on a silver platter, you need to build your own. Here are the search strategies that actually narrow your results to relevant positions.

Use Boolean Search Operators

Indeed supports Boolean logic in its search bar. This is the single most useful feature on the platform that almost nobody uses. You can combine keywords, exclude terms, and force exact phrases.

For example, if you are an E-6 logistics NCO looking for supply chain management roles at veteran-friendly companies, try this:

"supply chain manager" AND ("veteran hiring" OR "military experience preferred")

This tells Indeed to only show postings that contain the exact phrase "supply chain manager" AND at least one of the veteran-related phrases. Your result count drops from 47,000 to something you can actually read through.

Other Boolean combinations that work well:

• "project manager" AND "military friendly"
• "operations manager" AND ("veteran" OR "military") NOT "security guard"
• "logistics" AND "veteran hiring program"
• "IT specialist" AND ("transitioning military" OR "military spouse")

The NOT operator is just as powerful. If you keep seeing the same irrelevant job types, exclude them. NOT "security" NOT "warehouse" NOT "CDL" cleans up results fast.

Search by Employer Name, Not Just Job Title

If you already know which companies have strong veteran hiring programs, skip the keyword gamble entirely. Search the company name directly on Indeed.

Companies with documented veteran hiring commitments include Amazon (which has a large veteran hiring program), USAA, Lockheed Martin, Booz Allen Hamilton, Boeing, Deloitte, and JPMorgan Chase. These are not hidden. Their veteran hiring data is public.

Type the company name into Indeed's "Company" field and browse their open positions. This bypasses the keyword matching problem entirely because you already know the employer wants veterans. You are just looking for the right role.

Set Up Alerts With Veteran Keywords

Do not rely on checking Indeed manually every day. Set up job alerts with your Boolean search strings. Indeed will email you when new postings match your criteria.

Create separate alerts for different search strategies. One for your exact job title plus "veteran." One for your target companies. One for your civilian job title translations without the veteran keyword, so you do not miss postings from employers who are veteran-friendly but did not use the word in their listing.

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What Indeed Gets Right for Veterans

I have my criticisms of Indeed's veteran features, but it would be wrong to dismiss the platform entirely. Indeed does some things well.

The salary transparency is genuinely useful. Indeed estimates salary ranges for most postings, even when the employer does not list one. This matters for veterans who are used to a military pay structure and have no frame of reference for what a GS-11 equivalent role pays in the private sector. If you need to brush up on how to handle the money conversation, check out this salary negotiation guide for veterans.

The company reviews are another win. Before you apply, you can see what actual employees say about the culture, management, and work-life balance. For veterans who are used to a very specific work environment, these reviews help you avoid companies where you would be miserable. Look for reviews mentioning military veterans specifically. Some reviewers will say things like "great place for former military" or "management does not understand veteran backgrounds." That is free intel.

Indeed's resume upload feature also works. You upload your resume and employers can find you. The catch: your resume needs to be written in civilian terms with the right keywords, or it sinks to the bottom of employer searches. This is where having a properly translated military skills resume matters. More on that below.

Where Indeed Falls Short for Veterans

The biggest gap is the one we already covered: no real veteran-specific filtering. But there are other problems.

Indeed's resume database uses the same keyword-ranking system as every other platform. When an employer searches for candidates, Indeed ranks resumes based on keyword matches. If your resume still says "supervised 12 Sailors in a maintenance division" instead of "managed a 12-person team responsible for $3.2M in equipment maintenance," your profile ranks lower in employer searches. It does not get rejected. It just does not surface to the top where employers actually look.

The job quality is inconsistent. Indeed aggregates postings from company career pages, staffing agencies, and direct employers. Some of these postings are months old. Some are duplicates. Some are from staffing agencies that will not tell you the actual employer until you call them. Filtering through the noise takes time.

There is also no built-in tool for translating your military experience into civilian terms. Indeed expects you to show up with a civilian-ready resume. It does not help you get there. If you are still working on that translation, BMR's career crosswalk tool maps your MOS, rating, or AFSC to civilian job titles with salary data and federal position matches.

How to Make Your Indeed Profile Work Harder

If you are going to use Indeed, do not just upload your resume and wait. There are specific things you can do to increase your visibility to employers searching the database.

Translate Your Military Job Title in the Headline

Indeed lets you create a profile headline. This is the first thing employers see when your profile appears in search results. Do not put your military job title here. Put the civilian equivalent.

An E-7 who was a Navy Operations Specialist should not list "Operations Specialist (OS1)" as their headline. Use "Operations Manager | Program Analyst | Defense Sector" or whatever matches the roles you are targeting. If you are not sure what civilian titles match your military background, use our military terms glossary as a starting point.

Load Your Profile With Civilian Keywords

Indeed's employer search works on keywords. Think about what a hiring manager would type when searching for someone with your background. They are not typing "NCO" or "NCOIC." They are typing "team lead," "operations manager," "logistics coordinator," "project manager."

Go through the job postings you want and pull out the recurring terms. If you see "stakeholder management" in five postings, that phrase needs to appear in your Indeed profile. If you see "cross-functional teams," use that language. Match what they are searching for.

Keep Your Profile Active

Indeed ranks recently active profiles higher in employer searches. Log in at least weekly. Update a skill. Tweak your headline. Apply to a job through the platform. All of these signal to Indeed's algorithm that you are an active candidate, which pushes your profile up in search rankings.

Indeed vs USAJOBS vs LinkedIn for Veterans

You should not put all your eggs in one basket. Each platform serves a different purpose, and the smartest veterans run parallel searches on all of them.

I have covered the Indeed vs USAJOBS comparison in depth, and there is also a detailed breakdown of USAJOBS vs LinkedIn for veterans. Here is the quick version.

Indeed is best for private sector volume. It has the largest job database of any platform. The trade-off is noise. You will spend time filtering irrelevant results. Best for veterans targeting private sector roles at companies with veteran hiring programs.

USAJOBS is the only place to apply for federal jobs. Period. It has real veteran-specific filters: VRA, VEOA, Schedule A, 30% or more disabled veteran. If you are pursuing federal employment, USAJOBS is mandatory. And if you plan to use their built-in resume tool, our USAJOBS Resume Builder walkthrough explains every field so you do not leave anything blank that could hurt your score. For a full review of the platform, see our USAJOBS review for 2026.

LinkedIn sits between the two. It has job postings and a networking layer that neither Indeed nor USAJOBS offers. Veterans can get free LinkedIn Premium for one year, which is worth activating. And if you are debating the Open to Work banner on LinkedIn, the short answer is yes, turn it on.

The Resume Problem Nobody Talks About

Here is something I learned the hard way. I could have had the best Indeed search strategy in the world and it would not have mattered because my resume was the problem.

After reviewing thousands of applications as a federal hiring manager, I saw the same pattern over and over. Veterans with incredible experience. Resumes that read like military evaluation write-ups. Hiring managers who could not figure out what the applicant actually did in terms that matched the job description.

When you upload a resume to Indeed, that resume goes into their database. Employers search it using keywords from their job descriptions. If your resume says "maintained command accountability of all COMSEC material" and the employer is searching for "information security management," those two things do not match in the algorithm. Your profile does not surface.

The fix is straightforward: tailor your resume for the jobs you want before you upload it anywhere. Pull the keywords from the job descriptions you are targeting. Rewrite your experience in those terms. If your MOS was 25B (Information Technology Specialist), your Indeed profile should say "IT Systems Administrator" or "Network Engineer" or whatever matches your target roles.

If you want to skip the manual keyword-matching grind, BMR's military resume builder does this automatically. You paste in a job posting and it tailors your military experience to match the role. The free tier gives you two tailored resumes, which is enough to get your Indeed and LinkedIn profiles set up with the right language.

How Long Should Your Indeed Job Search Take?

If you are three months into an Indeed-only job search with no callbacks, that is not normal. Something in your approach needs adjusting. Either your resume is not matching keywords, your search strategy is too broad, or you are applying to jobs that are not a good fit for your experience level.

I wrote a detailed breakdown of how long the veteran job search actually takes, but the short version: most veterans who have a tailored resume and a focused search strategy land interviews within 4 to 8 weeks. If you are past that window, the problem is usually the resume, not the platform.

Track your applications. If you are applying to 50 jobs and hearing nothing, the resume is the bottleneck. If you are getting interviews but no offers, the problem is interview prep. If you are not finding relevant jobs at all, the problem is your search strategy. Each problem has a different fix.

What to Do Next

Indeed is a useful tool in your job search, but it is not built specifically for veterans. There is no magic veteran filter that surfaces the perfect job. The veterans who get results on Indeed are the ones who search strategically, translate their experience into civilian language, and tailor their resumes for each application.

Here is where to start:

• Set up Boolean search alerts on Indeed using the strategies above
• Translate your military job title and skills into civilian terms using BMR's career crosswalk tool
• Build a tailored resume with the right keywords using the military resume builder
• Run parallel searches on USAJOBS and LinkedIn alongside Indeed
• Review your approach every two weeks and adjust if you are not getting callbacks

The platform does not matter as much as the preparation. Get your resume right, search smart, and the interviews will come.