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sprint.com/careers
You have our nation’s back.
We have yours.
We’re proud to be a leading employer of
veterans. You bring teamwork, leadership
and integrity to the job. Now bring them
to a career with Sprint.
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FORMER SERVICE MEMBERS BRING
INIMITABLE SKILLS TO THE WORKPLACE.
HERE’S WHY YOUR COMPANY SHOULD
LOOK TO THE MILITARY WHEN HIRING.
VETERANS FOR HIRE
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
✪SEAN COLLINS HAD A LONG AND DECORATED
CAREER FLYING AIRCRAFT IN THE U.S. NAVY.
He spent eight years traveling to the Mediter-
ranean, the Middle East, the Pacific Rim, and
beyond; was responsible for 14 other crewmen;
and was tasked with safely operating (and fight-
ing in) a multimillion-dollar aircraft.
Yet when he left the Navy in 2009, finding
a civilian job proved more complex than flying
defense aircraft. “I knew I had options,” he says,
“but I was unsure what those options were and
exactly what I was qualified to do in the civilian
sector.”
Rather than jumping into the workforce,
he went back to school to get his MBA. He’d
eventually land at Victory Media, a company
that gives veterans the tools to find work and
helps corporations connect with former military

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MIEAHMT/GETTYIMAGES
SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
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SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION
personnel. He’s now its vice president of product
development.
Most veterans feel that same career anxiety
after leaving the military, says Collins. Between
250,000 and 450,000 servicemen and service-
women leave the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force,
and National Guard every year; most don’t know
how their skills translate into the civilian world.
Many corporations face similar challenges in
onboarding military
candidates, says Col-
lins. “Post-9/11 service
members know they’re
valuable, and corporate
America values their
competencies and train-
ability gained through
service,” he says. “But
it’s hard for veterans
to know exactly how
to apply those skills
and where to plug in to
make a difference out-
side of the service.”
It’s not hard to
understand why there’s
such a struggle to slot
veterans into civilian
jobs: A modern-day
veteran’s skills of-
ten aren’t obviously
transferable. What can
an infantry officer who
carries weapons and is
involved in face-to-face
combat do in an office?
If HR people took a look
at Collins’ experience, they might as-
sume he’d make a great commercial
airline pilot—but what beyond that?
Kim Chiodi, senior vice president
of human resources for Western
& Southern Financial Group, a
Cincinnati-based financial services
firm, looks beyond those obvious
skills when hiring veterans. Western
& Southern Life, a member com-
pany, has a program that promotes
hiring veterans, and the business
was named a Top Military Friendly
Employer®
and Military Spouse
Friendly Employer®
by Victory Media
this year.
Military veterans have a number of skills that
any employer would value, she says. Many have
strong leadership qualities, disciplined execution,
loyalty, and commitment, and they understand
teamwork. “The qualities that the military instills
are the same values that we live by here,” she
says. “Veterans are a great match for us.”
Collins, who helps corporations connect with
transitioning service members and military
students on campus, is, obviously, not using his
flying talents at his current job. But he was imme-
diately trainable—becoming a pilot requires quite
a bit of that—and tech-savvy, analytical, and able
to make critical decisions on the fly.
That infantry soldier? He or she would make an
ideal operations manager, says Collins. They work
well under pressure, they’re good at leading small
teams of people, and they know their way around
high-tech environments.
While there’s still work to be done around hir-
ing veterans, a number of companies are institut-
ing programs specifically geared toward current
and former members of the military. Sprint, for
instance, offers a veteran-focused employee
resource group with 740 members nationwide. It
also provides mentors to all military employees
who request one.
The company has won several awards for its
military hiring program and has been focusing on
hiring veterans for a number of years.
Of course, companies can hire veterans with-
out any special efforts, but Sheri Ratliff, direc-
tor of talent acquisition with Sprint, says that a
dedicated program makes a lot of sense.
“We hire from the military because these
candidates have the skills we value,” Ratliff says.
“Veterans can adapt to changing environments,
they can perform under pressure, and they
have leadership ability, integrity, attention to
detail, strong follow-through, and dedication to
process improvement.”
Ratliff agrees that one of the biggest chal-
lenges is translating military skills into civilian
ones, which is why Sprint developed a cutting-
edge “military jobs transcoder” for its website.
Hiring managers and veterans can type in
a military title or job code and see what the
civilian equivalent will be. An infantry weapons
officer, for example, would be well suited to a
supervisor job, according to the transcoder.
It’s likely that an increasing number of
companies will purposefully recruit military
veterans, says Collins. He says companies real-
ize now, more than ever, just what post-9/11
service members bring to the table. As well,
corporate HR leaders recognize that their softer
skills, like leadership and dedication, are crucial
to doing a job properly.
The military is also a renewable talent pool,
similar to universities and colleges. In fact, veter-
ans may have more to offer companies than post-
secondary students. “Think about what it takes
to be successful in today’s military,” says Collins.
“It’s communicating up and down a chain of com-
mand, dealing with a diverse team of people from
different backgrounds, and achieving a common
objective. Those traits and the ability to quickly
train on new skill sets are exactly what Fortune
1,000 companies say they need.” ●
A
T PPL, WE ARE GRATEFUL FOR ALL
that military men and women do for our
freedom. We thank you for sacrificing
so much to serve our country, and for the free-
doms that make our nation great: from being
able to go to school and work where we please
to simply tucking in our children safely at night.
We place great value on the character, work
ethic, dignity, and respect of military personnel
and invite with open arms those who have
served.
To learn about jobs at PPL, visit
pplweb.com/careers.
FROM MILITARY TO
MANAGEMENT
VETERANS CAN
ADAPT TO CHANG-
ING ENVIRONMENTS,
PERFORM UNDER
PRESSURE, HAVE
LEADERSHIP ABILITY,
INTEGRITY, ATTEN-
TION TO DETAIL,
STRONG FOLLOW-
THROUGH, AND
DEDICATION TO
PROCESS
IMPROVEMENT.”
–SHERI RATLIFF,
SPRINT
‘‘
Proud to be
a Top Military
Friendly Employer
At Western & Southern Life, we are committed to
supporting military veterans, service members and
their spouses. Like those men and women, we believe
in service ... to our customers, our communities and
our associates. We are proud and honored to be a
military friendly employer.
To learn more about opportunities for veterans and
spouses, go to westernsouthernlife.com/military.
Cris Collinsworth
Western & Southern Spokesperson
The Western and Southern Life Insurance Company
is a member company of the Western & Southern Financial Group and operates in DC and all states
except AK, CT, ME, MA, NH, NY, and VT. Spokesperson is a compensated endorser.Cincinnati,Ohio.
WS 40049 1504