With the military drawdown in the Middle East, over one million United States military service members are expected to leave the service over the next four years.  The majority of them will seek civilian employment.  The challenge for these men and women who have devoted years to serving our country will be to find jobs in the civilian workforce.  Trends in recent years show that unemployment among veterans, especially those in the 20 to 24 year old age range, is high.  The Department of Defense currently spends over $1 billion a year on unemployment compensation for ex-service members (UCX).  While civilian employers indicate a strong desire to hire transitioning service members and veterans, they report difficulty in translating military training and experience to the skills required in the civilian workplace. 

Recognizing the need to help employers understand the transferability of military skills and experience to civilian jobs, policy makers at all levels of government are looking for opportunities to promote the attainment of civilian occupational credentials (professional certifications and licenses) among active duty service members and veterans.  The interest in promoting credentialing for those who have served in the military directly parallels recent initiatives to increase post-secondary credential attainment in the civilian workforce, in general.  It is also consistent with the need to be able to develop a common nomenclature to assess the skills and competencies of prospective employees, which is imperative with the globalization of the world’s economy.  

Because the military workforce represents a microcosm of the civilian workforce, civilian credentials apply to the vast majority of military occupations.  The types of occupations held by service members are representative of the range of occupations in the civilian work force, including such areas as human resources, food service preparation, electronics, logistics, automotive, information technology, and healthcare.  Our research shows that 100 percent of military occupational specialties can be linked to a civilian credential.  Moreover, it shows that the benefits of facilitating the credentialing of service members and veterans accrue not just to the service members or veterans themselves, but also to the military services, and ultimately to the taxpayer. 

While the benefits or promoting credentialing are great, we have also found that numerous barriers to credential attainment exist.  These barriers must be alleviated in order to facilitate the ability of service members and veterans to attain civilian credentials and improve their opportunities in the civilian workforce.  The findings from this research have significant implications for policy makers at all levels who seek to reduce veteran unemployment and ensure the smooth transition of service members into the civilian workforce.