Veteran-focused social platform Sandboxx wants to pair its community members with experts who can ease their transition back into the workforce — and hopefully even land them a job.
Global firm Betts Recruiting will join the self-described “military media and technology company” to empower vets to seek careers in the tech industry and to demonstrate their unique value to potential employers.
“We can think of no better partner than Sandboxx to help connect some of our country’s greatest talent, active military and veterans, with leading, high-growth companies,” Carolyn Betts Fleming, CEO of Betts Recruiting, told TechCrunch. “Betts is proud to expand our ongoing commitment to help remove barriers so that more veterans gain access to these amazing opportunities. To better serve this community, we trained a team of recruiters to help veterans translate their military experience into valuable skillsets for tech sales.”
The initiative will manifest across Sandboxx’s network as push and in-app notifications and email newsletters that start a conversation around professional development topics, like perfecting your LinkedIn profile and honing interview skills.
Sandboxx founder and CEO Sam Meek argues that vets bring a wide breadth of unique advantages to the table.
“A particular resiliency lives within today’s warfighter that transfers well into the tech space,” Meek said. “With a sense of curiosity and duty to accomplish the mission, we see many veterans adapting military skills into the workplace.”
He contends that between their leadership experience and service, vets are actually ideally suited to the high pressure environment of many startups. According to Meek, career data bears this out.
“The military creates a wide and deep spectrum of skills and leadership capability. We see 20 year Master Sergeants landing Chief of Staff positions, four year Airmen starting under data scientists to 12 year military spouse following a dream into a Lead Designer for a blog company. The U.S. Military is a remarkable melting pot of experience for the tech sector to tap.”
As Meek explains, military structure actually allocates time for veterans to acquire the kind of skills that make for desirable talent among tech companies. “Successful transitions to civilian lifestyle begin with months, if not a year of preparation,” Meek said. “The time needed to learn how to become a mobile engineer or refine enterprise sales talent is afforded to those making this leap out of cammies. It one of the most overlooked benefits of serving in our military.”
While vets might have independently built up their skillsets, Betts will offer consulting for the interview process in addition to working with hiring managers and potential hires to find an ideal career fit. Betts, which made a public commitment to veterans in November 2016, has already pursued veteran-specific partnerships with a handful of tech companies, including Everstring, MuleSoft, EatClub and Dynamic Signal, to specifically recruit veterans to join their sales teams.
According to the company, firms often hire veterans in sales development or account executive positions, both roles that “require a great deal of resiliency and diligence,” with salaries ranging from $65,000 to $85,000. More experienced veterans might end up in sales leadership, with a salary range of $120,000 to $170,000.
“Fast-paced companies are seeking young veterans,” Meek said. “They are tenacious, hungry and understand the value of accomplishing the mission.”
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