How to Build a Veteran Hiring Pipeline Across Your Portfolio 

In today’s competitive labor market, financial sponsor-backed portfolio companies face a universal challenge: talent. 

Across industries, portfolio companies are struggling to recruit, retain, and develop the people they need to scale. But there’s a proven, underutilized solution that can give portfolio companies a competitive edge while creating measurable long-term value: helping them connect to the veteran talent community. 

For PE firms, this isn’t about telling CEOs how to run their companies. It’s about being a value-added partner who opens doors. By making portfolio job opportunities visible to veterans and military spouses, firms help their companies reach a pool of talented candidates they may not even know exist. 

The Veteran Advantage for Private Equity 

Veterans bring proven skills from high-stakes environments: problem-solving under pressure, leading diverse teams, and adapting quickly to change. They ramp up faster than civilian peers, stay longer, and strengthen culture through diverse perspectives. For portfolio companies, that translates into reduced turnover costs, stronger leadership pipelines, and improved operational execution. 

But the real challenge is building the bridge between veteran job seekers and the open roles at portfolio companies. 

This is where private equity can shine. By facilitating that connection—through shared partnerships, outreach, and recruiting networks—firms can help their companies reach an overlooked pool of high-quality candidates without dictating how they hire. This also helps provide meaningful employment to the local communities where the portfolio companies operate. Limited Partners are also excited for this development, and this effort supports the local communities and constituencies LP’s support. 

How PE Firms Can Build a Veteran Hiring Pipeline 

• Define the Opportunity, Not the Mandate: Make veteran hiring a clear option for portfolio leaders by sharing how other companies have tapped this talent pool. Position it as a tool, not a directive. 
• Build Partnerships That Scale: Engage with organizations like Hiring Our Heroes, DoD SkillBridge, VetJobs, and local veteran service groups. These partnerships make portfolio job openings more visible to veterans—an easy value-add that portfolio leaders can leverage if they choose. 
• Support Recruiting Visibility: Create veteran-friendly job description templates, train recruiters on military-to-civilian skill translation, and share marketing channels that help portfolio jobs reach the veteran community. 
• Offer Internal Champions: Encourage companies to highlight existing veteran employees who can serve as ambassadors and advocates. 
• Measure and Share Success: Track veteran applicants and hires across the portfolio. Sharing these outcomes demonstrates to portfolio leaders that the approach works—without imposing any process—and can also be marketed to LPs as measurable social impact. 

Building Lasting Impact

When executed strategically, veteran hiring pipelines create compounding value. Portfolio companies gain access to a loyal, high-performing talent pool. Investors strengthen ESG and diversity narratives while supporting measurable workforce development. And veterans gain meaningful careers where their skills drive business results. 

Matthew Forester, AVP on Nuveen’s Real Estate New Business team, formerly with KKR, and a panelist in the upcoming installment of American Veterans Group’s VetSuccess series, has seen that impact firsthand. 

“During my time at KKR, my colleague and I worked closely with American Veterans Group and the VetJobs team to create a hiring process to benefit our various portfolio companies," he said. “There was measurable value seen from companies who created a dedicated veterans and military spouses hiring process.” 

Through quarterly calls with more than 20 portfolio companies, KKR connected talent acquisition teams directly with VetJobs. That connection gave portfolio leaders a channel to market their open jobs to veterans, making it easier for them to access this candidate pool. 

The results spoke for themselves: within six months, more than a dozen veterans had been hired across multiple companies, and the program continues to grow today. 

Access the Private Equity Playbook  

Building a veteran hiring pipeline is no longer just a “nice to have.” It’s a simple, scalable way for PE firms to demonstrate value to their portfolio companies by helping them reach an in-demand candidate pool. 

Join us for VetSuccess: Opportunity in Private Equity  on October 15 to learn from experts how firms can leverage veteran hiring to add more value to its portfolio companies. Hear directly from leaders, like Nuveen’s Matthew Forester, who are putting these strategies into practice during this informative webinar hosted by American Veterans Group.