Lowe's: Military Passionate Branding Done Right

Last weekend, in the middle of a home improvement project, I had to go to Lowe's for supplies. As I was checking out, I used my military ID for the 10% discount Lowe's offers military customers. When the cashier thanked me for my service, I realized the last three times I had shopped at Lowe's, the same thing had happened. This cashier told me that Lowe's has implemented a new prompt on their cash register screens to remind their cashiers to thank military customers for their service each time a military ID is used. Standing there, I was reminded of a recent video I saw about a military veteran who noticed the "Service Dogs Welcome" sign at Lowe's and applied for a job there. Lowe's not only hired him, but his service dog, Charlotte, wears her own Lowe's employee vest.

Over and over I hear that the recruiting landscape is changing. On every recruiting podcast I listen to, I hear a conversation about social recruiting, recruiting content marketing, and the importance of a consistent branding message across the candidate, consumer, and employee experience. Yet, I haven't seen this exemplified in day-to-day life as well as I saw at Lowe's last weekend.I've written and spoken frequently about the difference between military-friendly companies and military-passionate ones. I liken it to dating - would you want to date someone who is just "friendly" about you? As in, they'd enjoy your company, if it didn't put them out too much, but they aren't going out of their way for you. Would you rather be with someone who is "passionate" about you? That's the person who can't wait to spend time with you and does their best to learn everything about you so that you are comfortable with them and enjoy the time you spend together. Personally, that's the person I want to be with - the one who is passionate about my presence and excited to see me. Now let's compare that to many military-friendly companies. They would love to hire veterans, so long as it doesn't require too much on their part. But ask some of these companies who on their team regularly reviews veteran resumes to get them past the computer systems and helps explain to hiring managers conducting interviews the intangible value the veteran brings to the workforce, and they come up short.In the opinion of Hire Served, being military-passionate starts with the hiring process, one that not only encourages veterans to apply, but also provides interpretation of veteran resumes for those interviewing the veteran. This interpretation increases the interviewer's understanding of the experience the vet is bringing to the table and the vet's chances of being hired. Military-passionate then extends into the employment experience with mentorship of both the vet and his/her manager, to help make the military to civilian transition more manageable. At Hire Served, we don't believe being military-passionate is a solely patriotic matter. We know that reintegrating our warriors effectively into the private sector is good for companies' bottom lines and is good for society as a whole.Having never worked at Lowe's myself, I cannot speak to the military employee experience, but as a consumer, it is good to see consistent branding indicating that Lowe's isn't paying lip service in saying they are military-friendly, but they are taking action to demonstrate they are, indeed, a military-passionate organization.