Employer Certification - Tier 1

To earn this respected designation, your organization will complete:

1. Eligibility Approval

All employer partners must complete an application and verification process confirming that each required standard has been successfully achieved. This ensures every organization bearing the Veteran Check designation is living our mission, honoring our veterans, and upholding the integrity of America’s workforce: 

• Be a legally registered U.S. company
• Designate a Veteran Integration Officer (VIO) as the point of contact
• Attend required certification training
• Complete annual recertification activities
• Commit to Veteran Check's Employer Code of Ethics: 
  • Maintain a workplace free of discrimination or harassment
  • Support equal opportunity for veterans, including those with service-connected disabilities
  • Provide fair and bias-free hiring and promotional pathways
  • Uphold transparency in reporting workforce statistics
  • Ensure veteran employees receive adequate onboarding and support by requiring the completion of at least Veteran Level-One certification: Professional Certified Veteran (PCV) 

2. Professional Employer Civilian/Military Integration Leadership Training*

A member of your hiring team will attend the Veteran Check Employer Civilian/Military Integration Leadership Training, a powerful training experience designed to prepare employers to successfully recruit, hire, mentor, and retain veterans within the civilian workplace:

• Module 1: Understanding Veteran Workforce Integration - Foundational training on the unique strengths, challenges, and cultural distinctions veterans bring to civilian organizations
• Module 2: Building a Veteran-Friendly Workplace Culture - Training on establishing policies, communication styles, leadership expectations, and HR practices that welcome and support veteran employees
• Module 3: Veteran Hiring Best Practices - Guidance on job posting language, résumé interpretation, interviewing veterans, and aligning military skill sets to job requirements
• Module 4: Supporting Veteran Retention and Advancement - Strategies for mentorship programs, performance coaching, accommodations, and long-term growth opportunities for veterans

Employers learn how to recognize military skills, support transition, and build inclusive onboarding pathways.

*Click on the 2026 Class Schedule button below for a list of upcoming classes. 

3. Event Participation Requirement

Employers must support veteran-employer engagement by attending Veteran Check networking events: 1 event per year 

4. Veteran Workforce Commitment (Choose One Path)

Your organization must complete one of the following to demonstrate intentional, measurable veteran employment support:

• Actively employ at least one Veteran Check Level 1 - Professional Certified Veteran (PCV) OR
• Demonstrate intent to hire veterans during the certification year

This powerful requirement ensures that certification is not symbolic, it is lived, shared, and experienced daily within your workforce

5. Annual Membership Maintenance

To maintain certification each year, employers simply continue their membership; a partnership that strengthens the program, supports veterans, and sustains the nationwide mission

Why Employers Pursue Tier 1 Certification

A Better Workforce

Veterans arrive mission-ready, disciplined, loyal, and trained to lead under pressure. 

A Better Culture

Veterans make teams stronger. They make people better. Their presence elevates performance, morale, and unity. 

A Better America

Veteran Check employers are changing lives, not just with jobs, but with purpose. 

A Patriotic Partnership — Built to Last

When you earn Veteran Check Certification, you do more than open a door. You change the direction of an American veteran’s life. You strengthen a family. You uplift a community. You shape the future of our nation. There is something profoundly powerful in that.

Because in every Veteran Check employer, we see the same truth:

Honor is not just remembered — it is practiced. 

Why Level 1 Is Just the Beginning

Employer Level 1 is the foundation, the starting point of a journey that leads to:

Level 2 – Vet Check+

Level 3 – Vet Check Elite

Each level builds deeper ability, higher capability, and greater pride in serving those who served.

Many employers begin at Level 1 and find themselves inspired to go all the way. 

This Is Your Moment

If you have ever wanted to do more than say “thank you”, if you have ever wanted to create real change, if you have ever wanted to build a stronger workforce, a stronger culture, and a stronger America...then you are standing at the doorway right now.

Become Level 1 Certified.

Join the mission.

Change lives.

Where Commitment Becomes Leadership 

Level 1 proves you believe in employing veterans.
Level 2 proves you invest in them.

Veteran Check+ is reserved for organizations that refuse to stop at appreciation, employers who lean in, reach further, and build pathways where veterans rise into leadership, growth, and purpose.

This designation is not achieved by accident.
It is chosen with intention.
It is earned with pride.
It is lived every single day.

Veteran Check+ employers do not just hire veterans. They shape careers, build futures, and ignite potential.

To earn this respected designation, your organization will complete:

1. Complete All Veteran Check Certified Tier 1 Requirements
Before advancing, your organization must already be Veteran Check Certified (Level 1). Level 1 is the foundation. Level 2 is the launch.

2. Intermediate Employer Civilian/Military Integration Leadership Training*
At least one supervisor, manager, or executive leader must attend Veteran Check Intermediate Employer Civilian/Military Integration Leadership Training, a transformational program built to unlock the full power of military leadership inside the civilian workforce:

• Module 1: Advanced Veteran Workforce Leadership - Training for supervisors and managers to effectively lead, communicate with, and support veteran employees across diverse teams
• Module 2:  Implementing Veteran Development Programs - How to design in-house leadership pathways, coaching, and growth programs that meaningfully support veteran advancement
• Module 3:  Creating Employer-Led Veteran Initiatives - Guidance on designing scholarship programs, volunteer partnerships, internships, and community-driven veteran support initiatives
• Module 4: Enhanced Retention, Recognition & Promotion Strategies - Tools for reducing veteran turnover, building recognition programs, and aligning high-performing veterans with leadership opportunities

Because every veteran deserves a leader who understands their journey, respects their strengths, and knows how to unleash their potential.

*Click on the 2026 Class Schedule button below for a list of upcoming classes. 

3. Veteran Workforce Commitment (Choose One Path)
Your organization must complete one of the following to demonstrate intentional, measurable veteran employment support:

• Actively employ at least one Veteran Check Level 2 - Executive Certified Veteran (ECV) AND
• At least 5% of your total workforce consists of military veterans OR
• You operate and maintain a structured Military Recruitment Program throughout the certification year, including job pathway marketing, active veteran outreach, and documented interview activity

No empty promises.
No symbolic gestures.
A real recruiting pipeline.

4. Internal Veteran Support System
Your organization must build or maintain at least one internal support channel, such as:
• A veteran resource group
• A veteran mentorship track
• A veteran transition support plan
• A veteran peer network
• A veteran onboarding program

Veterans should never walk alone inside a Veteran Check+ workplace.

5. Mandatory Mission Participation
Your organization must actively support veteran-employer engagement by attending:

• 2 Veteran Check networking or educational events per year

Show up. Stand up. Lift veterans higher.

Why Employers Pursue Veteran Check+

Level 1 is belief.
Level 2 is action.

Veteran Check+ employers rise above the standard — because they understand that real patriotism demands participation, not applause.

They hire with purpose.
They train with excellence.
They lead with honor.

Veteran commitment becomes veteran leadership.
Veteran employment becomes veteran advancement.
Veteran presence becomes veteran pride.

And cultures change forever.

The Result of Level 2?

A workforce that is stronger, smarter, tougher, and united.
A brand that becomes a beacon of patriotism and purpose.
A company recognized nationwide as a champion for America’s protectors.

Veteran Check+ is not simply a higher level of certification.
It is a declaration:

“We don’t just honor service. We build futures.”

This Is Where Employers Become Leaders

Level 2 is the threshold.
Level 3 is the summit.

Organizations that earn Veteran Check+ rarely stop.
Because once you witness the power of veterans inside your workforce, their discipline, integrity, loyalty, and drive, you will want that strength at every level of your organization.

Veteran Check+ is momentum.
And momentum changes everything.

Stand Up. Step Forward. Go Further.

If you are ready to do more than hire veterans, if you are ready to advance them, lift them, and empower them, then you are ready for Level 2.

Earn Veteran Check+.

Lead from the front.

And shape the future of American veteran excellence.

Where Honor Becomes Legacy 

Level 1 proves belief.
Level 2 proves action.
Level 3 proves leadership. 

Veteran Check Elite is the summit: the highest honor an employer can achieve within the Veteran Check movement. It is reserved for organizations that don’t just support veteran employment…they shape it, champion it, and drive it forward for the entire nation to follow.

Elite employers do not whisper patriotism.
They amplify it.
They live it.
They lead it.

They create futures worthy of the men and women who once stood ready to give everything for this nation.

To earn this respected designation, your organization will complete:

1. Complete All Requirements for Level 2 (Veteran Check+)
Only those who have already demonstrated commitment, progress, participation, and measurable support may advance to Elite.

Elite is not a starting point.
It is a destination.

2. Annual Internal Veteran Event
Your organization must host at least one internal veteran event each year: either an appreciation event or a development event, to recognize, empower, and elevate your internal veteran community.

Whether the moment is ceremonial, celebratory, educational, or career-focused, one truth remains:

Your veterans must be seen.
Heard.
Honored.
Uplifted.

3. Advanced Employer Civilian/Military Integration Leadership Training*
At least two supervisors or managers must attend Veteran Check Advanced Employer Civilian/Military Integration Leadership Training annually. A leadership elevation experience inspired by the highest traditions of American service, empowering executives to lead with honor, protect their people, build future leaders, and carry forward the legacy of those who fought to defend our nation: 

• Module 1: Executive-Level Veteran Integration Strategy - Training for shaping company-wide veteran initiatives, corporate culture, compliance alignment, and long-term integration strategy
• Module 2: National-Level Veteran Advocacy & Leadership - Guidance on positioning the company as a national leader in veteran support through advocacy programs, partnerships, and initiatives
• Module 3: Large-Scale Talent Pipeline Development - Advanced instruction on building multi-state hiring pipelines, transition programs, and employer–military base partnerships
• Module 4: Organizational Impact, Branding & Public Leadership - Training on speaking engagements, public relations, executive media presence, and representing the company as a Veteran Check Elite employer

Veterans deserve leaders who know how to develop them, not by accident, but by design. This requirement ensures that Elite organizations do not just hire veterans…they grow them.

4. Veteran Workforce Commitment (Choose One Path)
Your organization must meet one of the following standards to prove sustained, measurable veteran employment excellence:

• Actively employ at least one Veteran Check Level 3 - Advanced Leadership Certified Veteran (ALCV) AND
• At least 10% of your total workforce consists of military veterans OR
• You maintain a structured Military Recruitment Program and demonstrate active veteran hiring pipeline results AND
• You show quantifiable leadership in veteran development, such as:
  • Veteran apprenticeship programs
  • Veteran leadership tracks
  • Veteran advancement pathways
  • Veteran mentoring structures
  • Veteran promotions and internal mobility

Elite employers do not just hire veterans, they elevate them.

5. Mandatory National Engagement
Your organization must attend a minimum of:

• 3 Veteran Check events per year

This ensures Elite employers stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Veteran Check community, sharing knowledge, supporting transition, and shaping national momentum.

Why Employers Pursue Elite

Because some companies are not satisfied with good.
They want to be extraordinary.

They want their veteran workforce to be not just hired, but inspired.
Not just present, but powerful.
Not just included, but unstoppable.

Elite employers create a workplace culture that mirrors the American warrior spirit: disciplined, united, committed to excellence, and driven by purpose.

Elite employers do not simply contribute to the mission.
They define it.

The Result of Level 3?

Veterans rising into leadership.
Veterans shaping teams.
Veterans transforming culture.
Veterans driving performance.
Veterans becoming the heartbeat of the organization.

Elite employers experience:

• Higher retention
• Higher productivity
• Higher loyalty
• Higher morale
• Higher trust
• Higher performance
• Higher impact

Because when veterans thrive, the company thrives.

Elite Is Bigger Than Business

It is a statement to employees, customers, competitors, and communities:

“We stand for America’s veterans. And we always will.”

Elite organizations become magnets for talent, trust, pride, and respect.
They carry a presence...a reputation...that cannot be replicated.

Elite is not a badge.
It is not a trophy.
It is not a line on a website.

Elite is a legacy.

Your Summit Awaits

If you are ready to be recognized as one of America’s greatest champions for veterans…

If you are ready to lead the movement, not just join it…

If you are ready to create an environment where veterans rise, grow, lead, and transform the future of your workforce…

Then Level 3 awaits you.

Earn Veteran Check Elite.
Carry the flag.
Change the nation.

Veteran Check Elite certification is not symbolic.

It delivers measurable business performance gains, workforce advantages, cultural strength, and brand elevation.

Elite employers experience superior talent output and retention because veterans consistently outperform non-veteran peers across critical business functions.

Documented ROI Metrics:
• Retention improvement: +65% retention rate vs. non-veterans
• Productivity gains: +30% productivity impact within 12 months
• Leadership acceleration: Veterans reach supervisory roles 2x faster than non-veteran hires
• Reduced absenteeism: 3X lower absentee rate, lowering labor cost and operational disruption

Why it matters:
High retention + high productivity = reduced turnover expense + improved efficiency + higher profitability.

The cost of turnover averages $20K–$35K per employee, and more for leadership roles. Veteran hiring directly reduces turnover losses.

Elite-level hiring outcomes include:
• Lower recruiting costs
• Less onboarding failure
• Faster job readiness
• Reduced supervisory oversight
• Higher safety compliance

Result:
Elite employers recover the cost of certification within months.

Veterans elevate behavior, discipline, and unity.
The impact is immediate and measurable:

Outcomes include:
• Stronger team cohesion
• Higher trust and morale
• Unified leadership communication
• Reduced internal conflict
• Increased employee pride and belonging

Great culture reduces burnout and increases loyalty. That reduces cost.

Elite employers are viewed as:
• Patriotic
• Purpose-driven
• Community-committed
• Leadership-focused
• Social impact champions

This translates into:
• Brand loyalty
• Customer preference
• Recruiting advantage
• PR and publicity leverage
• Stronger community relationships

Elite is market power.

Veteran-owned businesses and patriotic consumers actively prioritize companies that support veterans.

Elite employers gain access to:
• Veteran workforce referrals
• Veteran-owned suppliers
• Veteran consumer markets
• Government networking
• Public visibility platforms
• Business-to-business veteran alliances

Brand purpose drives profit.
And Elite certification creates opportunity pipelines only top-tier organizations can access.