Redeployable Report Shows Defense, Energy and AI Employers are Missing 500,000 Service Members Choosing Next Career

Only six of 60 large US employers meaningfully engage service members before their final six months in uniform

OXFORD, OXFORD, UNITED KINGDOM, November 11, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Most service members explore their next career well before they leave the military, yet only six of 60 large U.S. employers reach them early enough to influence that choice, according to a new report from Redeployable a talent platform helping industrial companies attract, assess, and hire talent for critical trades.

Sixty-nine percent of U.S. employers say they struggle to find talent (ManpowerGroup, 2026). One obvious source is the roughly 500,000 service members six months to three years from separation. It’s within that period of time that most of them choose what comes next.

Redeployable’s Mission-Critical, Hiring Late report draws on data from over 3,200 US service members and veterans on the platform, plus a review of large U.S. employers’ military hiring practices. For each employer, Redeployable reviewed what it offers someone one to three years from leaving the military, before they apply. The report highlights the gap between early interest and the final months of service.

“Most research on veteran employment asks one question: how fast do veterans find a job after leaving the military? Very little asks how or when they choose a career, or whether they are entering jobs that fully utilize their experience. This is where Redeployable comes in,” says Brittany Belt, co-founder and COO, Redeployable who also wrote the report.

Key highlights from the report:
– The window opens early, and they are open-minded. More than half of service members on Redeployable arrive six months or more before they leave, and a quarter arrive a year or more out.
– The training budget is funded and unguided. Service members have the time and the money to upskill while serving.
– The employers who need talent most are already recruiting for 2028. They plan years out, can’t fill roles from the open market, and will talk to people who aren’t ready to apply.
– The fix is a one-to-three-year relationship. Show people the work early, point them to training their benefits pay for, and track progress until they apply.

The report comes two months after Executive Order 14426, signed September 8, 2026, directed the Transition Assistance Program to connect people leaving the military with “specific, open jobs.”

What the status quo costs:
– 43% of post-9/11 veterans say they’re underemployed three years after leaving. (Penn State, Journal of Veterans Studies, 2024)
– $13B a year goes to 45 federal transition programs, almost all on school and retraining. RAND found “virtually no evidence” that any of them directly help people get jobs. (RAND, 2024)

Why employers miss people this early:
– 13% of employers have a formal veteran hiring program and 23% an informal one. The other 64% have none. (SHRM, 2024)
– 12% of US HR leaders plan their workforce three or more years ahead. (McKinsey HR Monitor, 2025)
– 44 days median time to fill a role. Recruiting runs on open requisitions, and the people who’ll be ready in 18 months don’t have one. (SHRM, 2025)

“What surprised us was how far people will stretch outside their current military role. Twenty-nine percent of the simulations people tried outside their military specialty came back a good fit or better. That’s a pool of future technicians and operators that no employer is talking to yet,” said Belt.

The report closes with a 90-day plan for employers that want to reach service members earlier. The service members are already there. They’re exploring and training now. The only question is whose roles they’re training for. The full report is available at https://redeployable.io/us/reports/mission-critical-hiring-late.

About Redeployable
Redeployable is the talent platform for the physical economy: data centers, defense manufacturing, energy, construction, advanced manufacturing and logistics. The company helps industrial employers in the United States and United Kingdom attract, assess and hire for critical roles. Redeployable routes candidates to the best fit open roles, and lets them try the work through 15-minute job simulations. Redeployable helps people find roles where they can not only get hired, but stay, advance, and thrive. For more information, please visit redeployable.io.

Jessica Efstathiou
Redeployable
jessica@redeployable.io

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