Pioneering Opportunities: Wells Fargo’s Award-Winning Veterans Program
In a presentation at Workday Rising North America, Art Lokerson – the product director overseeing Talent Acquisition, Onboarding, and Contingent Labor at Wells Fargo – delved into the financial institution’s innovative approach to talent, including its dedicated veterans program.
A leading financial institution with assets just under $2 trillion and a global workforce of 238,000 employees, Wells Fargo is working to create a “unified talent landscape.” Lokerson’s talk covered some of the ways the company’s Human Resource products are being designed to improve the candidate and employee experience, and how its talent ecosystem is all about identifying skills, early talent, and underrepresented talent, in order to develop the “next wave” of Wells Fargo employees.
Wells Fargo Military Talent Programs: An Overview
Wells Fargo’s commitment to veterans extends beyond gratitude for their service. It translates into four comprehensive programs:
- Veterans Employment Transition (VET) program, designed to facilitate a seamless transition into the corporate world
- Homefront Heroes Hiring (HHH) program, designed to addresses military spouse un/under employment in this underserved segment of the U.S. population, focused on attracting and directly hiring spouses of actively serving military personnel into mid to high-level remote, hybrid/portable, and in-office career opportunities
- Julie Scammahorn National Military Apprenticeship Program, a registered Department of Labor apprentice program that results in skills certification for applicants who do not initially meet required qualifications for the non-apprentice equivalent for professional level roles
- Boots to Banking, a one-of-a-kind program designed to attract and hire military talent into both hourly and salary opportunities through military-specific, localized hiring events.
This integrated product architecture across landing pages, talent communities, and events allows Wells Fargo to market, advise, and support transitioning veterans to the next phase of their lives, with relative ease for all of these programs.
Empowering Veteran Hiring Through Technology
One of the core pillars of this program is the use of advanced technology. The combination of Beamery and Workday has revolutionized how Wells Fargo identifies and engages with veterans and military spouses, as well as more broadly improving the experience for candidates, TA teams and Hiring Managers.
Efficient Data Gathering
Beamery significantly streamlines the (often cumbersome) process of collecting accurate and timely information from job seekers and applicants. With Beamery, Wells Fargo has been able to identify tens of thousands of veterans and military spouses from external partnerships.
Enhanced Collaboration with Workday
Integration with Workday has eliminated duplicative work, enabling the team to focus more on engaging with candidates and less on administrative tasks.
Deploying automated messaging after events has allowed Wells Fargo to communicate with over 10,000 job seekers effortlessly, resulting in improved candidate experience.
Tracking Impact and Ensuring Consistency
Wells Fargo uses Beamery to support hundreds of virtual and in-person military-related events.
The ability to track Return on Investment (ROI) for these events and monitor each step of the application process – from initial application to successful hiring – has been a game-changer.
Customized Support and Communication
Through tailored referral flows and follow-up strategies, Wells Fargo ensures consistent communication with referrals from various external partners, strengthening the support network for veterans.
Wells Fargo’s veterans programs have received numerous accolades, including the prestigious Beamie Award in 2023. This recognition not only validates the success of these programs but also highlights the dedication of the company towards helping veterans identify their potential next phase in life.