Get Vetted

Answer 10 Questions & Get a Vetted Employer Badge in Days *

Earn and use our seal of approval, at no cost

The Vetted Employer Badge shows recruits and customers that an organization is a top veteran employer. It is earned by meeting key standards in our Vetted Checkup Survey, and employers who do so can use it for free— digital or print, internal or external

No fees or charges of any kind — really!

Most supposedly “free” veteran employer awards programs have hidden charges: membership costs, application fees, sponsorships, licensing fees. Our program is actually free of charge, start to finish

Easy survey, fast results

You don’t have to answer hundred of questions or wait months for results — our survey asks only the most important questions, can easily be completed in one sitting, and our rapid evaluation process will turn around your results (and media kits) in 2 weeks or fewer

Designed for organizations of all types and sizes

The survey is balanced to fairly evaluate all kinds of employers and industries, from small startups to the world’s largest corporations and everything in-between, whether companies, nonprofits, or government agencies/departments (including law enforcement)

*Not every organization that submits a survey will earn a badge; participants must meet key standards related to employing the Military-Connected community

Start Your Vetted Checkup Survey Right Now

Click the “Request Survey” button below, provide your name and email, and we will immediately send you a custom survey to fill out. Learn more about the data you’ll need and how the program works by reviewing the adjacent links.

Request Survey

Coming this Spring: The Vetted Awards Program

Organizations that earn Vetted Employer recognition will be invited to participate in our competitive Vetted Awards Survey in Spring 2026, which will further honor standout organizations as Distinguished, Advanced, Superior, or Elite Vetted Employers

Learn More

The Vetted Employers Advantage

We spent years working closely with employers and Veterans to identify the best practices that make the biggest impact for Military-Connected employees. Our team boiled this expertise down into the 10-question Vetted Checkup Survey to give organizations an easy yet insightful evaluation showing where employers excel in their work with the Military-Connected community — and where there may be room for improvement.

Trustworthy & not for sale

Vetted Employer recognition can only be earned based on what organizations do for veterans — it can never be bought

Custom-tailored branding

Recognized organizations receive custom media kits, including news releases with the organization name, logos, and more. There is no cost, but the badge logo must link back to this website when used online

Ironclad protection for your data

Information provided in our surveys is confidential, as are organizations that submit surveys but fall short of recognition

Easily complete the survey in one sitting

This 10-question survey asks for only the most important metrics and can be finished in minutes, not days or weeks

Get your results — and badge — right away

Our fast evaluation process analyzes survey responses as they come in and can turn around results, as well as badges and media kits for qualifying employers, in fewer than 2 weeks

Expert insights for your program

Get a better understanding of your veteran program, through in-depth data analysis provided to all survey participants

Help improving veteran policies & services

Beyond explaining what to improve, we can directly help you build a better program, through our management & consulting

How It Works

1

Request a 10-question Vetted Checkup Survey by clicking the button above

2

Fill out the survey with your organization’s information and press Submit

>

If Vetted Employer status is achieved: Receive a media kit with badge and custom news release

>

If Vetted Employer status is not achieved: Identify and fix shortcomings (see steps 3 and 4 below), then take survey again

3

Review our tailored analysis of your survey results and find opportunities to improve

4

Leverage our program management & consulting for direct help making improvements

5

Organizations that achieve Vetted Employer status receive invitations for the Vetted Awards Survey in Spring 2026

6

Submit Vetted Awards Survey by July 31; awardees announced shortly before Veterans Day

7

Continue to submit surveys annually to maintain Vetted Employer recognition and awards

Vetted Checkup Survey Overview

Forget the 100-question and 200-question veteran employer surveys you may have seen elsewhere — the Vetted Checkup Survey is just 10 questions, plus a few sub-questions and organization profile information. The full survey is available for download here and below is a summary of the 10 items covered:

  • Q1: How does your organization work to recruit and hire the Military-Connected community?
  • Q2: Do you have staff dedicated to recruiting or supporting Military-Connected employees?
  • Q3: Can you provide data on your Military-Connected employees and new hires?
  • Q4: Do you have a Veteran Employee Resource Group (ERG/BRG), and what does it do?
  • Q5: Do you have mentorship programs, and to what extent do Military-Connected employees participate?
  • Q6: Do you offer special on-boarding or advancement programs for Military-Connected employees, or training for staff who recruit or support them?
  • Q7: How often are Military-Connected employees promoted, as compared to other employees?
  • Q8: Have you signed agreements with — or received awards from — federal DoW/DoD or Labor Department programs?
  • Q9: Do you offer pay to training or activated Guard/Reserve members?
  • Q10: Do you provide flexible work allowances for military spouses dealing with PCS or deployment orders?

Vetted Awards Program Preview

While the Vetted Checkup Survey determines whether organizations meet the basic standards required for Vetted Employer status, the Vetted Awards Survey goes deeper, evaluating organizations competitively and considering additional metrics to determine whether to further honor them as Distinguished, Advanced, Superior, or Elite Vetted Employers. Here are the details:

Builds on Vetted Checkup Survey

This program builds on the Vetted Checkup Survey detailed above: Organizations must submit that survey and achieve Vetted Employer status to be considered for the higher-level Vetted Awards Program

Also Completely Cost-Free

Like the Vetted Checkup Program, the Vetted Awards Program is entirely free-of-charge, from start to finish, with no fees or costs associated with any part of the survey or recognition, including rights to use the badge and media kit with no licensing fees

Competitive & More Detailed Evaluation

The Vetted Awards Survey will ask for more data related to employing Veterans and the Military-Connected Community than the 10-question Vetted Checkup Survey, and it will be evaluated competitively, making relative comparisons among organizations to determine award levels

Launches Spring 2026 | July 31 Deadline

Our team is finalizing the Vetted Awards Survey now and planning to launch it in the Spring, with a July 31 response deadline and the awards results announcement scheduled shortly before Veterans Day 2026

To participate in the Vetted Awards Program, first request and submit the Vetted Checkup Survey:

Request Survey

Guidelines & Key Dates

Integrity & Objectivity

Our team has been sad to see the proliferation of disreputable, pay-to-play veteran employment awards programs in recent years, and we have designed our survey & awards programs to stand in sharp contrast, based on meaningful measures of how employers support the Military-Connected community — and not on whether they pay money to our organization.

We only require that the Vetted Employer badge and awards logos link back to www.vettedemployers.com wherever recognized organizations display them online. There are absolutely no costs associated with any part of our survey & recognition programs: no charges to register for or submit a survey, no fees to be evaluated for recognition, no membership or sponsorship costs, and no licensing fees to use our badge logos for organizations that earn recognition.

While we offer paid veteran program consulting and management services for organizations that need assistance, these are completely independent of our recognition programs. Organizations can achieve any level of award with or without our consulting services, and consulting clients only receive recognition if it is merited by the data in their survey responses.

The only way to earn Vetted Employer recognition is by meeting the key, objective standards that make an impact for Veterans and the Military-Connected community.

Confidentiality

Vetted Employers survey & recognition programs balance the needs of organizations to protect their proprietary data and public reputations with the needs of our evaluations to measure organizations based on meaningful, sometimes internal, data.

We do not publish any information specific to an organization that is provided in survey responses, except for the organization’s name and logo, as well as the recognition level earned based on their surveys, for those that are recognized.

If an organization submits a survey but the data provided does not meet the standards required for Vetted Employer recognition, we make no mention of their participation in the survey, so from a public perspective, there is no way to tell whether an organization that is not honored on our website submitted a survey or not. This means there is no reputational risk for organizations to submit a survey response.

We can sign non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) establishing our confidentiality policies in a legal document if that would help your organization participate; just reach out to request this.

Timeframes & Deadlines

Vetted Checkup Survey

  • Survey Opens: Jan. 28, 2026
  • Response Deadline: No deadline — we will accept responses throughout 2026 — but we recommend submitting your survey as soon as possible, both so your organization has more time to leverage the Vetted Employer badge and media kit, if recognition is earned, and to enable participation in the Vetted Awards Survey, which does have a set deadline
  • Results Announced: As surveys are submitted; we will start the evaluation process immediately after the “Submit” button is pressed and circle back with evaluation results, as well as the badge and media kit (if earned), within 2 weeks of survey submission

Vetted Awards Survey

  • Survey Opens: Spring 2026
  • Response Deadline: July 31, 2026
  • Results Shared Privately: October 2026 — Organizations that submitted a survey will receive advance notice of their award levels, as well as badges and media kits (if earned), so they can include this recognition in Veterans Day communications plans
  • Results Announced Publicly: Nov. 2, 2026 — We will publish all awardees from the 2026-2027 awards program online

Frequently Asked Questions

See below for additional important information on how our survey and recognition programs work. For full details, please visit our FAQ webpage

How can my organization participate?

To participate, you must submit your survey through our online platform: First, register for the survey (above), and then use the custom survey link sent to the registered email address to access and fill out the survey

Can I share my custom survey link?

You are welcome to share your survey link internally, with colleagues at your organization helping fill out the survey, but to ensure the accuracy and confidentiality of your survey responses, you should not share this link with external organizations

Which web browser should I use to fill out the survey?

Our surveys work best on the Google Chrome web browser, so we recommend using that browser to fill them out online

Is there a penalty for skipping survey questions?

Please provide as much information as possible to increase your organization’s chances for Vetted Employer recognition and awards. The more you tell us, the better we can credit your organization for its efforts to employ the Military-Connected community

Are my answers saved if I start — but don’t finish — a survey response?

Yes, your answers are saved automatically when you advance from one survey page to another. So you can complete your survey in multiple sessions — simply click on the same custom survey link used to fill out the survey previously, and you’ll be returned to where you left off, with all previous answers appearing, whether your last time working on the survey was hours, days, weeks, or months ago

How many surveys should my organization submit?

Please provide only one Vetted Checkup Survey response and one Vetted Awards Survey response per organization. These evaluations analyze information on organization-wide policies, practices, and outcomes, as provided by the organization leadership/HR — not the personal testimonials or ratings of individual Military-Connected employees — so there is no need for multiple responses to the same survey from the same organization

When should I submit the Vetted Checkup Survey?

There is no deadline — we will accept responses throughout 2026 — but we recommend submitting your survey as soon as possible, so your organization has more time to leverage the Vetted Employer badge and media kit (if recognized), and to enable participation in the Vetted Awards Survey, which does have a set deadline

If I submit a Vetted Checkup Survey but do not earn recognition, can I try again?

Yes, if you submit a survey but fall short of Vetted Employer recognition, you are welcome to take the Vetted Checkup Survey again, if new data becomes available or revised policies are established

Can I double-check my responses before submitting the survey?

Yes, and we encourage it! Every page of the survey has a “Next” button on the bottom right that advances to the following page, except for the final page of the survey, which has a “Submit” button instead. The last survey page, which has that “Submit” button, will show all of your survey responses in a non-editable, read-only format. Please review these responses carefully — and if you find anything that needs to be edited, press the “Previous” button to go back to the survey page containing the response in question and update it there — before pressing the “Submit” button

See Full FAQ

Meet Our Team

Vetted Employers is led by two co-founders who have years of experience advising organizations of all types on building strong employment programs for Veterans, members of the Guard & Reserves, and Military Spouses

George Altman, Co-Founder

George has led prominent Veteran employment initiatives at three different organizations, and through his work, he helped countless employers improve their recruiting, retention, and support of Veterans and the Military-Connected community. He has developed and overseen Veteran employment evaluations that were published in national and international news publications and that also formed the basis for financial investment funds and products. Through this work, George refined and ultimately revolutionized methods for measuring and evaluating employers’ Veterans programs, while also providing advice and support directly to organizations working to improve their Veteran employment efforts.

See full bio

Bruce Townshend, Co-Founder

Bruce Townshend has nearly 45 years of combined military and government service and is passionate about helping Veterans succeed and in helping employers hire and retain Veterans in their workforce. He served a total of 28 years in the Army and Army Reserve, both enlisted and as a commissioned officer. He recently retired from the Dept. of Defense/Dept. of War, where he last served as Chief of Engagement for the department’s Employer Support of the Guard & Reserves program (ESGR), specializing in programs supporting Veterans transitioning from the military and employers of Service members serving in the Guard and Reserve. He has traveled extensively both domestically and abroad in support of those programs, working with corporate executives, small business owners and trade associations.

See full bio

Vetted Briefings Blog

Expert insights on employing veterans and the military-connected community, detailed in short videos

View All

The appearance of U.S. Department of War/Department of Defense (DoW/DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoW/DoD endorsement.

Webpage image credits (from top left): DVIDS VIRIN 171206-A-NU445-006, DVIDS VIRIN 240518-A-QD713-1108, DVIDS VIRIN 250609-N-JS660-1312, DVIDS VIRIN 230315-F-ZB805-0581, DVIDS VIRIN 250522-F-AM292-1088, Pexels 7841423, DVIDS VIRIN 171114-F-BZ793-004. Please see blog page for blog image credit information.