Heroes Linked and National Restaurant Association Set The Table in Webinar on Veteran Careers
Heroes Linked Executive Director James Colbert urged veterans considering careers in food service and hospitality to connect with advisors through Heroes Network before leaving active duty. Addressing a national audience on May 28, he emphasized that early outreach closes the career-building gap between service members and their civilian peers.
Colbert was a featured speaker on the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation’s webinar “Where Military Experience Meets Industry Opportunity,” moderated by Derek Small, the foundation’s director of military programs and a Navy veteran. Baron McDaniel, national sales manager for U.S. military at Hormel Foods Corp., also participated as a guest speaker.
Heroes Network, a resource provided by Heroes Linked at no cost, connects veterans with thousands of civilian advisors, searchable by company, position, industry sector, and location. Veterans communicate with advisors through in-app messaging, phone calls, and video calls. The platform also uses a matching algorithm to suggest advisors based on each veteran’s background and career interests.
“Heroes Network was created to harness the power of personal mentoring, so a veteran, no matter where they live, can connect directly with advisors across the United States.”
Colbert described the platform as a professional network where every advisor has voluntarily enrolled to help veterans, not to recruit or sell to them. “You can think of it like a LinkedIn for veterans,” he said, “except unlike LinkedIn, no one here is trying to sell you anything.”
The case for joining early, Colbert said, is structural. Veterans leave service with demonstrated leadership and operational skills, but often trail their civilian counterparts in professional networks. “While you’re serving, the vast majority of your age cohort didn’t serve, so they’re building their careers,” Colbert said. “When you separate from service, you bring all the incredible assets that the military has given you — but you are behind the pack in terms of building your professional network.”
Colbert positioned Heroes Network to address this deficit precisely. It is a practical alternative to traditional networking events, which veterans often find impersonal or logistically difficult. “What Heroes Network does is provide access to thousands of interested professionals without having to walk into a crowded room, and navigate multiple conversations in the course of an evening,” he said. “You do it on your own time.”
Advisor engagements can range from a single targeted conversation to a lasting mentor relationship, Colbert said. Veterans can search the platform for advisors at specific companies, in particular industries, or in cities they are considering relocating to. “You may have one question for an advisor, and you’ll never speak to them again,” he said. “Or, you may form a lifelong relationship.” There’s no pressure either way.
Colbert’s appearance was part of Heroes Linked’s Veterans in Every Workforce (VIEW) program, which works to place veteran talent across industries by connecting service members with employers, mentors, and sector-specific career support.
McDaniel, who has spent 10 years managing military sales for Hormel and 21 years with the company, described three qualities he consistently observes in service members: leadership, a passion to serve others, and discipline — qualities he said the food service industry needs most. “Service members show up to work with a mission and a purpose,” McDaniel said.
Small framed veterans as a ready-made talent pipeline for employers. “There are no entry-level candidates here,” he said. “They’re pre-trained, certified, and leadership-ready.”
Colbert said the NRAEF is working with Heroes Linked to ensure that food service employers that hire veterans can reach the broader veteran community through the Heroes Network platform, located at myheroesnetwork.org
The webinar is available for download and viewing at: https://event.on24.com/wcc/r/5269809/4EBC3C350FE91D0555CF45FA273470BF
