Despite their exceptional sacrifice and service to our country, many military veterans have a difficult time transitioning to civilian life. For many, the central challenge is around navigating the community-based services that were generally provided for you while in the military. At the top of that list is finding a new career post-military, which, if difficult, can contribute to hardships in other areas of life, including depression and homelessness.

Veterans are amazing assets that employers should actively seek when building a team. However, part of the problem with finding a job after service is the misconception employers have around hiring veterans. Many HR leaders believe vets are rigid, “agentic,” and lacking in emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills. They’re perceived as doers, but not leaders and are often typecast into roles where they deal with things, not people. As a result, vets are 38% more likely to be underemployed — working in roles that don’t fully utilize their skills and abilities.

The reality is these assumptions couldn’t be further from the truth. In fact, the skills we, as veterans, learn in the military make us some of the best organizational leaders — and thus extremely well-suited for entrepreneurship.

After spending 17 years in the U.S. Air Force Reserves as a pilot, my fellow veteran co-founder, Taylor Justice, and I leveraged our military experience to start a company, Unite Us. While we originally began coordinating veterans’ health and social care needs, connecting them through technology with the fragmented community resources to support their transition to civilian life, Unite Us has since grown nationwide to serve people of all walks of life — civilians and veterans.

Our success is not uniqu