Not every defense contractor treats veteran hiring the same way, and Margarita Howard, CEO of HX5, argues that firsthand military experience changes how a company evaluates the skills service members bring to civilian work. Howard’s own background in the Air Force informs that perspective at HX5, a service-disabled veteran-owned and women-owned small business.
Howard has emphasized hiring professionals with prior Department of Defense or NASA experience, distinguishing that background from commercial-sector work. “Experience in their respective fields, while supporting these agencies’ respective programs and missions, is very different from experience gained from working in the commercial world,” she explains, a distinction she says veterans often grasp more intuitively than those without government backgrounds.
A Structured Path for Transitioning Members
HX5 has participated in the Hiring Our Heroes Corporate Fellowship Program since 2021, hosting eight fellows at a rate of two per year. The program places active-duty service members with civilian employers during the final 180 days of military service, combining four days of hands-on work weekly with one day of professional development training.
The company, which employs roughly 1,000 people across more than 20 states and 70 government locations, supports Department of Defense and NASA missions in research, engineering, and information technology. Much of that work requires clearances and familiarity with government operations, qualities Howard says many fellows already possess before their fellowship even begins.
Beyond technical skills, the fellowship exposes participants to the business side of government contracting, including procurement processes and contract structures that service members may not encounter during active duty. Howard has framed this exposure as essential preparation, giving fellows a fuller picture of contracting work before they commit to it as a civilian career, one informed by her own transition from Air Force service into the defense industry years earlier.
Howard also credits the fellowship with helping HX5 identify candidates who fit the company’s culture before making a full hiring commitment. Because fellows spend twelve weeks working alongside HX5 staff, both sides get a genuine sense of whether the arrangement makes sense long term, something a traditional interview process rarely provides. That extended trial period, Howard suggests, is part of why the fellowship has become a steady feature of how HX5 approaches veteran hiring rather than a one-time program the company tried and set aside. Visit this page for more information.
More about Howard on https://www.youngupstarts.com/2025/01/10/how-hx5-and-margarita-howard-stay-ahead-in-government-contracting-as-a-women-owned-firm/