Army veteran Bob Christensen (left) and his son, Cory, stand in front of one of their Two Men and a Truck vehicles in Rockford. The two also own franchises in Peoria and the Quad Cities. Finding veterans like Christensen to become franchise owners is part of the company’s development plan. (Photo courtesy of Bob Christensen)

While the jobless rate for veterans hovers at 4.6 percent according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, at least one company want to help keep it relatively low by actively recruiting veterans as employees or franchise owners.

The Michigan-based moving company Two Men and a Truck, with locations in Illinois, has been recognized by the Military Times and the Franchise Business Review for its commitment to helping veterans find a career while transitioning to civilian life.

As the owner of three franchises, U.S. Army veteran Bob Christensen draws on the skills he learned in the military to run his business and is always on the lookout for other veterans to hire.

Christensen owns Two Men and a Truck franchises in Peoria, Rockford and the Quad Cities. He’s among about 10 percent of the company’s 236 franchisees who are veterans, according to Noelle Burak, the firm’s franchise development manager.

When looking for a business opportunity several years ago, Christensen discovered that the moving truck company had similar core values to those he learned while serving in the Army from 1969-1971.

“In the military you have to be hardworking, physically fit and skilled in team building,” Christensen noted. “It’s the same way in the moving business. Couches are heavy, so it’s a team-building concept. You also have to work until the job is done. You can’t just quit at 5. The Army doesn’t work that way, and the moving business doesn’t work that way either. You stay until the job is done.”

A Freeport native, Christensen was drafted into the Army in 1969 right after graduating college.

“That was at the height of the Vietnam War,” he recalled.

After a year of training, Christensen had orders to go to Vietnam but was fortunately sidelined at a base in Tacoma, Wash., because there was a shortage there of people to fill a job in which he was trained.

“I inspected mess halls and did various aspects of preventing communicable diseases, such as food-borne illnesses and mosquito-borne diseases,” he said.

When he transitioned back to civilian life after two years of service, Christensen worked in sales, earned an MBA and opened a real estate company with his wife, Marg, in Freeport.

He was looking for a franchise opportunity, when his son and daughter-in-law, Kevin and Jen Christensen, used Two Men and a Truck to move from Kalamazoo, Mich., to Peoria.

“My son said we ought to look into the franchise as a family, so we did,” Christensen said.

He and his younger son, Cory, opened their first franchise together in Rockford in 2008. Two years later, they opened the Peoria franchise, followed by the Quad Cities store in 2014, which is owned by Christensen and both his sons.

“The inside joke is I have eight grandchildren, so my goal is to get eight franchises so they’ll each have one,” he said with a chuckle.

With about 74 employees currently on staff at all three locations, about nine are veterans, Christensen said.

“We try to recruit veterans and National Guard members because they have the skills we’re looking for,” he said. “They’re strong, physically fit and hardworking. They show up on time. They’re polite, and they know how to complete a job. All in all, the skills you learn in the service are very vital to what we do as a company.”

Because the moving truck business has flexible hours, Christensen is able to hire employees who are in the National Guard and work around their training obligations.

“A lot of businesses seem reluctant to hire veterans, but veterans are almost ideal for us,” Christensen said.

Finding veterans like Christensen to become franchise owners is part of Two Men and a Truck’s development plan, said Burak.

“Veterans are driven, they’re process-oriented and they follow directions in regard to the agreement and stay within the guidelines,” she said.

“A lot of times when they’re leaving the military, they don’t want to go to a desk job,” she added. “In the position of the Two Men and a Truck franchise owner, they’re not driving trucks, but they’re out and about handling situations everyday. They’re running a small business, and every day is unique.”

The company works with various organizations to recruit veterans as franchise owners or as employees wherever they plan to relocate after coming out of the military.

“We have roughly 9,000 employees in 40 states,” Burak said. “We aggressively work with all different aspects of the franchising world and in transitioning veterans to different career opportunities.”

As a company, Two Men and a Truck also has several charitable operations, including Movers for Mom, a program that collects truck loads of essential care items for moms living in domestic abuse or homeless shelters.

“In Peoria we collected over two full trucks of merchandise to give to the local domestic abuse shelter,” Christensen said. “We do that in all three locations.”

Other charitable programs include Movers for Meals to collect non-perishable items for food pantries, Movers for Mutts to collect items for animal shelters and the Truckload of Warmth campaign to collect clothing, hats and gloves for those in need.

Last year the company rolled out Movers for Military to show gratitude and appreciation to local veterans who are homeless. Participating franchises collected more than 18,000 items for veterans in need, according to the firm’s website.

“We’re always looking for opportunities to help local charities,” Christensen said. “I can donate the use of movers, drivers and trucks if that helps a charity be more successful.”

For Two Men and a Truck franchising opportunities, visit www.twomenandatruckfranchising.com

— Two Men and a Truck firm draws on veterans’ talents to keep on moving —