Posted on Oct 16, 2016
How do you prepare your subordinates to rejoin the civilian workforce?
4.46K
13
16
3
3
0
Most military personnel only rejoin the civilian sector once, Reservists and National Guardsmen may do it multiple times in their career. What tools have you found to be useful: college, resumes, job fairs, realistic expectations relative to skils, etc.
Posted 8 y ago
Responses: 10
Normally I go over what the soldier plans to do when they get out. Doesn't matter if the spend 4 or 20 years they will eventually get out. Most of my guys are IT and will be looking for IT jobs when they get out. When I write monthly counseling's, one of the bullets will always be a professional growth bullet. What do you want to do to prepare yourself for your future?. We go over that bullet every month. I let the soldier decide what they want to see accomplished then we talk about ways they can accomplish it. Under the leaders responsibilities I explain how I will make their goal attainable and that I will hold them to their goal. Once its on paper and signed I will hold that soldier to it. So every month its a realistic goal.
An example... If my soldier wants to earn a Security+ certification it would go somewhat similar to this. The soldier tells me he/she wants to earn that cert. I explain what the cert is and how it relates to the civilian world and if that is what they are trying to do. If they say yes, I will give them resources for studying that I know of. We establish a timeframe for when they will take the test. For Sec+ I would say 3 months is plenty of time. So we would divide the three months into studying. The first would be books and videos. The second would practice tests. The third would be restudying the soldiers weak areas and doing practice tests that last week before the test.
I do this with every soldier, and each soldier has their own goals so im usually busy trying to stay up to date on what they want to learn. This also helps myself retain information and learn new information with my soldiers.
An example... If my soldier wants to earn a Security+ certification it would go somewhat similar to this. The soldier tells me he/she wants to earn that cert. I explain what the cert is and how it relates to the civilian world and if that is what they are trying to do. If they say yes, I will give them resources for studying that I know of. We establish a timeframe for when they will take the test. For Sec+ I would say 3 months is plenty of time. So we would divide the three months into studying. The first would be books and videos. The second would practice tests. The third would be restudying the soldiers weak areas and doing practice tests that last week before the test.
I do this with every soldier, and each soldier has their own goals so im usually busy trying to stay up to date on what they want to learn. This also helps myself retain information and learn new information with my soldiers.
(2)
(0)
Back in the day, encouraged college correspondence courses from the base or shipboard education office. It was free, it (mostly) transferred, and they can't take it free m you.
(2)
(0)
CW3 (Join to see)
That's what I tell my guys too, especially since we have internet almost anywhere, $4,500 tuition assistance annually, and they're elegible so long as they aren't flagged.
(0)
(0)
MAJ Rene De La Rosa
Valid sage advice, folks. What I would counsel them on was their plans. They did nto realize that they would have to work to supplement the GI Bill once they got out. They also had to polish up their resumes/CVs so that they could get a job. Many thought they just had to fill out a job application on site; I told them if you expect to be paid minimum wage that is okay, but if want more, then have a resume in hand.
(1)
(0)
Sgt Wayne Wood
MAJ Rene De La Rosa - Kinda work up a resume for kill people & blow shit up... kids coming in right out of HS have next to nothing on their CV
(0)
(0)
What is today's standard or paradigm on what individual leaders, commanders or the military, in general, should or are somehow obligated to do to 'prepare their subordinates to EAS and become civilians"? At one time as I recall the MC at least in my case did absolutely nothing nor felt obligated to do so as I was quitting their employment and seeking a job and career elsewhere, I was not looked upon with much esteem or approval. On the day of my release I picked up my papers from a PFC at the company office and departed the base in my 1961 VW beetle. It seems nowadays the military is being expected more and more to somehow carry their departing SMs through the door and set them up mentally and emotionally and professionally in civilian life. Not many civilian companies I know of go so far as to do that when an employee quits or moves on or goes into the service.
(2)
(0)
CW3 (Join to see)
We have a program in the Army called TAP (transition assistance program) it give some online courses, counseling, and other steps designed to help soldiers leave the service. Commanders in 1st line leaders are supposed to be involved as well but I think that it's mostly a pencil with in that the online courses don't have any real steps are supposed to take and I had a counselor tell multiple soldiers a mind to "just send me to applications for Burger King for the same position and I'll check that blog for you". So my faith in that system isn't strong.
(0)
(0)
CW3 (Join to see)
You're right too, companies don't normally assist you in leaving them, but with VA under fire and homeless veterans in the public eye, it's a service asked of the military for those who have served.
(0)
(0)
Capt Tom Brown
I would say that in this day and age as we become more and more aware of the hidden injuries sustained by SMs in combat, esp the PTSD & TBI type injuries not readily apparent, more work should be done to identify SMs suffering from such injuries prior to discharge and they be treated accordingly by the service and VA. Unfortunately, the services do not necessarily provide hands-on technical or academic training suitable or applicable to many civilian occupations but do provide a lot of intrinsic skills which are transferrable.
(0)
(0)
Read This Next