Two Things You Could Do Right Now To Help You Transition Later

2016-04-06T13:09:45-04:00

I remember my parents always giving me advice and saying, “I wish someone would have told me this when I was your age.” Well, I am having one of those moments now. I’m currently transitioning from the military and I wanted to share two of the most significant lessons I’ve learned to date.

It is estimated that between 60-75% of today’s jobs are the result of professional networking. Awesome, but what does that mean? Well, it simply means people get other people jobs. In the military, a network is not crucial in order to land your next position. A strong network will help, and military personnel should build a network to aid in their career goals, but Uncle Sam will assign you job after job. Because of this, most military people don’t actively pursue a true professional network until they decide to leave the military and, by then, they may have missed out on great connections along the way.

Military personnel should network throughout their careers; with colleagues, civilians they encounter coordinating training, former classmates, and the funny salesman from the bar at the airport. If service members did this as astutely as our civilian counterparts, we would be more aware of trends in the job market, preferred positions, and desirable industries when we decide to leave active duty, and we would have the connections to fall into that 60-75% of people who land a killer job due to their network.

But having a good network is only part of the battle. Lets say you do have a network, and you landed an awesome interview because a former platoon mate of yours transitioned five years ago and hooked you up with his/her HR manager. Now you have the daunting task of explaining how your military experience can help a private sector organization. You hand the HR manager your resume. This resume is full of numbers: cost of equipment, number of soldiers you were responsible for, number of wells you built in Iraq, etc.

The major difference I see in my resume, or other military resumes, and those from private sector professionals is the quantifiable improvements. Private sector resumes will often say, “increased a function by 23%” or “achieved 5% month over month growth for the first six months.” The military does not quantify job performance the same as our civilian counterparts. We often lack the type of quantifiable bullets that employers are looking for when comparing applicants. We tend to quantify responsibility rather than quantify achievements and results.

I recommend that service members begin measuring more, even if it is not required for official counseling – and don’t hesitate to add this to your support forms. Pick a process or a metric of performance for your soldiers and measure progress. In many ways, stating that you increased team PT pass rate by 15% is better than saying responsible for having a PT pass rate of 90%. Showing that you increased it by 15% shows your accomplishment. Saying you were responsible for having a PT pass rate of 90% is questionable. What if the pass rate was 100% when you took control? Or what if it was 90%? These stastics would mean that things actually got worse, or stayed the same, under your control. The same is true for deployments; if you led 40 patrols, try to tie that to a result or focus on a process within the patrol that you improved to make those patrols more efficient. Look for ways to measure achievements and not just list responsibilities or duties. Many military personnel “improve their foxholes” instinctively and don’t pay attention to process improvement. However, focusing on this and capturing it in the moment will lead to a stronger resume.

There are little things I’ve learned here and there, but these were two places I was woefully deficient, and from conversations with other veterans it seems fairly common. Using LinkedIn or RallyPoint to build a network will help when it is time to find a job, and having a quality resume will ensure military applicants are competitive. Just like my parents told me, “don’t repeat my mistakes, learn from them.”

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 6 at 2016 1:22 PM

2016-04-06T13:22:03-04:00

Outstanding points Orin. Thank you for sharing - can you offer those of us who are soon to be transitioning some specific networking pointers?

Response by SGT Ben Keen made Apr 6 at 2016 1:35 PM

2016-04-06T13:35:11-04:00

Really good post. I do have one point of difference though. I think networking can in fact help you while in the military. Sure, some position come with rank but then again, networking with the right people can help you secure that promotion and that new position a little bit quicker.

I think it is important that service members like MAJ Private RallyPoint Member, who are quickly coming up on the start of their transition start networking as soon as possible. Use tools like LinkedIN to start connecting with people in the area you are looking at moving to that could add power to your network. Look in the area for local Veteran Service Organizations. Sometimes these organizations can help provide you with not only the support of having others like you close by but these organizations are more often than not really connected through that community and can provide a great launching point for newly transitioning service members. If you are finding yourself in a situation like I found myself, moving into an area that you are not familiar with, then these two things become even more critical to ones overall success or failure while transitioning. And lastly, ask questions! That is where the power of sites like RallyPoint really shine. Here there are thousands of Veterans at all the different stages of transitioning that can help provide others with their experiences and hopefully help others to avoid the pitfalls and to achieve the same success they experienced. So do not be afraid to ask questions.

Response by William Chu made Apr 6 at 2016 4:47 PM

2016-04-06T16:47:39-04:00

Even as a civilian, I remember in my early to mid-20s I did not believe in professional networking. I thought it just meant pretending to like people because of what they could potentially do for you - and vice versa. What I've come to realize is that while it is important, you should still do it in the right way. Make genuine connections with people. Help others whenever you can. It will all come back to you tenfold. The genuine connection could be the difference between someone simply forwarding an email with your resume to HR and someone making it a point to talk to the hiring manager for the position and giving you a personal reference before you even get a call from HR.

Response by CPT Jason Mitchell, MBA made Apr 6 at 2016 4:54 PM

2016-04-06T16:54:17-04:00

Orin, I pray your advice reaches the ears of many servicemembers who are about to transition; especially those with enough time to build a very strong network in the career path that they wish to pursue. I'm one of the many that made the mistake of leaving the service without a plan. All you find by trying to go it alone in a town that you don't know many people is heartbreak and a lack of good prospects in the job market. I'm 4 years out and still attempting to find a long term career. Great advice!

Response by Capt Brandon Charters made Apr 6 at 2016 6:10 PM

2016-04-06T18:10:51-04:00

Excellent points CW3 Private RallyPoint Member. Thanks for sharing these lessons.
William Chu made a terrific observation as well. Making genuine connections throughout your career is very important. Be someone that people can go to for help at every assignment, unit, or company you work at. Invest in the people around you and expand your network when you can.
You touched on another great point: Networking is still a foreign concept for most service members. Many don't realize the doors that can open through seeking mentorship from leaders they work for and helping their peers whenever they can. Practice this early and often...you nailed it.

Response by LTC Thomas Tennant made Apr 6 at 2016 11:09 PM

2016-04-06T23:09:47-04:00

I think you nailed it when talking about networking. It is all about relationships and building trust. You may not like some of the people you are networking with, but if you are honest, display integrity and are a hard worker, you will have their support as well.

The other point you nailed but I have to stress further is start your transition planning and networking earlier than later. Start thinking strategically in terms of 5-10 years ahead. For most officers, regardless how high speed-low-drag you are, the reality is you will most likely not be kept on beyond 20-23 years AFS. That means you need to start at ten year mark of your career your planning and networking. At that point you need to also start "investing" time, effort and money in getting a marketable advance degree. By year fifteen, you need to refine your transition planning should be detailed and network should be extensive and fairly healthy....its always about relationships build upon your competency and ability to get the job done.

On metrics for achievement, I would not beat anyone up. It is hard for the military to develop effective metrics and the records to support them. The focus is operationally with defined missions for fix periods of time which are not conducive for long term process development. Even with the exception of a few organizations, the military does not even formalize its processes and procedures which can be a measured and trended. The closest thing to a process is MDMP which is planning process for fixed operations.

Also, todays military does not maintain good historical data and other information. That takes vision, planning, execution and commitment to a fixed process and data base development. As an example, anyone in the personnel community remember SIDPERS, TAPDB, DIMERS and now "son of DIMERS" called iPSSA? Even readiness reporting is not maintained for long periods of time and because of security classification are not easily shared outside of the appropriated headquarters.

So when you talk about your achievements on your resume, you need to first think and write in terms of "task, conditions and standards" of your process or operation. Then try to describe where the organization was in relation to the standard and how you got it to the standard or better. The show how that compared to similar units or organizations past and present or at least at the time your were there.

Response by SFC William Stephens A. Jr., 3 MSM, JSCM made Aug 23 at 2017 1:37 PM

2017-08-23T13:37:03-04:00

Build a draft of your resume and start networking with your retirement buddies and companies on the outside.