What are your thoughts on personal branding and how much should Veterans re-brand themselves once they are in corporate America?

SGT Jamell Culbreath — Fri, 29 May 2015 13:32:50 -0400

Response by CPT Ahmed Faried made May 29 at 2015 1:33 PM

CPT Ahmed Faried — Fri, 29 May 2015 13:33:34 -0400

No issue with it but if you must re-brand completely know that it'll take time. There are aspects of the military culture that is seen as weird in the civilian sector and will take time to go away. Saying things like "Roger" for example.

Response by SGT David T. made May 29 at 2015 2:23 PM

SGT David T. — Fri, 29 May 2015 14:23:49 -0400

It was a significant re-brand for me. I went from a foul mouthed NCO who didn't care about politics to a tactful civilian employee that cant avoid factoring in the political dimension. Honestly, unless they know me or I say something, most of the time I am not identified as a vet.

Response by MAJ Raúl Rovira made May 30 at 2015 1:50 AM

MAJ Raúl Rovira — Sat, 30 May 2015 01:50:15 -0400

Personal branding is about how we market ourselves. How we dress, how we act, and how we speak. It is our overall presence which includes social media. If we look at many of the articles on TheMuse, Careerealism, Hired, Business Insider (to say a few), we see a trend and many articles about personal brand.

At the Senior Leader TAP course at Fort Richardson it was stressed to us every day. Some folks will accept this new identity of what they want to be after the Army. Others struggle but that is purely personal.

I've been active with Toastmasters to help speak my brand and joined the Project Management Institute Alaska Chapter to immerse myself into my future profession.

Everyone will craft their own brand, I can only share what I've done so far as I prepare to Retire.

Response by Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen made Jun 1 at 2016 8:21 AM

Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen — Wed, 01 Jun 2016 08:21:34 -0400

Rebranding yourself is essential. Not many civilian jobs out there for what you did in the military; there are some but even those are different from what you did on active duty. As someone has mentioned, you need to take your skills and traits from the military and adapt them to what you want to do in civilian life. Some of the worst veterans I have observed in the workplace are those who refuse to leave their military life behind them; the civilian workforce could care less that you were senior, chief, colonel, captain, sergeant, whatever. They want to see a you doing things that help the company now.