Posted on Sep 8, 2015
Why is Military Transitioning Such a Difficult Process for So Many?
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Why is Military Transitioning Such a Difficult Process for So Many?
By Lance T. Walker
♦ Veterans' Employment Advocate | WeHireHeroes.US, CivilianBootCamp.com | Remote CMO | USAF | Author/Speaker/LION
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-military-transitioning-difficult-process-so-many-lance-t-walker?trk=pulse-det-nav_art
If you are a military veteran, you already know that returning to civilian life can be a bit of a shock. The “real world” seems like a chaotic mess; utterly devoid of order, discipline, or teamwork, and seemingly run by a completely different set of values and rules. It’s easy to feel lost and adrift, a lonely lifeboat in an ocean of confusion.
However, it may come as a bit of a surprise you to know that your debut on the civilian scene may be somewhat of a shock to your potential employer as well. The vast majority of Americans (over 97%) have no military experience at all, which means their only window into the military world is likely to be blockbuster movies and television shows.
Predictably, the picture most civilians have of us is spotty at best. As far as they know, you simply went away for a number of years, and now you’re back. In their minds, you marched around a lot, got yelled at a lot, then went to some exotic foreign destination where you randomly saluted people, wore a spiffy clean, pressed uniform, sat behind a desk drinking coffee, and periodically ducked bullets and bombs whenever you went on a super-secret search and destroy or rescue mission (cue commercial).
In other words, most civilians have almost no clue what military life is really like, what you’ve persevered through, what you’ve accomplished, or who you’ve become. If you are to now become a successful veteran job candidate, it’s up to you to bridge the communication gap with more than the occasional war story. You’ve got to be able to tell them, and show them, what you‘re made of - without intimidating or scaring the bejeezus out of them in the process.
After more than 25 years of “re-civilianizing” as a veteran employee and business owner, I’ve learned quite a bit about the mismatch that often happens when we make the transition from warrior to workforce. The real root of the problem is a built-in miscommunication: the same Federal government that works so hard to turn a raw recruit into a into strong, focused, mission-oriented model of efficiency and effectiveness in six weeks of basic training, has no incentive whatsoever to provide them with a “civilian boot camp” on their way out the door.
In fact, it's easy to assume that those with strong military values are automatically among the best citizens by default - and of course, many do seem to be.
But the re-civilianizing process doesn’t just happen naturally, just like becoming a military professional didn‘t happen naturally. Many of the laudable traits instilled and reinforced in us during our military career have left us quite unprepared for a world where individual accomplishments are often celebrated over the success of the group, team sacrifice is often considered weakness, and the profit motive is the prime directive.
It takes conscious effort, time, and accurate information to gain a balanced perspective and turn ourselves into the successful, accomplished civilian citizens we are capable of being. The challenge is, the information you need is not readily available or buried in a sea of useless data and there are, unfortunately, plenty of unscrupulous people out there who are all too eager to exploit a perceived vulnerability for their own social, political, or financial gain.
There is a remarkable difference between being “former military” and becoming a “successful civilian with a military background“. As I like to tell my coaching clients, “Your veteran status you’ve already earned, but civilian status still has to be learned.” In my opinion, a person with both tool kits is much more confident, sure footed, well rounded, and flexible. They are much more able to quickly and easily deal with any life situation in the most appropriate way possible.
My mission is to share with you some of what I’ve learned during my 20+ years of re-civilianizing, so you can avoid some of the struggles and mistakes I‘ve made along the way. I also hope to pleasantly surprise some employers, recruiters, business owners, and human resources professionals in the process. Many of them are very interested in hiring veterans, but need some clear insight into what it really means to be one in order to make the connection successfully.
Fortunately, a civilian boot camp doesn’t require “breaking you down to build you up.“ The goal is not to replace our military thinking habits, but to augment them so we are able to function more effectively as complete human beings in a variety of life situations. In my work as Managing Director of one of the most popular veterans' career resource sites online, WeHireHeroes.US, I’ve found there is actually no shortage of employers willing to hire qualified veterans.
There is, however, a communication gap that often causes both groups to feel misunderstood by the other. Employers and veterans have a lot to offer each other, and I’ve found that both parties are usually eager to make the deal. By opening a window into each other's worlds through the CivilianBootCamp.com project, I hope to help make that happen much more often - with lasting success.
===
Excerpted from the digital ebook, "From Warrior to Workforce: 10 Things Veterans and Employers Need to Know About Each Other". Download your free copy at http://CivilianBootCamp.com .
By Lance T. Walker
♦ Veterans' Employment Advocate | WeHireHeroes.US, CivilianBootCamp.com | Remote CMO | USAF | Author/Speaker/LION
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-military-transitioning-difficult-process-so-many-lance-t-walker?trk=pulse-det-nav_art
If you are a military veteran, you already know that returning to civilian life can be a bit of a shock. The “real world” seems like a chaotic mess; utterly devoid of order, discipline, or teamwork, and seemingly run by a completely different set of values and rules. It’s easy to feel lost and adrift, a lonely lifeboat in an ocean of confusion.
However, it may come as a bit of a surprise you to know that your debut on the civilian scene may be somewhat of a shock to your potential employer as well. The vast majority of Americans (over 97%) have no military experience at all, which means their only window into the military world is likely to be blockbuster movies and television shows.
Predictably, the picture most civilians have of us is spotty at best. As far as they know, you simply went away for a number of years, and now you’re back. In their minds, you marched around a lot, got yelled at a lot, then went to some exotic foreign destination where you randomly saluted people, wore a spiffy clean, pressed uniform, sat behind a desk drinking coffee, and periodically ducked bullets and bombs whenever you went on a super-secret search and destroy or rescue mission (cue commercial).
In other words, most civilians have almost no clue what military life is really like, what you’ve persevered through, what you’ve accomplished, or who you’ve become. If you are to now become a successful veteran job candidate, it’s up to you to bridge the communication gap with more than the occasional war story. You’ve got to be able to tell them, and show them, what you‘re made of - without intimidating or scaring the bejeezus out of them in the process.
After more than 25 years of “re-civilianizing” as a veteran employee and business owner, I’ve learned quite a bit about the mismatch that often happens when we make the transition from warrior to workforce. The real root of the problem is a built-in miscommunication: the same Federal government that works so hard to turn a raw recruit into a into strong, focused, mission-oriented model of efficiency and effectiveness in six weeks of basic training, has no incentive whatsoever to provide them with a “civilian boot camp” on their way out the door.
In fact, it's easy to assume that those with strong military values are automatically among the best citizens by default - and of course, many do seem to be.
But the re-civilianizing process doesn’t just happen naturally, just like becoming a military professional didn‘t happen naturally. Many of the laudable traits instilled and reinforced in us during our military career have left us quite unprepared for a world where individual accomplishments are often celebrated over the success of the group, team sacrifice is often considered weakness, and the profit motive is the prime directive.
It takes conscious effort, time, and accurate information to gain a balanced perspective and turn ourselves into the successful, accomplished civilian citizens we are capable of being. The challenge is, the information you need is not readily available or buried in a sea of useless data and there are, unfortunately, plenty of unscrupulous people out there who are all too eager to exploit a perceived vulnerability for their own social, political, or financial gain.
There is a remarkable difference between being “former military” and becoming a “successful civilian with a military background“. As I like to tell my coaching clients, “Your veteran status you’ve already earned, but civilian status still has to be learned.” In my opinion, a person with both tool kits is much more confident, sure footed, well rounded, and flexible. They are much more able to quickly and easily deal with any life situation in the most appropriate way possible.
My mission is to share with you some of what I’ve learned during my 20+ years of re-civilianizing, so you can avoid some of the struggles and mistakes I‘ve made along the way. I also hope to pleasantly surprise some employers, recruiters, business owners, and human resources professionals in the process. Many of them are very interested in hiring veterans, but need some clear insight into what it really means to be one in order to make the connection successfully.
Fortunately, a civilian boot camp doesn’t require “breaking you down to build you up.“ The goal is not to replace our military thinking habits, but to augment them so we are able to function more effectively as complete human beings in a variety of life situations. In my work as Managing Director of one of the most popular veterans' career resource sites online, WeHireHeroes.US, I’ve found there is actually no shortage of employers willing to hire qualified veterans.
There is, however, a communication gap that often causes both groups to feel misunderstood by the other. Employers and veterans have a lot to offer each other, and I’ve found that both parties are usually eager to make the deal. By opening a window into each other's worlds through the CivilianBootCamp.com project, I hope to help make that happen much more often - with lasting success.
===
Excerpted from the digital ebook, "From Warrior to Workforce: 10 Things Veterans and Employers Need to Know About Each Other". Download your free copy at http://CivilianBootCamp.com .
Transition
Employment
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Soldiers
Civilian Recruiter
Edited 8 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 30
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I am retired Army as of April 1996. Going into industry was a challenge and I learned a lot along the way. Since there were so many military in the market back in the mid-1990s, far more than today, then I started a newsletter of my experiences. That newsletter grew into IntelligenceCareers.com (was a 352CCXGMRU) and USADefenseIndustryJobs.com
DOL data show that most military are slow to gain new jobs in their first six months out and a great many, maybe most, are not with their first civilian company at the end of their first two years out of service. BUT THEY DO GREAT afterwards. Veteran unemployment is actually lower than general civilian non-veteran unemployment.
There are several basic reasons that military have challenges transitioning:
#1 - Most entered the military very young and never truly had to compete among their peers to grow within their careers. (There is competition but the process focuses on winnowing out the weak or undesired. Success is guaranteed for most). Civilians have the opportunity to take their boss's job and he/she end up working for them. It is also very natural in the civilian world that what goes up comes down. Short version: military have trouble recognizing their fit within the corporate world.
#2 - Within the military you are part of the machine and most military tend to see themselves as an MOS/NEC/AFSC. They narrowly envision their roles in organizations and are self-limiting as describing to employers what they really bring to the table; a common employer question for mid and senior level jobs: how do you see yourself within our organization and how do your skills benefit our corporate mission?
#3 - Whatever you were, you are not now. Your rank is almost immaterial and often notions of rank, stature and fit within an organization work against you being successful in the short term (<2). Companies do not want to hear that you were a commander, and senior leader, a person in charge ... as companies have very flat hierarchies which often consist of just three layers: CXO executives, mid-level SMEs who are dual-hatted as managers, and 'the workforce'.
I mentioned that veterans actually enjoy lower employment levels than their civilian counterparts after two years: the logic generally being that being stuck in suck situations means regrouping, doing a SALUTE report on your local economic situation, and then giving yourself an objective with you adapting your career growth tactics to the current environment. Veterans kind of naturally fall into this approach ... but the first several years can be challenging as you move 'beyond my paygrade' to 'I want his/her job'.
DOL data show that most military are slow to gain new jobs in their first six months out and a great many, maybe most, are not with their first civilian company at the end of their first two years out of service. BUT THEY DO GREAT afterwards. Veteran unemployment is actually lower than general civilian non-veteran unemployment.
There are several basic reasons that military have challenges transitioning:
#1 - Most entered the military very young and never truly had to compete among their peers to grow within their careers. (There is competition but the process focuses on winnowing out the weak or undesired. Success is guaranteed for most). Civilians have the opportunity to take their boss's job and he/she end up working for them. It is also very natural in the civilian world that what goes up comes down. Short version: military have trouble recognizing their fit within the corporate world.
#2 - Within the military you are part of the machine and most military tend to see themselves as an MOS/NEC/AFSC. They narrowly envision their roles in organizations and are self-limiting as describing to employers what they really bring to the table; a common employer question for mid and senior level jobs: how do you see yourself within our organization and how do your skills benefit our corporate mission?
#3 - Whatever you were, you are not now. Your rank is almost immaterial and often notions of rank, stature and fit within an organization work against you being successful in the short term (<2). Companies do not want to hear that you were a commander, and senior leader, a person in charge ... as companies have very flat hierarchies which often consist of just three layers: CXO executives, mid-level SMEs who are dual-hatted as managers, and 'the workforce'.
I mentioned that veterans actually enjoy lower employment levels than their civilian counterparts after two years: the logic generally being that being stuck in suck situations means regrouping, doing a SALUTE report on your local economic situation, and then giving yourself an objective with you adapting your career growth tactics to the current environment. Veterans kind of naturally fall into this approach ... but the first several years can be challenging as you move 'beyond my paygrade' to 'I want his/her job'.
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COL Mikel J. Burroughs
CW3 Bill Golden Well stated! Very sound advice and response. Thanks for sharing Bill!
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Sir, I think it's because the misinterpretation and misunderstanding the civilian populous has about the military and veterans. You have people prancing around with disgruntled veteran shirts and a woe is me attitude over social media that many think we are broken. The general consensus about those who participated in war time activities or similar is that of a drone with no social or mental capability. This is a view that must be changed, and many prior military are failing to make it so by their actions and attitudes.
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SFC (Join to see)
Sir,
Veterans seem to get a negative projection of being broken, and mentally unstable from individuals attempting to provoke the veteran to confirm their claim. Personally, I find it disappointing that a vet has to encounter this from a civvie.
It's best to disengage and move on w/o verbal exchange.
Veterans seem to get a negative projection of being broken, and mentally unstable from individuals attempting to provoke the veteran to confirm their claim. Personally, I find it disappointing that a vet has to encounter this from a civvie.
It's best to disengage and move on w/o verbal exchange.
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SSG Mathew Ada
SFC (Join to see) - SFC, I agree to a point with this. It happens often, but it is reinforced by individuals who support their perceptions without provocation. You see it all the time. There's even social media pages and websites that make money off of apparel, bumper stickers and such. If the perception were to change, and to minimize undo provocation, the military (serving or have served) must change the way the civilian populous looks at us. Not give it more ammunition to support the social status qou.
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Lt Col (Join to see)
And I'm getting close to pushing that retire button myself... so I'm listening carefully to the responses... freaks me out as all I know is military... 26 years this year and I have no idea how to integrate in a corporation that has different values, goals, etc... how the heck do you know who outranks you and what are you supposed to wear??? ...need civilian clothing regulations--lol. On a serious note, it does keep me up at night thinking about the future...
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