Career Advancement Strategies for Veterans

Starting a New Career: The Landscape of Opportunity This post is designed to pass on career advice to retiring servicemembers. This is for NCOs and Officers of all grades who are retiring- I've seen NCOs and Officers succeed in all of the areas that I list below. I started preparing for retirement about 2 ½ years before leaving military service.  I don’t call it Retirement, I call it Leaving Military Service- as I want to keep working, and retirement sounds like you hang out in a rocking chair at home. I built a Word document and titled it Operation Inherent Danger- because all transitions are inherently dangerous.  I started making phone calls- I considered each one to be an informational interview- and took notes during each call. Informational Interviews are key, and they are enjoyable because there is no pressure.  2 ½ years before retirement I started to schedule about two informational interviews a week.  You are not asking for a job. You are learning. I outline how I did it in the attached pdf. Everyone’s journey is different, and mine is continuing, but at the end, I saw my Realm of Opportunity as: Professional Speaking Engagements.  What do you want to speak about?  Who will your audience be?  Will you arrange your own engagements or use a speaker’s bureau? Consulting.  What do you want to consult on?  How can you establish your brand now while you are in uniform?  How will you get business? Starting your own Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business.  Lots of opportunities here if you have the courage to be an entrepreneur.  Small Business Administration is a great place to start. Buying a small business.  There are many small businesses out there trying to find a succession plan.  This can be incredibly lucrative, you can get financing from the current business owners, banks, etc.  You can borrow millions and start making the same. Working in the start-up ecosystem.  Venture Capital?  Start-up advisor?  Board member?  You can be paid in salary, equity, or both. Board Work.  Join the National Association of Corporate Directors, the Private Directors Association, and BoardProspects. Corporation.  Join a company. I work at USAA, where I still am today. The company's leadership, culture, and mission all align with my value set, and I enjoy every moment there. I decided to take the opportunity because it would expose me to the profit/loss world and fill in the gaps that I had in my skill set, making me more useful in the future as a speaker, consultant, board member, or entrepreneur. Portfolio Career.  This is what I found to be most appealing- it’s really a combination of the above- consulting and speaking engagements go hand in hand.  You can start a small business at the same time. As you develop this landscape of opportunity, you can take steps that will open doors to where you want to go, as shown in the pdf. What advice would you add? #career #opportunities #informationalinterviews

12x things I would have done differently if I was transitioning now: 1 - started earlier Should have started 18 months out, but would have loved to had 2-3 years...allowing me to space things out Doesn't mean "I'm getting out & going to job fairs" for 2-3 years Means I'm getting my LinkedIn profile together, growing my network, having exploratory conversations about careers & working on education (if necessary) It took 200+ phone calls & cups of coffee to figure out what I wanted to do...it would have been MUCH less stressful spread out over a few years (instead of 10 months) 2 - take TAP as soon as possible It isn't an amazing course (unless you luck out & get one of the absolute angels that teach it + have experience) But it is designed to give you a FOUNDATION Almost like transition Cliffs Notes 3 - request a mentor from American Corporate Partners (ACP) (14 months) Gives you full year to work with them before you get out Hint: ask your mentor to introduce you to other people if things are going well 4 - work on ethics memo (12 months out) for senior leaders Visit local JAG or ethics office You'll need an ethics letter for many senior defense sector jobs, so better to know now (and maybe even start the cooling off period earlier...while still in) 5 - get free LinkedIn Premium (12 months out) Google "free LinkedIn Premium for veterans" and hit the first link 6 - conduct informational interviews (12 - 6 months out) You ideally start way earlier, but here is where you really narrow down the answer to the question: what do you want to do? I recommend at least 2x calls a week to learn more about what people do, ideally you are doing 3-5x a week 7 - Sign up for USO Transitions (12 months out) Get a USO Transition Specialist that will work with you one-on-one, and they also have some cool webinars 😎 8 - get life insurance quotes (12-6 months out) Do it BEFORE you document everything that has ever been wrong with you for your disability (or get a sleep study) VGLI is #expensive & designed to ensure everyone (even medically discharged) can get it This can save you hundreds a month (easy) 9 - get free cert from Onward to Opportunity (6 months out) Ideally you've done enough informational interviews to choose the best one for your next career (not the automatic PMP everyone says to get) O2O will give you (+ spouse) free training for 1x cert AND pay for the exam They will also give you a career workshop, coaching & help with your resume 10 - take extra TAP classes Visit your transition center & see what else they offer They hold events and have specialized training beyond the minimum required classes 11 - work on resume (4-6 months out) with mentors It doesn't make sense to write a resume until you figure out what you want to do 12 - start applying for jobs (2-3 months from day you can start) Ideally with referrals from your mentors, giving you 11x better odds of getting job) Questions? #quinnsights HireMilitary

One giant leap… My top resume advice for transitioning veterans. Hope it’s helpful; this is based on reviewing thousands of resumes. Writing a good resume is really hard. What the process actually does is help you find the essence of your story. A great one won’t get you a job. A weak one will get you overlooked. When people offer a lame resume, I believe it. Don’t waste time asking what a company is like before applying - get in the game and compete for an offer - while you’re deciding if the company is worthy, someone else is beating you to the offer - if you earn an interview, there will be time to assess culture - until you have an offer, there’s no value in worrying about anything else. If you don’t get a call, move on. Figure out how you’ll compete better on the next one. Don’t sell your biography. Connect your experience and who you are to the specific role you’re seeking. Yes - Tailor your resume to the role. To each role. Don’t use titles you never had in uniform. Military people aren’t CEOs - you couldn’t change the mission and you didn’t report to a board, and there’s definitely no profit and loss responsibility. No one will fully comprehend what you used to do. Move on. What you need is alignment with where you want to go next, and an understanding of how to get there - it might not be a straight line. So you got an interview… now for the important stuff. Seek impact over title - every time. Don’t seek pay. Seek purpose. Pay will follow. Seek experience that builds on your values. Only you can gauge your level of commitment, capacity, and willingness to commit to what’s next. Do your homework to align those factors. Leadership experience isn’t a selling point on it’s own. How you used the gift of serving in a leadership role is what counts. How did you serve the team and the mission? Be ready to share the hardest projects you’ve had to lead, showing how they made a difference. Don’t oversell, don’t waste time - if you can’t say it in a sentence, work harder to get there. Be able to show your ability to offer and accept meaningful feedback - have examples ready of how you grew because someone told you what you needed to hear. Humility is important. Most of all, realize that you’re entering a new world where your title means almost nothing to the people in your team; they may listen to you, but you have to earn their trust - which is most often by listening more than speaking, rolling up your sleeves, learning, growing, and knowing that it’s less about having the answers than it is about asking good questions. Absorb the fact that it takes time to make the adjustment - but you also have the opportunity to walk away whenever you choose. It’s both a challenge and a freedom unlike your time in uniform. Thanks for your service - it’s time to move on and make the next chapter equally rewarding. Hope this is useful. Thanks for reading! #dreambigger