In this my inaugural blog on the military transition, I chose to start first with what I believe to be the most valuable asset, the US Chamber of Commerce and the Hiring Our Heroes Program, specifically the Corporate Fellowship Program. Why? Well let's cut to the chase with a little back story.
Without going into great detail, you can see me on the about me page, my back story goes as such. I wanted out of the military but didn't really know what I wanted to do. I took several of those personality/career tests and the answer seemed to be retail management. Well that made sense, I wanted to run a Bass Pro Shops and talk about fishing all day! I ended up with Love's Travel Stops through the Cameron-Brooks military headhunter service. This is a District Manager formalized training program. It had structure and a plan to learn from the floor up, starting as an Assistant Store Manager and becoming a Store Manager before becoming a District Manager. I had a plan. Take my interest, cover my worrisome areas (do my skills fit?), grow for about 7 years, get vested in some cash from Love's, then go to Bass Pro! All seemed good, until about two months into work, when I quickly realized, retail and retail management was not for me. Over the next 8 months, I spent most of my non-work time throwing out darts with no real plan and what was next. Eventually, my networking with GE Aviation that started two years prior paid off. I got an opportunity and have enjoyed it ever since. The moral to the story, if I had chance to intern at a retail organization, despite what all those test said, I would have learned that retail management wasn't fit, at the very least, and could have still had time to establish another plan without sacrifice of a paycheck. In comes Hiring Our Heroes Corporate Fellowship Program. Now I didn't have the fellowship luxury being stationed out in Hawaii, but I have since incorporated it into GE Aviation's rhythm, at least here at Madisonville. I do so, because this program provides both the service member and the organization with a fair assessment at learning each other, without any fiscal risk. As the service member, you can see if that industry and company culture is a fit for you. And even if it does not work out, you still work away with experience and resume bullets. For the organization, you get a free trial if you will, an assessment of talent and fit within your organization. What is there to lose with this growing program? You get a risk free self and organizational assessment, in which afterwards, you are free to move on, and still use those headhunters to find a job if necessary. But I would be willing to bet, that the experience you get and the connections you make during the internship, will be far greater than any vouching a headhunting firm will do for you before you go through your speed dating interview career fair. So I start with this, because I want more service members and businesses to be aware of the program, to give it a few tries, because I believe you will never look back and will be left more satisfied in your military transition. Visit them at https://www.hiringourheroes.org/ and review the Corporate Fellowship to see all that it has to offer. No what stage you are at, start planning now!
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