10/9/2019 0 Comments Mentors (Location/Culture)If you are preparing or going through the military transition, you need to find a mentor, or mentors!
You can go about this one of several ways. 1- You can connect with friends who have already transitioned. You may get some good, honest feedback as a plus. Also, there information will probably be the most up-to-date. As a minus, if they are your friends, chances are they are not very well connected since they have probably transitioned relatively recently as well. 2- You can search out and connect to veterans (or perhaps non-veterans) in organizations you are most interested in. Pros here are that you can gain valuable access and information about culture, job postings, and references from the inside. Cons, however, are that this is often difficult. Essentially it takes "cold calling" and you doing an excellent job of selling yourself off the bat, the person being interested in you, the person having time, the person valuing or empathizing with your transition experience, the person having a mutual connection or background, and/or a combination of all of these. Example, I searched out Army Aviation under GE Aviation and cold connected with people I knew I could connect with easier. 3- You can use mentorship organizations such as Veterati or American Corporate Partners. Here you get a mix of people, but someone who probably is decently connected, has some experience with the transition process and relevancy to time, and who is obviously willing to mentor. However, you may not find the city or industry you are looking for, so the conversations can become rather generic, almost more like a help line. 4- Of course you can bypass all of these and just use a placement firm, or a head hunter if you will. You can pretty much count of them getting a job as pro. But as a con, you will be walking in pretty much blind, not learning much about the organization and certainly not gaining a mentor. So what can a mentor do for you? Well that is up to you and what you want when you find them. It can be formal or informal. It could grain of salt advice of feedback (take a look at my resume, listen to my elevator pitch, etc), it could be leads to other connections or jobs, it could be any number of things. In my opinion it is good to have a few different mentors. 1- The Talker, one who you trust what they are saying and who are good at sharing information and experiences. You can learn from them, there stories, mistakes, rights, etc. 2- The Listener, one that you can vent to, have open conversations with as you try and navigate this process. 3- The Connector, some who is well connected. They may not be the best listener or best talker, but will believe in what you are saying and will either stick there neck out there for you or continue to connect you with people of influence that will be influential in getting you where you need to go. And although it may take you a bit to figure out who is who, once you do, I would connect and grow with them in this order. That way can learn, try some things and if you swing and miss and get frustrated, vent about until you get it right, and when you do, go out there confidently chase down those leads! Finally, once the dust settles some years later and you find yourself comfortably sitting on the other side of the fence. Go out there and become the mentor! It is the best of way of keeping the ball rolling and keeping the information fresh to the transitioners. And if you ask me, it is an unwritten requirement of passage to be that leader and share that knowledge in order to help those 1%s out!
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