So I alluded to this in a microblog recently and it has since blown up. I stated the following "No one cares. #truth it’s tough, maybe a personally the do, but business $, they don’t. Find your #passion and tie that to what you learned in the military rather than taking your military skills and looking for where they fit!" Now tie this in with my latest leadership blog. Belichick's fifth principle is don't rest on your laurels.
It is not that people or businesses do or do not care. There are a lot of grateful people out there, there are business who understand military folks more and prefer to hire them, businesses also get tax advantages for hiring veterans, so they do care in some sense. What I am alluding to here is that they don't care what you did in the past, no different if you were a warehouse forklift driver, a window washer, a school teacher, a store manager, etc. It is about translating the skills you learned at your previous role to show how they fit in this potential role, and most importantly, what impact it is going to have on the organization. Your VA card may get you into the local VFW, but that is where it ends, so get the chip off your shoulder. Yes you selflessly served your country, but no body owes you anything for that, that is a choice you made, therefore, you don't get a special line to move to the front of the hiring process, those days are gone. Here are some thoughts from Christopher Caley, retired Army Military Intelligence Analyst.
Herb Thompson, retired Army Special Forces leader states, "No one really cares that you were a Green Beret, SEAL, Ranger, or Raider. No one really cares that you flew fighter jets or helicopters. No one really cares that you commanded a number of tanks, artillery guns, or infantryman. Nobody cares that you led a Battalion, Squadron, or Flight. No one really cares how many times you engaged the enemy or trained to do it. No one cares which countries you deployed to or prepared to go to. The list goes on and on and on and on... What value are you going to bring to a company? How are you reducing the risk of them hiring you? These are the only things that matter. Translate your skills into context and capabilities that they understand. Lessen the risk they will assume!" It is business decision, a financial decision. It is not about bodies (Infantry 3 to 1 attack ratio), it is about money. A business is here to make money and it's number one expense item is most likely payroll. Most business cannot afford to just give you a shot, however, each value different things. Some may value education, some may value leadership experience, some may value personality, etc. This is why it is important to network, to find what a company looks for and see if you are a match. And if you love a company, just get in. Once you are for 1-3 years and people see you perform, people understand what you do by reading a job title, etc, it becomes much easier to sell yourself and move throughout the business and industry. After I did some real sole searching and narrowed down my skill list to what I could confidentiality say were my strengths (you know, because I thought I was good at everything having been an Army Aviation pilot and commander), I generated that list on top of my master resume. As I read through job descriptions, I tally the terms from the JD on my resume. If I have enough matches, I then tailor my resume. If I do not, I don't and I move on. Additionally, I take those skills along with my goals to have my elevator pitch on hand for whenever the occasion occurs to sell myself. Because perhaps the best advice I have received is to never stop interviewing. And I mean ever, not just during the interview, but in every interaction you have, because you don't know where it will lead! Stop trying to fit you (the square peg) in every hole you come across (the triangle, the circle, etc). Take some time to assess yourself, assess your real skills, develop that elevator pitch and get out there and beginning networking with a plan on how you are going to make a difference for that company (hence why it helps to do some reach on an organization and to listen and truly conversate when networking, that way you have talking points)! Best of luck and please reach out if you have any questions.
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