Military Transition

When you go in, have your exit strategy ready. Don't wait until at two years out, when it's time to transition, to try and start preparing, because if two years out, you need a four year degree, and you haven't started, then you haven't given yourself enough time to achieve what you need. So when you get ready to go into the military, whether you're gonna do one term and get out, or whether you're gonna do 20 years and retire, have your plan, at least a outline of your plan ready, so that you can start checking the box. (upbeat music) The best single piece of advice I got when I was getting out of the military, was a very close friend of mine, he transitioned out probably about two to three years before me, and he told me, he said, "You gotta figure out three things." He said, "You gotta figure out, where do you want to live?" He said, "You gotta figure out what do you want to do?" And then he said, "You gotta figure out the number you wanna chase in terms of compensation. Because at the end of the day, you gotta pay the bills." So, and then he said, "After you do those three things, you gotta prioritize and figure out what's most important, what's kind of number two and then what's number three." If you have a sustained technical skill, get your position with that skill and then underpin that with the management. And if you do that, you're gonna grow. You're gonna move up pretty quickly. But to just base your resume on your management skills and assume that you'll land in a position equivalent to the one that you had in the military, it's tough to do. I didn't put enough weight on education for a long time. So to finally kind of flip that switch, and I would say to the folks transitioning now, especially if you're looking in the contracting community or staying in some sort of defense-like position, education is paramount. Find someone who's done it and get a mentor. Mentors are extremely important, and it's something that I wish I had taken advantage of. Many people have done it before you, and people will continue to do it. Look for the ones that have done it successfully. I get comments on my LinkedIn all the time, just someone transitioning, and they ask for advice. And if they're in my area, I'll even meet with them. Practice interviewing because military people enlisted or officer do not have to interview. They're asked, "What MOS would you like? Where would you like to be stationed next if you're gonna stay in?" So there's a retention officer talking to them, but it's not an interview process. And I hadn't had professional interviews. I had to learn how to do that, actually, once I graduate from here. It was looking at some of those other positions that I wanted to go into in the business sector. And when you get into private sector or when you get out of the military, your rank and your title mean nothing. You have to be someone that people want to follow, that people believe in. So learning how to motivate people, not by your rank, but by qualities, by skill sets, culture, by values, those things, understanding what moves them and then motivating them using what motivates them. In the military, I can stand and say to my subordinates, this is what we're going to do today, do this, and they'll do it. But in the civilian world, you might wanna come with something a little bit more than that. Remember your network. That's another great thing that comes out of the military is because you have lived so closely, and worked so closely with people, you develop a network. Make a list, all those people you know, and call them for advice, tell them that you're getting out, and that this is what you were interested in, and what can they advise you, what can they advise you to do. Everybody wants to help. And so, and they particularly wanna help people that they remember from the service and liked. So take advantage of that. You'll do it for the next guy. (gentle music)