How do you determine your own strengths and aptitudes so you can target companies and positions without wasting your time or becoming counterproductive? This whole transition may feel as if you are starting over from scratch.
The feeling of excitement that you made a commitment to start yet another fresh career and retire from the service definitely will be overwhelming in ways that you now don't really understand or comprehend.
Where do you start? Who do you talk to? How do you prepare now? These are just a few thoughts you will have. It almost seems as if you need a full-time daily coach -- one that can answer your most minute questions that you have been struggling with for hours. You will search for answers, dialogue, and feedback from any support channel that is within your grasp. In preparation of finding these answers and the dialogue you search for, realize your immediate expectations may become clouded.
Prepare for the unexpected and only expect minimal efforts from those support channels. (Now, if you get more than expected, then obviously that is wonderful.)
Here are some situations you may encounter with people or organizations that say they are “veteran advocates” or “transitioning experts” whether they be recruiters, resume experts, or support groups with amazing assistance or free services.
These are some examples of situations you may face:
-A quick, three- to five-minute conversation where you’re asked for your name, number, and background information, most likely for reporting purposes.
-While most agencies market free services, as soon as you're on the phone with them, some may try to sell you a “special package” from $295 to $6,000 I wasn't prepared for the why this was really needed.
-Some so-called advocates may miss their own scheduled phone discussions with you and then not return the voice message call.
-You may not feel connected, understood, or valued.
-There maybe a lack of follow-up via phone messages, emails, or LinkedIn messages.
These situations, of course, happen in everyday life, but the magnitude will be much greater when you are trying to do everything to successfully transition to civilian life.
For 20 years, we have been labeled constantly as leaders behind the military uniform. As you walk through the transition process, the dream will start to become a reality. At the start of this process you think you will maintain that title as you move forward with a new civilian company and that there will be a laundry list of jobs to choose from. Heck, our reasoning is, “They'll hire me because I'm a leader, I'm trained, I train others, I've deployed, or I've served.” However, only 1 percent of citizens has served and understands what serving is about, so things likely won’t turn out as you imagine.
So how do you properly translate your military background for the civilian workforce? The military positions you held do not mirror those in the civilian sector. Titles are totally different, the terminology you have grown up knowing and understanding is different from the descriptions of civilian job responsibilities and pre-requisites.
Determining the differences between what you want to do in your career versus what you are qualified to do is key before you even start to refine your resume. Once you understand the new terminology, you can build your resume on your experiences by accurately relating them to what you are looking to do.
Have you started your own marketing plan? Marketing yourself is key to acquiring a good job. Most job hires are through a referral, which may be made through your marketing strategy.
Part of marketing yourself properly is searching within yourself for what you actually want to do, and determining the correct career fields and positions based off of that. Look at the training and experience you have that will guide you on this path to making a great new career choice. If you haven't taken the opportunity to do this, it may seem as if you don't know where to properly start and or you are spinning your wheels trying to find answers.
Remember that there is no exact conversion to your training and experiences you've had in order to properly determine if a company's position will be a fit for you. It's up to you to research the company and the position to see if it's a fit and, if so, customize your resume for each company to which you send it to have a better chance of getting a phone call, interview, or discussion about your future career opportunities. Yes, you will receive different opinions by countless experts about what a resume should be and how to reflect everything properly, some of which will contradict each other. This will cause ample amounts of stress. Remember that most companies will probably not give you any real feedback until you are only a few months away from starting your retirement. Stay positive and continue to grind!
The first month after this monumental decision will feel like a roller coaster ride, but stay strong and continue planning and preparing for the success you desire. It will happen!
My eResume website can be viewed at:
www.justincodypearson.com
I will be available for relocation and career opportunities in March of 2017.
Success starts here! Let’s discover your potential~
Justin C. Pearson, Founder and CEO, Just in Success
#WECAN #WEWILL #WEBELIEVE
