The first momentous decision you made in your life was to enter the military — and most likely, you made this decision under the age of 20. That took a tremendous amount of intestinal fortitude and, I can tell you that one decision will be the most transformative of your life. Congratulations. And you just made your second momentous decision: to leave the military behind for the private sector’s stability. Perhaps you tossed your combat boots over the wire when you exited the base that final time (do they still do that?), or maybe you were like me and took a photo of the main gate from your rearview mirror. Like 99% of other transitioning vets, you are excited, anxious, and probably “clue minus” on what you are going to do next. Fear is something you aren’t used to, but now you face the prospects of the unknown, and your gut tightens because, for this fight, you have no training, and there are no comrades to cover your back. For the first time since you raised your right hand and swore an oath of service, you feel alone. I know this because I was you 20 years ago.
But here’s the thing you aren’t alone. Every man and woman who served is here to help you, including me. After more than a decade in the Marines and 20 years in the private sector, I am writing a few blog posts to share my experience with transitioning vets or anyone else who may care to read about the process. I wrote recently about how you are better equipped than you realize for this transition. The purpose of this post is to share some insights on crafting resumes and how to handle interviews.
The resume
You probably have a newly minted resume in your hot little hand. It has impressive words like “discipline” and “initiative.” Still, it falls short of substance because you don’t know how to translate your exceptional military experience into terms a civilian will understand. Let’s face it; there aren’t many companies out there that need people who know how to direct artillery fire or who can land a jet on a heaving aircraft carrier in the middle of the night. Cool as those things are — and they are damn cool — they are useless on the other side. As you craft your resume, it will help if you nail down some foundational elements of a good resume, and there are about a thousand websites dedicated to that process. My intent is not to regurgitate them here, but to that end, here is a great quick read with tips from www.indeed.com. Rather my purpose with this post is to provide guidance on translating your experience into a language that anyone can understand.
Now assuming you have the resume mechanics right, here are some tips that are specific to veterans:
- First and foremost, understand that the people reading your resume most likely aren’t veterans. Your main job here is to spin your experience in a manner understood by the layperson. For instance, it’s not enough to say “Squad Leader.” You should say, “I led a squad of 13 Marines and was responsible for not only their tactical success but also their health and welfare.”
- Brevity matters. You will have plenty of time in the interview to unpack your experience fully. Think of your resume as a quick snapshot that highlights what is best in you. When you spoke on the tactical radio, you used crisp, direct language. There was no time or tolerance for fluff. Use that mindset when writing your resume; be sure to balance directness with substance.
- Use metrics everywhere you can, and make sure you provide context: “My squad was rated #1 out of 9 in my company for our six-month deployment overseas” is better than “We won Squad of the Year.”
- Profit & loss, amortization, cash flow statements: these are not things the military is familiar with — but you should find a way to translate some of your experience into financial terms. An easy one is a “guestimate” of the gear value under your charge. Everyone loves stories of how much the DoD spends on equipment — the $300 hammer or the $15,000 toilet — use these dollar values to your advantage for something other than humor. Think for a moment of the amount of gear you carried: night vision goggles, encrypted radios, gas mask, kevlar helmet, optics, chow*, navigation equipment, ammo, M4 assault rifle — all those things have a value, and you were responsible for all of it, 24x7. A quick Google search shows that a single soldier’s kit is about $17,500 — so our squad leader above was responsible for $17,500 x 13 = $227,500 of gear. “As Squad Leader, I was in charge of 13 Marines and over $225,000 worth of equipment, daily.” And if you drove a tank? Big bucks.
- In my previous blog post, I spoke about the soft skills of leadership and the mission orientation of vets. Feel free to pepper these terms in your resume liberally, but punch them up with some examples. For instance, turn “exhibits initiative” into this: “While on deployment, I took the initiative to create a better communications process with our peer units, resulting in a 15% increase in message delivery.” Another example: turn “I am decisive” into this: “As a lieutenant in charge of a search and rescue mission, my decisiveness led to the timely and safe recovery of a pilot and aircraft, these actions resulted in myself and my troops receiving the Navy Commendation Medal.”
- One tactical piece of advice: have at least two other people proofread your resume. Ensure that one of them is a veteran who has transitioned recently, who can relate to what you are going through, and who can provide help in translating military language. The other should be someone who hasn’t served so that he or she can make sure your resume is free of military speak and has clarity.
And finally here are some pithy tidbits on mistakes to avoid with your resume:
- The use of military acronyms: no one knows what MOOSEMUSS means. Be descriptive.
- Avoid war stories and “overly aggressive” language. “I performed my tasks in combat with effectiveness” is much better than “I executed the mission and rained steel upon the enemy.” Save that for the bar — trust me, people will ask you all about your time in the service. I have been out for 20+ years, and people still ask me for “war stories.”
- Avoid military jargon. “I snapped-to most ricky-tick” is odd, even downright scary, to the uninitiated ear. Be clear.
Getting your first job
Let me start with this: one of the greatest assets you will build throughout your career will be your network. As you exit the military, your network isn’t a large one, but it’s a muscle you need to start exercising. Asking for help is hard for a veteran — but don’t ever hesitate to do so. You can contact friends from high school or college; you might have an uncle who works in sales, or your fiance’s brother is an insurance agent — all these people can help you. Once you have a tight resume, reach out to them. Looking for a job is a process, and it takes commitment.
Before you go to your first interview, you need to create what’s called an “elevator pitch.” This is your pitch to anyone who will listen, which describes your stellar candidacy for employment. An elevator pitch is a quick overview of your background and experience. It’s so named because it needs to be short enough to explain during a brief elevator ride. Craft this pitch and then hone it with the care you did your combat knife. Practice on people (the pitch, not the knife). Have them ask you questions and make sure you are clear, concise, and that you highlight your competitive advantages. This elevator pitch is what you use when you are networking. You are competing with a lot of talented people. You need to stand out.
Spend some time thinking about what type of job you want. People will be the most helpful to you when you have at least an inkling. When you speak to your uncle, the salesman, you shouldn’t say, “well, I can do anything,” because he doesn’t know what to do with that. Some specificity is helpful. For instance, you can say, “I believe my leadership and communication experience would make me suited for a sales role. If the military taught me anything, it was how to roll up my sleeves and get work done.” Last comment here, a job is something you do to get by. It’s a clock-punching exercise, and you leave your work behind you at the end of the day. A career is a profession that you will live, breathe, and eat every minute of every day. It’s sort of like your time in the military, except, of course, no one is shooting at you. Figure out which of these you want before you start the search process; they both have pros and cons.
And don’t sweat it if you don’t know exactly what you want to do long term, I have had a very successful civilian career, and I STILL don’t know what I want to do. The important thing here is to land the first gig so you can start to learn. Getting exposure to all the different functions in a company will quickly help you understand what might be of most interest. You might land a sales role and find after working there for six months that you are drawn to the ingenuity of marketing or the intellect of sales strategy. Just get in the door and execute; the rest will come to you.
Below are some tips for the actual interview, and my apologies if some of this comes off as pedantic. Vets have a directness which, although refreshing in the workplace, can be misinterpreted in the setting of an interview where people are not only looking for skill set but also cultural fit:
- Your word choice matters and can either deflate or amplify the bias the interviewer has of you. Calling the interviewer “sir” or “ma’am” is off-putting. Depending on the industry, if the interviewer is named Steven Rafferty, calling him “Mr. Rafferty” can be a problem. This is damn hard for a vet to get his or her head around, but it’s critical that you don’t start off on the wrong foot.
- You aren’t reporting to a commanding officer, so don’t stand or sit like a rock. Be professionally casual. The best way I can explain that is to watch the character, Don Draper, from Mad Men (you only need to watch the first few minutes of this video, and I admit it may be a bit much and is certainly too male-centric, but you get the drift). Be confident, don’t be stiff.
- Your clothing choice matters. Do some diligence before you decide what to wear. Check out the website of the company, get a feel for their tone. What does the leadership team wear in their website photos? Check out their employee photos on LinkedIn, etc., to get a feel for the dress code, and then take it up one notch. If it’s super casual and everyone wears tees and hoodies, wear a collared shirt or a blouse with jeans. If everyone is in khakis and collared shirts or dresses, then wear a blazer or a pantsuit.
- Ask questions. Ask a lot of questions. Try not just to regurgitate what you read on some Wikipedia page. If you try too hard to look insightful, you will end up looking like someone who is trying too hard to look insightful. Read some press releases, get a feel for the place, and ask questions that might be germane to the job position. Even if you are off base, the interviewer will appreciate that you put the energy forward to do some research. I have literally interviewed thousands of people in my career, the ones who stand out — and generally get the job — are the ones who clearly put some energy into learning about my company and me and who don’t waste my time by giving me answers they read on some blog post (yes, I recognize the irony here). Employment is a relationship, and employers want to be wanted. Never forget that.
Just for fun, here are a few things to be wary of:
- As with the resume, don’t use military lingo. No one understands you when you say, “we popped smoke and were oscar mike.”
- Don’t misread your audience: the person interviewing you doesn’t look like they can do a single pull up or run a 6-minute mile, don’t immediately think you are superior to them — because you aren’t.
- Don’t become too familiar or casual. The woman interviewing you may be a friend of a friend, but you still need to crush the interview. Assuming you already have the job because of an inside relationship is dangerous. A person who hires you is putting his or her reputation at stake, and they won’t take that risk if they feel you aren’t respecting the process.
I will close with this — the career search is a full-time job in and of itself. You will be immeasurably better in your 10th interview than you will be in your first. It’s worth it to get a few at-bats before you go for the job you really want. Interviewing in many ways is an art form, even a game to some, so the more experience you have, the better you will perform. And don’t get frustrated if you aren’t immediately successful; double down on the learning and remember this — you’ll never walk alone.**
Now go get some, and happy hunting.
*I carried A LOT of chow
**Yes, I am a Liverpool fan