Transitioning careers can be a challenging task.
Transitioning from a military career to a civilian career may be more complex.
Transitioning careers, especially when you are in your late
middle-aged years can be a stressful endeavor. You have to assess your value
with respect to the current market place. You begin to look for something more
stable in terms of a steady income. You are getting older and competing with
people a generation or more younger than you who potentially have more skills,
specifically technical skills, that are more to the to the liking of business
wanting to expand their profit margins and operational reach.
If you are transitioning from the military to the civilian
world, you have additional challenges. I experienced this myself more than
concerns expressed in the aforementioned paragraph.
Military persons are not used to selling themselves, and
justifying their own value at the expense of others in terms salary and
compensation. Employers play on this sense of humility, even former military
members who are now business leaders. I observed this in person myself…don’t
fall for it.
I found myself missing camaraderie; seeing associates hold
themselves accountable for shortfalls; developing team members and subordinates
to become better performers and better people to work with. There’s more, but
these are just some of the biggest changes. These changes come with some razor
cuts and blood-letting…you learn how to survive on the streets…without a team
at your back…securing and justifying your own existence where God and country
are automatically made subordinate.
As a military member, you are transitioning cultures
and societies with a different optic on life and relationships. You must
understand this in order to move forward.
So the first challenges you must really deal with are
embedded internal known systems, such as the following:
·
Recognize
who you really are as a person and in terms of values; then correlating and
applying those observations to the outside world in a way that is value-added.
This may sound too esoteric for some, but here are a few examples.
o
Take
initiative to excel whenever opportunities surface, to include creating a
self-education program. At the same time, being self-aware and socially aware
of your actions and their impacts on your local environment. Some people will
appreciate your energy and you may be promoted, or justify the employer
retaining you. Other people may see you as a threat (competition), whereby you
need to begin watching your back to potential subversive actions, and adapting
to potential subversion with carefully applied interpersonal skills and social
intelligence.
o
You
need to prove you are adaptive, able to learn and grow. This may mean starting
from a low position and slowly working your way back up the chain of influence
you once achieved.
o
Being
a team player and building teams. You likely know how to
motivate and lead people into action…leading to highly functional teams.
o
You
are your own command structure:
§ You are your own S1 (Administration),
§ S2
(Intelligence/Marketing/Competitive Analysis/SWOT),
§ S3
(Operations/Planning/Execution/Metrics/Training),
§ S4 (Logistics/Resource application
and Managements) and
§ S6 (Communications- interpersonal and
technical). You know how functioning systems work, how to create and shape
systems, and how to allow systems to run on their own without being
micro-managed.
§ Medical – you have to take care of
yourself emotionally, physically, mentally and spiritually.
Apply this knowledge and expertise as
opportunities surface over time.
These are just some considerations
when preparing to transition jobs, specifically if you are military. There’s
more that I hope to add later.