Waiting To Prepare for your Military Transition? Don’t. It Could Cost You (E184)

Cameron-Brooks

Are you waiting to prepare for your military transition? Junior military officers have a distinct advantage over those who graduate college and straight into the workforce. Simply put – they have leadership experience and leadership potential.

There is just no denying that JMOs are given the opportunity to lead as soon as they hit the force. They get to lead teams, manage programs, solve problems, and ultimately make their organization better. You would be hard-pressed to find a company that gives a new college hire the level of leadership and responsibility that a military officer gets from the get-go.

And it’s not just that first job in the military. A JMO’s leadership experience builds and grows on itself with each successive promotion. It’s that leadership experience and potential that corporate America is looking for.

That said, one of the biggest mistakes some military officers make when they exit the military is assuming that their military experience is sufficient preparation to make the move from the military to corporate America. That is actually a logical assumption if a JMO were moving from active duty to either a government (GS) job or a role at a defense contractor. Because there is so much overlap between the military and those types of opportunities, the transition is basically seamless.

When a JMO moves from the world of defense to the world of customers and profitability and everything is new, the stakes are higher. Getting into a role at a leading company in corporate America and into a role that is commensurate with a JMO’s level of leadership requires a different type of preparation. Why? Well, because the hiring manager who typically fills the positions we are talking about almost invariably hire people with industry and/or company experience. It’s not unusual for a hiring manager in corporate America to desire the type of leadership experience that a JMO brings to the table, but it’s also not unreasonable to expect that the JMO is able to explain their military experience in such a way that helps the hiring manager “see” their military experience (tanks, jets, intelligence, air defense, etc.) in their world (manufacturing, medical devices, consumer packaged goods, energy, etc.)

In this episode, we meet the newest Cameron-Brooks Transition Coach, Brock Dudley. Actually, you’ve already met Brock. He was featured on Episode 177 as he discussed why he trusted Cameron-Brooks with his transition. Now that Brock has been to two Career Conferences and seen firsthand what it takes to be successful at the Conference, he shares some insight, not only as someone who recently made the transition but also as someone who coaches candidates through the process.

We discuss the massive advantage of starting the preparation process early. What books should be reading now? What should you focus on when conducting interview preparation? Why should you better understand your career options before stepping into an interview? We answer to these questions and more in the podcast.

And we get it – you are busy. You have a full-time job that, at times, can before very stressful and usually comes with a very high operational tempo. There are also many things outside of work that demand your time and attention, but like everything else in life, we prioritize what is important.

Remember, if you are waiting to prepare for your military transition, don’t. Making the move from the military to corporate America does not have to be hard. If you want some help building a preparation plan that aligns with your timing and busy life, we can help. At Cameron-Brooks, we have coached thousands of officers through the transition. We have a 50-year track record of helping military officers create a step-by-step plan to learn about their options, connect their military experiences directly to opportunities in corporate America, craft a resume that will stand out to hiring managers and ultimately launch a successful business career.

Don’t wait. Invest in your future now – you’ll be so glad you did.