The Veteran, the New Economy, and How to Succeed
By: James R.
Tags: Veterans, Technology, Transitions, Military, Job Search

Sometime at the end of 2016, I am sitting in a military transition class listening to speaker after speaker talk about what life is like once we leave the military. An occasional speaker will give us some “tough love,” and mention how it is not going to be as easy as we think, but most of the speakers make comments like “you’ll be fine, civilians love veterans.” I was eating it up and very excited for the next chapter in my life.

My discharge date was February 14, 2017. It was Valentine’s Day and I expected the love to be thrown on me by groveling civilians that were going to shower me with love and respect for my almost 14 years of service. I was totally unprepared for what took place. I was not facing reality of what civilian life was going to be after that long in the military.

My failures during and after my transition

I made a number of mistakes in how I exited from the military. First, I had a sense of entitlement. I walked around like I was king and companies would be lucky to have me. I had received a back injury during my last duty station in Korea so I even had the “wounded warrior’ label, which fed even more into my ego. Unfortunately, there are many veterans who have similar mindsets. Now onto my second point, which is on the civilian side, there are many stereotypes of the military, which I began to feel plays into hiring decisions. I even had an interviewer mention how she likes to help vets with PTSD during the interview. Third, I did no networking or relationship building, which has always been important, but even more so in the the new tech driven economy where companies are getting thousands of applications. Many companies are simply making hiring easier by hiring people they have met or based on a recommendation from an employee.

How I lost my sense of entitlement, learned new skills, and worked with companies to learn about veterans.

During my many months of applying for jobs, I created an online networking community for veterans to talk about their stories of job searching. I created it the day after the interview where PTSD was mentioned. That was during my 4th month of job searching. I began to focus on Veteran2Hire and heard so many stories from veterans in hardship that never gets reported in the news. By this time the blinders were off, and I could see the stark reality of civilian life. I used my position as the Founder of Veteran2Hire to get access to those in the business community, which I soon realized could get access with a lot of companies when I mentioned I created a company that helps vets. They would speak to me privately and tell me that they had no idea how skills veterans developed in the military would be useful to them. A lot of them just publicly said they hired veterans, but many of them didn’t or they only hired high level officer types. That is another thing I discovered, most companies had no idea what an Army Sergeant, for example, did or what his/her role is in the military. Even though many of them handle millions of dollars of equipment and are leaders of up to hundreds of people.

Another area that I was also not prepared for, was how much technology drives even the simplest aspects of daily life in America. Being in the military for 14 years does not mean I was cutoff from technological advances, but I surely did not realize it in terms of jobs. After a few months of job searching, I decided I needed to get some work, even if it was not my first choice. I went into the local Sam’s Club and asked for an application. Some clerk there told me to go apply online, that is the only way to apply. So, that is what I did. I heard back from them 4 months later. By that time I had enrolled in college and had limited time so I was not interested. I also went to Papa Johns, figuring I could deliver some pizzas part time. Same situation, I was told to apply online. I am still waiting to hear from them even though it has been over year ago. They even had a big sign up saying, “Hiring delivery drivers.” Perhaps an aging veteran wasn’t good enough. This need for everything to be tech has made employers desire younger, tech savvy millennial types instead of over 40 folks like me. I was definitely not prepared for that either.

In order to become hirable, I started to learn new skills. I studied cyber security relentlessly, and would spend hours a day learning everything in information technology, which culminated with passing the Security+ exam. Once I passed, I was hired as a Systems Administrator 48 hours later. It was hard work, but I got rid of my sense of entitlement and began to learn new skills necessary to compete. The transition programs in the military needs to focus on technology, networking, resumes, and how to use social media, especially LinkedIn where on average 70% of employers go to get information on potential hires.

My life now

I have continued to grow Veteran2Hire, which now has over 16,000 followers on our social media accounts. It has even landed me a meeting with famed entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuck’s team in NYC. We are continuing to grow and I have now been accepted as a fellow on Capitol Hill where I will be working with members of congress in developing military policy. My success as a civilian started the day I said NO MORE and took charge of my transition. The key is learn from failures, do not have a sense of entitlement, and never give up.