You want a mission, but need a job

I began my military career in 1997 when I enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserves as a Civil Affairs Specialist. At the time, I was a freshman at a local community college and looking for a challenge. I remained enlisted for 4 years, attaining the rank of Sergeant, and earning an Associates Degree in Behavioral Science. During my tenure as a Civil Affairs Specialist, I was trained in populace resource control, disaster and emergency management, civil defense, and humanitarian aid. Upon completion of a deployment to Bosnia in 2000, I was awarded an RTOC Scholarship to the University of California Santa Barbara. In 2001, I left Civil Affairs and became a cadet. In 2002, I graduated from UCSB with a degree Global Studies and International Relations and was commissioned a 2LT in the Armor Branch. For the next four year I served as a combat arms officer; holding several jobs. Beginning as an assistant maintenance officer, I restructured the service schedule of over 130 combat vehicles. As a cavalry and mortar platoon leader, I lead soldiers through combat and monthly training exercises as the OPFOR at the National Training Center. As an Executive officer, I was responsible for the logistics and administration of a headquarters company of which I spent 6 out of the 12 months in command of. As a public relations officer, I was the public face of a regiment that not only trained the force, but preparing to deploy themselves. I had a long and honorable service. I gained skills and accomplished tasks that many of my civilian peers would not face until much later in their careers. Conventional wisdom backed up by rhetoric from the transitional assistance programs dictated that I should have no problems finding equivalent employment in the civilian world.

This however, turned out not to be the case. After putting my belongings in to storage and returning home after 10 years, I began what would be a 10 month journey of shock, disappointment and education as to the disposition of the civilian work force toward members of the military. I began my search as many do by reaching out to recruitment agencies that specialize in military to civilian transition. I found that working with these agencies gave me access to the corporate world that was closed to me when searching on my own. Through them I interviewed with over 20 companies, reaching the offer stage 5 times over the course of 10 months. With the single exception of my current position; on my own I never once received a reply or initial interview from similar companies in positions that I was either perfectly or over qualified for. I learned that in the civilian world, military achievements and equivalent skills are neither understood, nor valued. Too often I hit roadblocks relating to knowledge of proprietary systems, types of degrees and a general lack of understanding as to the nature of military jobs. In many positions I had practical experiences that matched or far exceeded the prospective job, yet employers did not understand or were not interested in learning how experience as an officer translated in to their industry. It was only through the access provided to me by various military to civilian head hunting agencies, that I was able to get interviews.

The transition assistance programs that one is required to go through makes several assumptions about the soldier leaving the Army. It assumes that the soldier is young and of college age. Most of the advice and placement help provided by the Army Civilian Alumni Program (ACAP) is geared toward entry level positions for people with little to no transferable leadership skills. It also does not provide a comprehensive MOS translation system for officers. Enlisted soldiers have several resources that translate their MOS skills and education to equivalent civilian certificates and job descriptions. There is no such system for officers. While the four day course is informative and provides us with valuable information about the VA and our rights as veterans, the advice given to us as perspective job seekers is lacking in both context and accuracy. This training that is done by military to civilian recruiters is far more accurate and efficient. Over all, I found that the transition assistance program was geared toward young enlisted soldiers. As an officer, it was clear that I was on my own.

I found that corporate Americans valued my service as citizens, but were weary of it as employers. While much of my experience was lost in translation, I found that it was not the only issue that I had to overcome. As a combat arms officer, I did not possess any one particular specialized technical skill, but rather a familiarity with a wide range of skill sets that could be useful in many fields. The phrase often used is “jack of all trades, yet master of none”. I found that while qualified in a general sense, my lack of experience with systems such as six sigma, MS project, or various internal systems put me at a disadvantage when competing with others. Additionally, I found that there was a fear attached hiring former combat soldiers as the stigma of combat stress, put me in a position of being a potential liability to the company. Not wanting to start over as an intern after a successful 10 year career, I pressed on with my job search. As I went on countless 3^rd and 4^th interviews, I found that when it came to an offer, companies usually went with internal candidates or someone with less practical experience but more degrees or certificates.

Military to civilian transition is tough no matter how you look at it. Your culture changes, your perspective is different, and your priorities are vastly different from your peers. You are going from having a mission, to having a job, and that is a perspective shift that makes adapting to the civilian environment difficult and trying.