First Step to Veteran-Readiness: Awareness

Hello, I'm Sara. I work at the intersection of veteran employment and organization development. I help veterans and organizations bridge cultures, align values, and achieve goals.??

I do this work because I can. My diverse background informs my unique perspective of both sides of the military-civilian divide. The way I feel after speaking with service members and veterans fuels my passion and makes it personal. I do this work because it's my responsibility.?

This article aims to help military recruiters and hiring managers to increase their awareness of the veteran experience. I hope insights about the military-to-civilian transition process will help talent teams appreciate the veteran experience and, quite possibly, shift their focus from hiring to serving. I know that awareness is the first step to bridging the divide, so let's dive in.

Belonging in the military: Belonging is the foundation of military culture and makes mission accomplishment possible. Boot camp training is a crash course, and belonging is the outcome. Service members gain a new identity, purpose, and community. Military service builds self-confidence and self-worth. Fitting in with a group of people makes coping with stressful circumstances easier. Feeling connected to people who "got your 6" and contributing to a shared mission creates an iron-clad sense of belonging.?

Belonging in transition: The final six-twelve months of a military service contract are generally considered the "pre-transition" period, the days between submitting separation papers and picking up their?form DD-214. Service members must attend medical appointments, transition assistance seminars, check-in their gear, and complete administrative tasks during this time. Many also train their replacements and begin their career and lifestyle changes while working at full capacity.

The military-to-civilian transition is more than a career change; for veterans and their dependents, it's a shift from belonging to one community to joining and belonging to another. The un-belonging, or detachment period, is when the transition experience begins (based on?77% of respondents?who reported a shift in their sense of belonging during their pre-transition period). Veteran responses include:

"During my pre-transition period, I felt like I was peeling off the patches of my uniform every day."?

"The climate at work changed, and some peer relationships became unrecognizable."

"I knew I was leaving one cohort of active-duty servicemembers and joining the cohort of military veterans."

While active duty, service members become a collective unit where each individual puts the organization's purpose and mission above their own. As a result, they gain a sense of belonging. When separating, service members must prioritize the rediscovery of their own purpose and that emotional separation can be heartbreaking.

Transition is personal:?Each service member's pre-transition and transition experience is like a fingerprint; it's one of a kind. Personal histories, current circumstances, levels of self-and situational awareness, and psychological readiness inform each individual's transition experience. Other personal and environmental factors that shape the experience include the specific branch of service, rank/rate, number of years served, military occupational specialty or area of expertise, geographical location, degree of choice in separating, physical abilities, length of the pre-separation timeline, branch manpower demands, workplace climate, and their relationship with leadership. Like I said, a fingerprint.

Un-belonging and a job search:?To improve veteran employment outcomes, talent teams need to take a holistic?approach and understand the human experience of military-to-civilian transition, including the pre-transition period. The process of un-belonging can impact how veteran applicants present themselves during networking events, career fairs, and interviews.?

Transition assistance:?There is help available. Each military branch has required transition assistance programs (TAP). In addition, there are over 46,000 veteran-serving NPOs nationwide. Unfortunately, there is no YELP for these service organizations, and many are wildly underutilized. Therefore, thousands of veterans enter civilian society unprepared to navigate successful career transitions and personal transformations.?

Enter Veteran-Ready Employers:?Many military job seekers don't know what they don't know. In 2017, U.S. Marine Corps LtCol Randy Davis?with 32 years of service gave me the evil eye when I suggested he was "incompetent" as a civilian. He did not like it, but it was true. The reality that veterans are highly skilled and conditionally incompetent leaves employers with the unique opportunity to serve veterans in addition to hiring them.

Employers can serve veterans by building awareness at first contact.

First Contact:?Recruiters are often the first civilian contact for military job seekers, which makes their roles extremely important. First-round recruiters should have a general awareness of the transition experience. They should know that, unlike entering the military, there is no boot camp or group immersion program when exiting the military. For many, leaving the military can be a lonely and isolating experience.?

Recruiters should understand that a military-connected applicant's sense of urgency and vague career objective may stem from many months spent in the gap between active duty and veteran status. The experience of being in limbo and "alone in a crowd" may be compounded by the need to provide for themselves and their dependents. They may struggle to define a career path without a clear purpose or self-identity. They may not know that resumes are for "wave tops" and quantifiable individual contributions, unlike promotion packets for board reviews. Translating military skills may be challenging because they do not know the equivalent civilian language or the latest job search strategies.

The best recruiters know what they don't know about military service and value the work experience regardless.?

Effective military recruiters express empathy, appreciation, and patience. They think beyond the job requirements and are courageous enough to ask meaningful questions. They create environments where veterans feel calm and confident rather than uncertain and overwhelmed. Most importantly, effective recruiters translate skills and advocate on behalf of their veteran applicants to hiring managers.?

Hire for "almost fit":?The most effective veteran hiring managers are those who hire for demonstrated abilities, capabilities, and potential. Effective hiring managers appreciate military talent for the diversity of thought and life experiences that military careers provide. They screen for someone who "almost fits"- who will adapt to the environment, build cohesiveness among team members, and contribute innovative ways to solve problems. They pick "almost-fit" over skill?every.single.day, knowing that veterans have higher-than-average learning capacities.?

Effective hiring managers customize veteran onboarding processes. They provide clear role definitions, projects for early wins, leadership opportunities, stretch goals, a team, a mentor, and a mission. They know transition and personal transformations are ongoing individual processes, and new interests and career goals will emerge over time. The best managers of veterans support continuous training and development opportunities.?

They encourage internal mobility because they know it's less expensive than underutilization and attrition, and more importantly, it serves the veteran.?

Thank you for taking the time to increase your awareness. I'm happy to share the?Key Takeaways and I hope you will share them too:

? The military-to-civilian transition process begins before service contracts end.

? Many servicemembers experience shifts in belonging during their pre-transition period

? Veteran job applicants may not have a foundation of awareness and confidence due to their un-belonging experience and lack of civilian cultural readiness.

? Employers have roles to play in the military-to-civilian transition, and recruiter and hiring manager awareness is the first step to veteran readiness.

? To leverage veteran talent and truly serve veterans, we need to understand the veteran experience, acknowledge that it is different for every person, create environments where unique talents can emerge, and?get out of their way.

Become more veteran-ready:?Don't hesitate to contact me to learn more about becoming Veteran-Ready. I customize strategies to help employers play their roles in military-to-civilian transition and veteran integration.

Together, we can unlock and re-invest the power of the United States military veteran.

Thank you,

Sara