Five Military Transition Errors

The military transition process is chock-full of resources and information, yet still mysterious and difficult to navigate for so many. From my time in the non-profit realm helping veterans get educated and employed through Boots to Books, to my own transition; I have identified the five errors I see most commonly in transition - and how I fell victim to them as well. P.S the bonus #6 is the most important!

#1 - Confidence Check

This can go two ways - the fallacy of "I was in the military, I did this and that, companies will be jumping out to hire me!", is incorrect and dangerous to your success. The inverse to that is a lack of confidence that can be caused by a number of things in the transition process. In my personal experience, I was cocky initially but was quickly humbled by the job hunt (so many applications denied or worse, no response). Veterans need to realize a few things: try to find the balance between cockiness and self-doubt - you need confidence in interviews and applications to realize you are valuable and your skills do translate - find a company that recognizes that (this list can help ). Do not get discouraged if you have to grind to get a job, rejection is a natural and important part of life - on average, each corporate job offer attracts 250 resumes. Of those candidates, 4 to 6 will get called for an interview, and only one will get the job.

A picture of me from the award ceremony for the Fort Benning Non-Commissioned Officer of the Year. I remember thinking "Who wouldn't want to hire me"... how wrong I was!

#2 - Inaction

Inaction, simply a lack of action. I do not mean the day you transition and now are looking for a way to support yourself or continue your education, I mean from the day you decide you will be getting out of the service. LinkedIn should be a tool you use daily, connect with me and go through my connections - there is a huge network that wants to assist veterans. Use your credentialing assistance to get certificates, reach out to nonprofits supporting veterans, etc. Make it a rule to do at least one hour of work towards your transition a day. A great way to start this is by talking with a professional mentor and setting a timeline for your success.

#3 - Scared to Switch

I was an Infantry Team Leader, I now work in Politics and run a nonprofit. Why do I write that? Because you can do whatever you want when you transition, that is one of the best parts. I understand the fear incurred when switching careers, but the job you had in the military does NOT define the rest of your life. Starting this search for your CAREER, not a job should happen as far out as possible to allow you to start working towards that goal while you are still receiving a steady paycheck from the military.

#4 - Not Networking or Doing Informational Interviews

This touches on two points - both inaction and scared to switch. LinkedIn search allows you to search people by industry, past industry, location, etc.. make the connections in the industry you want to work in, the area you want to be in, ideally with a shared connection or aspect of your profiles. Network with these people, interact with their posts and stay attuned to their accounts for job openings. According to Jobvite, 87% of recruiters use LinkedIn to check their candidates. The second aspect of this is scared to switch, when you find an industry that interests you, research it. How do you research it? Read everything you can about it, then find someone in the industry willing to do an informational interview with you. What is an informational interview? A chance to learn about the real day-to-day experiences of someone working in a specific job or industry. They can show you how you can get in the industry, connections, tips, and many other things. (By position list of people ready to give you an informational interview in a variety of industries/companies, Amazon to USAA to Cybersecurity ).

#5 - Will Not Ask For Help

This was something that I fell victim to, my pride did not want me to ask anyone for help when I was truly confused during my transition. I finally realized that was no way to succeed and reached out to my good friend and now Co-Founder of Boots to Books, Aubrey Sine. His help did great things for my transition and I regularly consult other veterans in areas I am not an expert in. That is what is so amazing about being a veteran... so many of us have transitioned before you and want to help you -- REACH OUT!

The result of me swallowing my pride and reaching out for help, an academic scholarship to my dream school!

#6 - Bonus! Sending Blanket Resumes

The process of making one standardized resume with no cover letter and applying across a multitude of companies will yield you very little success if any. CareerBuilder's research shows 84% of recruiters deny resumes because they are not customized, or personalized towards the role. Conduct research, make connections and find 5-10 companies and positions you want. Then have your informational interviews, get all the information you can and take note of the commonly repeated words on the job posting; the ATS (resume screening system) is most likely looking for them. If you are nowhere near the qualifications, talk to a mentor and make a plan to start working towards it, sites like Veterati (where I volunteer mentor as well) make it seamless.

The best possible result from blanket resumes is getting a response rejecting you, it happened to me.

The transition is tough, but extremely exciting and full of opportunity if you approach it right. If you need help, get it - there are so many of us ready to help you with anything you could think of. Check out Boots to Books on LinkedIn Here .

Did I miss something? What happened that you did not expect during your transition? Let me hear it in the comments.

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