Four Years of Brewing Authentic Connections: the Veterans Beer Club (VBC) San Diego

Military veterans make up more than 13% of the population of San Diego County, and it's estimated to have the third-highest number of veteran residents of any county in the nation. We're fortunate to have hundreds of groups aiding transitioning service members, but it's also a curse as many transitioning service members don't know where to go for help, who to talk with about certain industries, or how to even start their (often difficult) transition.

To help weave through the craziness of all these groups, on April 14, 2016 at the University Club in downtown San Diego, the Veterans Beer Club (VBC) came to fruition from the collaboration between Kevin Cortes, Brian Grana, and I. Yes, the name was a bit tongue-in-cheek, but it was a simple concept of gathering some veterans around one of our many awesome breweries, and just to have a relaxed conversation. In June, we held our first meeting (joined by Eddy Hansen and Tim Mathues), and over the next few months at our monthly get-togethers our numbers quickly escalated, and by the end of 2016 there were a few other chapters started. Now with multiple chapters across the United States, the VBC has been successful due to a few ideals:

1. We're here for your first or fifteenth transition.
2. We keep it simple: veterans helping veterans in an informal environment.
3. We are Brewing Authentic Connections (BAC).

Officially, our vision and purpose include:

• The VBC vision is a monthly rotation of gatherings with fellow veterans and current transitioning veterans at different brewery location across San Diego County in a relaxed environment, we also maintain a Facebook (and LinkedIn) page to disseminate important information. The VBC purpose is three-fold: one, to assist transitioning service members through networking, discussions of important events, introductions to all industries in the region, and ensuring the service members are personally introduced to leaders in aforementioned groups.  
• Two, to translate our military service to community service, ensuring that we continue our leadership into non-profit, volunteer, and civil service organizations.  
• Three, to continue our sense of camaraderie, thus safeguarding the bonds established during our military service, and ensuring there’s a safety net of resources for veterans.  The VBC also believes by supporting, vetting, and assisting noteworthy organizations that legitimately help veterans; this will also help the entire San Diego community.  We will continue to interface with senior veterans and business leaders in the community, and leverage their passion for assisting fellow veterans.  

Many of our VBC members, including myself, also faced some very difficult transitions, be it financially, mentally, spiritually, and/or physically, and there was a toll placed upon us, our friends, and families. But by surrounding ourselves with like-minded veterans, business leaders, and mentors we've been able to do remarkable things.

We had prepared our resumes, we had networked with amazing groups and mentors, and we were still feeling unfilled in our jobs, what were we doing wrong?

As we matured in our careers, and relationships with many groups, we were also asked to speak on many veteran panels to give advice about what we did right, and even more importantly, what did we do wrong. From my personal notes, and some guidance of others, here's some thoughts that hopefully will make the transition less painful for you:

TRANSITION

• Start Early, Start Now, time is important. I started on LinkedIn and reaching out into my community five years before I could've transitioned from the Marine Corps. Recommend no less than two years in starting an initial resume started, getting out to networking events (or virtually if you are going to move), and in light of our current crisis, networking has been more plentiful since it's easier to jump on multiple Zoom calls in a day.
• Talk to your leadership, you need to make sure they have your best interests involved. As military leaders, we always take care of our people and mission first, but you need to have the time to prepare you and your family.
• If you attend a transition seminar, go multiple times (if time allows), you are surely going to learn more each time. Can your spouse go too?
• Start eating Ramen noodles. While it's a bit of a joke, getting yourself financially sound is probably the most important thing to do. Money issues can hurt relationships, and this was very true to me. Learn about something you might not have had to pay for a while: state income taxes, in California it's a doozie!

Eating ramen noodles might not be the best for your nutrition, but they are great for your financial well-being.

• Prepare your significant other for what is going to be mentally, financially, and physically one of your hardest periods in your life. Have at least a weekly discussion with your friends and family. It helps to have people know what's going on inside your head. It's most likely going to be a "rollercoaster ride from hell" with the highest peaks, and lowest troughs.
• As you are researching businesses and industries, don't use either the shotgun or laser approach. Look to about 3-5 organizations and industries in which you have interest.
• Do not pay anyone for career advice! When I was desperate I actually paid way too much to have someone help with my resume, networking, outreach to businesses. The company did nothing to aid me in my job search, and I wasted money. The only exception I would state is there are some reputable groups in the airline industry to help scrub your resume due to some of the ridiculous intricacies (i.e. spelled Ave in one spot, Ave. in another, then the resume gets dumped).
• Read: Orders to Nowhere (an informative and entertaining book about the military transition) by Mike Grice, Job Won by Phil Blair, What Color is your Parachute, First 90 Days, “The Business Case for Hiring a Veteran”, 2012 Syracuse IMVF article and it's 2016 addition "Re-Visiting The Case...".
• Get to know the Institute for Military and Veteran Families, Syracuse University, from certifications (PMP) to transition courses, they are doing awesome work.
• Get your certificates/education now, 2-5 years before getting out. Also look to MBA programs with awesome networking opportunities, often its actually more important than the degree, the USC Executive MBA Program is an example of this.
• Are you going into a field that is completely different than what you did in the military? “About 55 percent of vets in transition want to do something totally different than what they did in the military,” Ms. Roberts said. Officials at the Department of Veterans Affairs, which has put together several programs to help place veterans in jobs, concede this is among the chief obstacles (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/07/us/politics/veterans-jobs-employment.html). You will need to demonstrate your expertise in such fields (think education, volunteer, non-profit work).
• Get someone who never served in the military to help you "de-militarize" your resume. You need to make sure it is easy to read for that youngest recruiter, someone that's never known anyone in the military.
• Attire: you're probably going to need some new outfits (although today it might just be a Zoom shirt you keep for each teleconference). Look at GQ, Brooks Brothers, Johnston & Murphy, and Jos A. Bank for examples.

NETWORKING / RELATIONSHIPS

• Look for local groups to network and to interact with, here in San Diego we have the North San Diego Business Chamber, SDMAC, LifeLounge, Veterans Beer Club, San Diego Business Journal, zero8Hundred, and many others.
• Join one of the awesome transition groups that are helping with multi-day, multi-week, and multi-month courses: VetCTAP, Onward to Opportunity, ETAS at Camp Pendleton, Four Block, The Honor Foundation, and many others.
• Informational interviews: reach out to anyone, LinkedIn is a great start, but so are the aforementioned groups. Learn about those industries and businesses in which you have interest.
• At those breakfasts, luncheons, meetings, conferences, etc. that you are attending, sit up front, sit at the head table if you can, engage the panel of leaders with questions.
• Look for non-military mentors, and then be ready to be a mentor someone later. Veterati is a great phone-in mentorship group.
• Business cards: VistaPrint is easy and has great customer service. Get some cards that are non-glossy on the back side so the people you hand them to can write notes, if they want to.
• You are most likely going to move to another job 24 – 36 months after you start your first job post-military time, as you mature and learn more about your passions, corporate America, etc. That's why you should never stop networking, and you need to keep building those relationships you have started. Think “3 cups of tea”, making sure to make real connections, and not just "what can this person do for me?"

JOB HUNT

• Recruiters look through LinkedIn through a different version, and they are looking for key words, so make sure throughout your profile that you've got the keywords many times to the job you are looking for.
• Volunteer/non-profit work, affiliations, put them in your resume, and guess what... you might find someone that's in the industry you are looking to jump into.
• Go to jobscan.co, it takes your resume and LinkedIn profiles to optimize them compared to a job description.  It will allow a few scans for free, then ask to be paid. Just wait, and they will send you a few more scans after a few weeks.

INTERVIEW

• Search Forbes “Top 50 questions” employers ask / questions to ask during a job interview. Always make sure to have 4-5 questions to ask at the end.  "Why was this position vacated?" "When are you looking to fill this position?" "What have skills and/or traits have some of the other candidates been lacking?" "Did I answer all your questions satisfactorily?"
• Develop a STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) matrix to answer those interview questions and practice answering those questions with a no more than two minute story.
• Research whoever you are interviewing with on LinkedIn for hobbies, universities, affiliations/volunteer groups, etc. It will add a lot to the conversation, especially should the interview get a bit stagnant.
• Always think during an interview: how are you going to either make the company money or save the company money.
• Toughest question I've ever had during a job interview was a holdover from Admiral Hyman Rickover, Father of the Nuclear Navy:

“Why haven’t you been more successful?”

It’s not about the answer’s context but more about how the question is handled.

• Crane and Co. stationary prints out awesome (but expensive) personalized Thank You notes. Write out those thank you notes (either ahead of time) immediately after the interview and take your time to write legibly.

Borrowing from fellow VBC Co-Founder Brian Grana, a few things that I think are additionally important:

• Go out of your way to soften your brand in the eyes of those you will meet at various events. Question: “Have you killed anyone?” Answer: “I only kill what I need to eat!” Any other questions? 
• Put away the military stories - until you are asked over beers. “People will honor you for what you’ve done in the past… but will respect you for how you contribute to their futures” 
• Remain positive. Learn about yourself. Convey your brand in every possible communication medium! 

“The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets people to do the greatest things.” 

— Ronald Reagan, 40th president of the United States

Finally, us VBC'ers look forward to when we can meet in person, human interaction will always trump teleconferencing. But even during this trying times, we are still conducting our monthly events, and each day looking how we can help out each other and our community. Whether you served or not, I hope you can look into the Veterans Beer Club, and how you can help transitioning service members. There's a great group of leaders that are ready to translate their military service to help any organization improve.

As always, I welcome feedback and informed commentary, and appreciate all who take the time to read my articles!