Lost in Translation

Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson): “I just don't know what I'm supposed to be.”

Bob Harris (Bill Murray): “You'll figure that out. The more you know who you are, and what you want, the less you let things upset you.”?-?Lost in Translation, 2003

When speaking to candidates, one fear related to transition stands out more than any other and hardly a conversation occurs where it doesn’t feature prominently: “I don’t know how to translate what I’ve done in the military to what I’m capable of outside of it.”

The difference here is that you do know who you are and of what you’re capable. You’re a leader. You want to keep being a leader. How do you make someone understand what leaders do in uniform and what that could mean for a hiring manager who has never worn it themselves?

You do a little research. Oftentimes, a lot of research. Backwards planning (that will never completely go away). Start with the essence of what will provide you professional fulfillment in both the day-to-day as well as over the course of a career as your end state (introspection is a must), and then lay the breadcrumbs from there to where you are now. Is industry most important? Company logo? Role title? Salary? Location? Working in teams? Working alone? Customer facing? Operations? Complex projects? Being where the action is? Or maybe on the fringe instead? The list goes on.

All of those will factor in to some degree, buy until you sit down and prioritize them, it’s just a 4th grade word jumble with some blanks to be filled in. Figuring out those priorities will lead you to certain career functions, which will lead you to certain career paths, then to specific organizations and finally to the ability to set goals along a theoretical path within some of those organizations.

Once you’ve been able to do that and feel good about finding challenge and satisfaction in the way ahead, you can begin to analyze the things you’ve already accomplished and parse out the overarching themes and behaviors you displayed in those scenarios while de-emphasizing guns, boats, planes and enemies. Businesses have their own missions to accomplish, and if you can confidently display your ability to contribute to anyone’s bottom line, you’ll be understood.

As you may have surmised already, that’s a lot to build into an already busy day while you’re still serving at the tip of the spear. Fear not; there's help. Alliance was founded in 2003 on the basic premise that there were typically many jobs available that could possibly be a good fit for a junior officer but nobody had yet tackled the issue of making sure the uniquely gifted ones were being considered for uniquely challenging roles by educating JMOs on how to figure out what those roles were and what made them different.

All of our educational offering is geared towards helping those approaching a transition to learn more about the world of business and using that knowledge to better define their best starting point within it. All while keeping their eyes on the ball of national defense until that chapter comes to a close.

If you think you could use some help in that regard, we’re happy to start the conversation.