Military Transition: It worked for me and it can work for you too.

Rationale and Thought Process (skip to Planning if you are not interested in this part)

One day I woke up after 23 years in the Navy and Marine Corps and decided, “I am done.” I evaluated the financial and opportunity costs of staying in the Marine Corps and they were just too much. My wife gave up a 6-figure a year job to move to my last duty station. Despite being college educated and having over 11 years of corporate experience, it was difficult for her to get a job around MCAS Cherry Point and New River. According to Hired Heroes USA, “The unemployment rate of military spouses is 4x greater than the national average.” Although not based on scientific data, I expect it may be higher for spouses in remote Marine Corps locations like ours. In addition to the costs, if I decided to stay in, I would have to move almost every 1-1.5 years for the next five based on my timing for schools, promotions, etc. That was too much to ask of my family.

That said, it is easier to say you are done after 23 years of dedication and institutionalization than to actually pull the trigger. I was at the top of my evaluation peer group, highly competitive for promotion, command etc.. It was hard to walk away from. I would be giving all of that up to potentially start over from the bottom in the corporate sector. In the end, here was my thought process aside from the costs mentioned above. I determined that with relative certainty I would reach the top of the ladder in the Marine Corps; then what and at what cost to my family? What life milestones would I miss on deployments? How many graduations? How many first (insert milestones here)? I also imagined myself old and wrinkly looking back over my choices and I believed I would have more regrets if I stayed in than if I did not. I wanted to see what I could accomplish in the corporate sector with no artificial time and grade requirements and nothing holding me back but my own performance. Ultimately, I chose what unnerved me the most; uncertainty.

I decided I was done just before the results of the Commandant’s Professional Intermediate-Level Board released in 2018. I was racing against time as I had to submit my retirement papers and obtain approval before the results of that board around November or December. Otherwise, I would have to deny orders and retire before execution of those orders (in a few months) and have no time to plan my exit. With much anxiety I made the leap and put in my Appendix J (retirement request). There was no turning back. I made the cut off. Retirement approved, I had from that point (roughly Sept/Oct 2018) until my terminal leave start date in mid-July of 2019. My planning began in earnest. Your planning should start well before that, but do not fret if you just had an epiphany and decided to transition unexpectedly like I did. There is hope. You will be anxious, maybe even scared, especially if you are institutionalized like I was and had a wife about to give birth. Focus on your plan and the things you can affect and leave the rest to fate.

Planning: Your transition and execution will require a lot of your attention; a full time job as they say. It will require early hours at the office, late nights at home preparing and executing your plan, obtaining certification(s), writing resumes, and studying; not to mention the time consuming Veteran Affairs process at 180 days out. All while having a full time job and in my case as the Executive Officer and unexpectedly the Commanding Officer of a battalion level command, with a growing family. Your transition planning should start at least two to three years out. Saving leave is a part of that planning. Maximize your leave balance so you can have 90 Days of leave plus 20 days of Permissive Temporary Additional Duty (PTAD) saved to buffer your transition. If you do not need it, well then you can double dip. I do not recommend selling back leave. It does not make sense financially for obvious reasons, although it may be advantageous under certain circumstances.

Questions to ask yourself during the planning process: Where do you want to be? What do you want to do? What is your end goal? What skills do you think you will need to transition? Do you want money, quality of life, flexibility? Do you want a company that is family oriented, or cut throat? What matters more, pay or upward opportunity? I passed on job offers that paid $35k a year more with no upward mobility in lieu of great company culture, upward potential and global impact. What matters more, getting a job, or where you want to live? It is much easier if you are willing to move to where the jobs are. Much harder if you are picky. Now is the time to ask these questions and plan accordingly with your family. Another key consideration is the tax brackets of the state you plan to move to? What is the cost of living? If retiring, does the state tax military retirement? I chose to live in South Caroline due to the military retirement tax break and work in Charlotte, NC where I enjoy a lower income tax. Best of both worlds.

There are many great organizations that can help plan your transition and assist you in answering these questions. You should not be paying any of them. If they ask you for money, cut ties immediately. Companies like Cameron Brooks specialize in specifically helping the Junior Military Officer (JMO) find a post military career. Bradley Morris, Lucas Group and Orion Talent are three more great companies that assist a wider audience in military transition. I signed up for all of these services initially and invested time in filling out their profiles; attempting to stack the deck in my favor.

If you know what you want to do when you transition, great. You can start with that bit of knowledge, conduct backwards planning, obtain required certification in the required time and start shaping your resume to align with that outcome. I unfortunately, did not know what I wanted to do when I started my transition planning. I did, however, know what skills I had and what I accomplished over my career, so I started with what I knew; my resume and creating and fleshing out my LinkedIn profile.

Resume and LinkedIn: My next task was to capture my experience, accomplishments and awards on a resume and develop my LinkedIn profile. I researched the latest resume methods and started working on my resume and LinkedIn. Translate your experience from military to corporate. Leave out all the military jargon and acronyms. For example Executive Officer could be Chief of Staff equivalent. Use the corporate title that exemplifies the role and duties you performed in the service, but don’t get crazy. Putting CEO on your resume does not necessarily translate to Battalion Commanding Officer. Look up people that had your job and see what their duties look like. Use what fits. Create the rest. I recommend whether you are transitioning or not, fully develop your LinkedIn profile so when the time comes you will have a roadmap for your resume making your transition much easier and less stressful. At the very least, it provides a means by which to give and receive recommendations. These recommendations will endure throughout your career unlike a reference letter that no one sees and can be lost. Giving honest recommendations also shows you care and are a team player. Who would not want a team player that not only delivers results, but develops their people? Be thoughtful in the recommendations as they reflect on you. Lastly, according to U.S. News 95% of recruiters use LinkedIn to find candidates.

Research industry standards for resumes and develop your resume in accordance with that standard. If you feel like someone else could do a better job on your resume, then I recommend using Hired Heroes resume writing service, or another organization that can help you translate your skills. Ensure your resume and LinkedIn profile mirror one another and have no military jargon in them. Show the actions you took and the results you obtained in the bullets.

Obtaining a Certification: Next, not knowing what I wanted to do in my post Marine Corps life, I looked for a universal certification that could translate my skills to the civilian sector. When I was transitioning, I viewed the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification as a catch all. Since I did not know what I wanted to do, this certification would enhance my potential for post Marine Corps employment and prove at least some of my experience to potential employers in the corporate sector.

Some argue that the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification is over rated. I disagree. This certification can be used in any organization, and anywhere in the world. It is the globally recognized standard in project management. All organizations from mom and pop organizations to Fortune 500 companies execute projects and can benefit from a PMP certified team member. Whether you decide on the PMP certification, or a list of others, you can use Onward to Opportunity (O2O) to obtain them FREE of charge. I used the O2O Program to take the Institute of Veterans and Military Families (IVMF) Syracuse Project Management Course and the Agile Course for FREE. In addition, I signed up for the PM-ProLearn online course and attended their week long course. The week long course is not free, but reach out to Tim Dalhouse to see how your command can receive training. PM-ProLearn has a 21-Day Test Study Plan that is a great roadmap. They offer 30-Day FREE access to their online PMP prep course modules for veterans. Lastly, I used the 1-year FREE LinkedIn Premium subscription available to veterans and family members to take the FREE LinkedIn Learning PMP Course. I mainly used the LinkedIn learning version to listen to on the way to and from work during my 47-minute commute.

These PMP preparation courses are FREE and count toward the 35 credit hours requirement to take the test and earn the PMP certification. I recommend not completing the last few minutes of the last module in the LinkedIn Learning until after you take the exam. That way you can go back and knock out 35 credits of your refresher training requirements with a click of the button (after you have gone through the entire thing again of course). You really have to immerse yourself in the PMBOK to understand it. Utilize non-productive free time; queue time/standing in line, waiting at doctors office, etc. to study using test preparation apps. I used PM Pocket Prep; awesome study tool. If you are interested in the PMP certification, feel free to reach out to me on my LinkedIn. I have set aside some lessons learned and an article: How to Knock Out the PMP in Round One that helped me achieve an above target overall and would be happy to assist.

Interviewing Preparation: Having served 23+ years in the Navy and Marine Corps, I never had the opportunity to develop the specific set of skills required for job interviewing. Since interviewing skills were a critical set of skills that I did not have (and many of you will lack), I worked quickly to develop this crucial skill set. I recommend you do the same. Here is what I did.

I read books. I also listened to audio books during my 47 minute commute to and from work each day for about 6 months. I read at least three books on interviewing, but James Reed’s book stuck out the most. 101 Interview Questions, You’ll Never Fear Again is a great audio book that breaks down all the questions into about 15 main questions. I recommend signing up for an Overdrive account (FREE) and downloading it to your smart phone, or stream it. Sign up for your services’ FREE Online Library resources that can be listened to from your phone, in your car, etc. For the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard it is the Navy General Public Library. Other services’ digital libraries: Army, Air Force.

In addition to reading these books, I googled the top 35 interview questions and overlaid my experiences with them to ensure I had at least one great story to draw on from my background that answered every one of these questions. I wrote each of the 35 responses a couple times to have them ingrained in my memory. You must rehearse, but not sound rehearsed. In addition, be yourself in interviews. Odds are the person interviewing does not do it for a living and are as nervous as, or more nervous than, you are.

Closely related to interviewing is your 30 seconds to one minute elevator speech. This can also be used to help answer the question, “Tell me about yourself,” which is typically one of the first questions asked in an interview. Research elevator speeches. Refine and practice yours for use in networking events and interviews. Lastly, research the company you are interviewing with and ask great questions to ask about the company or job you are applying to. By the time you have read the books and practiced your responses you will be at ease and impress the interviewer.

My 6th and final interview with BofA included a day of multiple interview sessions. I put together folders that included: my resume, reference list, business card, copies of my fitness reports showing sustained superlative performance, a couple published professional journal articles I wrote to illustrate written technical communication skills and a short letter to the hiring manager summarizing what was in the folder and my intent to add value to the organization. I gave them this after each interview. So when they were deliberating, they had my info close at hand. No one else did this. It showed initiative. You can tailor yours, but I recommend you have copies of resumes and references at a minimum going in to an interview.

Networking: Networking can make your resume a formality. Many people say networking is key in transition, well guess what? They are right! You have to network. Jobs will not just fall into your lap. You have to shape the battlefield to make your end goals happen. According to PayScale, 80% of jobs are not advertised. Reach out to people you know that have already transitioned. Do not be afraid to ask for advice or help. Approximately 2% of the jobs I applied for online garnered a response. 100% of the internal referrals I generated got a response.

A networking technique I used was searching LinkedIn for jobs and companies I was interested in. For Example, if I wanted to work for a particular company or a role, I looked people up on LinkedIn who worked for a particular company or role and noted connections we had in common. I then asked my contacts if I could reach out to a particular person in their network and use their name as a reference. Every contact said yes, and even offered to help out further than that. I always followed up and let the reference know how it went and thanked them. I met many people that way and conducted informational interviews. If you already know someone in the company an internal referral will give you a competitive advantage over the competition.

Make sure you are giving back as well. I get job offers from recruiters often. I thank them for the consideration and I try to assist them by pointing them to someone I know that might be interested in the job. I receive queries on the PMP process, test, or transition experiences and I try to give the best advice I can and assist in any way I can. Try to help people and add value.

You can also attend job fairs to get experience networking in person and interviewing. Corporate Gray, Recruit Military and Hired Heroes are great resources during transition for job fairs, virtual events, and other transition related services. Join American Corporate Partners (ACP). ACP helps transitioning veterans and their spouses find employment through connecting them with mentors in the corporate sector. I had two mentors. The first one was Todd Herrick who is an export manager for WhirlPool Corporation and a reservist (thanks Todd!). A couple months after the start of our mentorship, I realized I wanted to go into banking. We discussed it, and I requested a new mentor based my newfound career interests. My new mentor is Jason Sutton who is a Region Manager for WellsFargo (thanks Jason!). The DoD SkillsBridge Program is another excellent way to not only develop your network in industry, but also provide active duty personnel within 180 days of their end of active service an opportunity to gain valuable civilian experience and connections through apprenticeships, internships or specific job training while on active duty.

Make your network aware of what you are doing and what roles you are interested in. A fellow Marine in my network recommended and referred me to the program I am in now. Thanks Zeb! I applied to the Global Technology & Operations Military Development Program in Nov 2018. Six interviews later, having prepared, refined my resume and LinkedIn profile, obtained my certifications, leveraged my network and knowledge I learned in my studies of James Reed’s book and interviewing, I got an offer letter in April 2019. I went on PTAD in Mid-June, terminal leave July 3rd and I started with Bank of America July 8th. I drop off active duty Oct 1, 2019. Seven months later, I went to a networking event to meet people and see what was out there. Fate would have it that I ended up at Lowes leading two of the eight major strategic objective for e-Commerce. The transition was great. Bank of America is an amazing company to work for, but a better opportunity to grow came along for a company equally as amazing and I have not looked back, or had a second thought since hanging up the uniform.

If you have questions about transitioning, or the PMP, or life at BofA, or Lowes for veterans, you can contact me on LinkedIn. If all else fails and you are still looking, plead your case before the great Oleg Vishnepolsky.

A Special thanks to my wife, Sara B. Ripley, who supported me through the stress and made sacrifices to give me the time to plan and execute our transition during a time when I had enormous demands at work, all while raising our son and preparing to have our baby girl.

Anthony D Ripley is currently working in e-Commerce as a Digital Lead Product Manager for Lowes. He is experienced in Science & Technology, Operations, Project Management and Operational Excellence. He is excited about building, leading and guiding teams in the pursuit of strategic objectives that will add significant value to Lowes and helping as many people grow as he can along the way on his journey.

Other articles by Anthony D. Ripley:

• My Time in the Seat; Executive Officer Lessons Learned
• Lightening the Load and Increasing the Self-sustainability of Dismounted Marines
• Will you trade 30 minutes for the Keys to Success?