New Battlefield: My transition story from retirement to my career with Union Pacific Railroad.

In July 2014, I was faced with a life-altering event, retirement from the military. It was coming quick and I was going out into this crazy thing called “civilian world”. I suddenly felt like I was getting deployed to a far off land, where I did not understand the culture, people or even the language. I started to transition to retirement classes (Training), to take on this new mission. As I went through the training it felt like I was going to battle with an enemy that I was not prepared for. I sat in classes regarding benefits, resume building, and job searches. While I was sitting through these classes I looked around the room and saw young and old faces; some weathered by time and others by experience.

I started to test the enemy by putting my newly found training to the test. I met my enemy on the battlefield (Career Fairs) and tried to engage in their language. It felt like I was on patrol alone, but there were others there as well looking the same way. Trying to communicate and trying to come to terms of peace (Job Offer) was the only way to succeed. I did a lot of battle over the next few months, going from career fair to career fair. There were shots being fired by the enemy, with “Go to our website”, “Give me a copy of your resume”, and “What types of jobs are you interested in” over and over as repetitive fire. I got good at laying down suppressive fire with multiple copies of my resume available and having my elevator speech down (ammunition).

I felt like I was better than the enemy, and I knew them better then they knew themselves. I went on hand to hand combat with this enemy and I went in overconfident and defiant. My thoughts consisted of “Look at me; you should hire me just because I am in your presence” and “I know more about your land and people than you do”. This where I took a lot of heavy fire and received many wounds. I almost gave up. A friend asked me to go into battle one more time, but a small one (Career Fair). I reluctantly said yes. I came for battle that day, and guess what happened? Yes, you guessed it, I took more heavy fire, and they were shooting from all over, with “Go to our website here”, “Give me a copy of your resume”, and “What types of jobs are you interested in”; repeatedly over and over again.

I went home and licked my wounds and started to apply for those organizations. I got interviews from some and again I went in defiance. I then realized that I was being that person who Albert Einstein was talking about when he said: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” Yep, that was me! Then out of the blue, I got an offer to interview in a small town called Pocatello, ID for a railroad company called Union Pacific. The first thoughts in my mind were “What’s Union Pacific and where the hell is Pocatello, ID?” I decided to do my research about this organization and to find out where the hell Pocatello, ID was. I talked it over with my troops and the Commander (Wife), to make sure this was the right battle to wage. I got the green light to deploy and off to battle I went.

I gathered my weapons, my resume, my suit, multiple ties, and my great attitude. I flew into Salt Lake City, UT and decided to do some recon, where was this battle (interview) going to take place. I drove two hours north of Salt Lake City to this small town, recon the area of battle and made sure where I would enter to do hand to hand battle with the enemy. I drove back the two hours to my hotel room and contemplated how I should engage the enemy. My other strategies were not working, trying to be something more than what I was (initialed). I tossed and turned that night before my battle and worrying about which tie I would wear (of which I brought four); or jacket or no jacket. What the hell was business casual?

The next day I was so anxious that I took all my ties and jackets and got to my staging point two hours prior. At this point I was sitting in my car deciding which tie or jacket to wear and what I was going to say, then it hit me hard; “What the hell am I doing”, ties, jackets, damn two hours in a car just sitting, trying figure out what to say and how to respond to their questions I did not even know! What was I doing? I decided at that moment (30 minutes before the interview) that they were going to get Ed from small-town Georgia, 26 year retired veteran, father of a small squad and no made-up version of what I thought they wanted to see. I was going to battle on my terms, not theirs, and force them to decide if they wanted to be in the same fox hole as me or not (the real me). To be honest, I thought it was the worst interview I have ever had, they got the twang, the fast speech, the country boy made-up words from the southern dictionary; but they got the real me. I got a call on my two-hour drive back to Salt Lake City and they offered me a job.

At that point I realized that I wasn’t alone on my patrol, I had support, from my family and friends and even those who didn’t give me a job offer. I learned that if you want me then you get me, not some made-up version of me. From that point on I always tell people that those intangible traits are what organizations, companies, and even your friends are looking for when they meet with you, work with you, or just hang out with you. So be yourself and trust that everything you have done is valued and you are respected for it, Just don’t get you in your way!