Soft Skills, your "Ace in the Hole"

In early 2007, I fulfilled my eight year obligation and left the active duty military, for the civilian sector. The United States was five and half years into the war in Afghanistan, and three and a half years into the war in Iraq. At this time, I had already completed two combat tours of over 12-months each. I wanted to seek a career that kept me from leaving my young family for so long at one time. I had a feeling even back then, that the political strategy of both conflicts and my military path was going to be a cycle of me coming and going, and as it turns out, I was right. I loved being in the Army, I loved my military career. A military career where I was a Fire Support NCO, an Army Ranger, member of a personal security detail, operations lead, a gunner on a Bradley Fighting Vehicle, and the thrill of jumping out of perfectly working aircrafts. It would seem with these experiences that career in Law Enforcement or Security would be the obvious transition. Yet, with 45 days left before being formally discharged, I was given offers by two Fortune 500 companies as a mid-level manager. Offers of compensation that more than doubled my salary after 8 years in the military.

What did these companies want with me, what did they see in me that I did not? When I was first contacted, requesting an in-person interview, I was terrified. I had no formal business background or education and I sure as heck didn't know about their respective industry sectors. Up until this point in my life, preparing for those interviews (which happened within one day of each other) was the scariest thing I'd ever done, and I spent two years in combat! I asked my wife, "why would they want to interview me for this position, did they even read my resume?" As it turns out, they did read my resume. In fact, the recruiters read me when I handed it to them. They read my resume from top to bottom, word for word, and everything in between the lines.

My interview with one of those Fortune 500 companies was with their President and his Vice President of Operations. They were pushed my resume by the recruiters because of how I carried myself, because of how I interacted with them in what I suspect was a one minute transaction. When I drafted my resume in January 2007, I was 26 years old and it was the first time I had ever done so. With some professional help, I simply provided a brief summary and proceeded to list everything I had ever done in the military in chronological order. Every school, every course, every board, every position, every weapon I was trained on, my airborne jump log, every responsibility, every evaluation report, and the size of the group of soldiers I managed while in each position. How in the world is any of this going to be an asset to their company?

While I was focused on my hard skills, or lack thereof as it pertains to business, and having a resume geared more toward LEO and security; those executives focused in deeper and saw something more. They saw a young man with a family, who from 18 to 26 dedicated himself to one career . A young man that attended schools he didn't have to go to, took education courses he didn't have to, volunteered for special units he didn't have to go to knowing the level of intensity they would bring. They read what my leaders expressed about me in my evaluation reports (NCOER's), considered the fiscal responsibility I was given, and the gravity of my leadership roles at such a young age. They saw a young man willing to work, willing to learn, an effective communicator, a responsible manager, and a proven leader. These executives and the excellent recruiters before them zoned in on the "soft skills," my soft skills. Skills I didn't know to list, but made the resume nonetheless. They did this in contrast to the pool of civilian candidates in my age group, most of which had four-year degrees, but no where near the experiences and responsibilities that I had.

By the end of that week, I was again offered and accepted a job as a mid-level manager, which immediately doubled my current salary. I was put through OJT, which was supposed to last six months, but finished ahead of schedule at three months, and was promptly sent "to the front lines" to run my own center and metropolitan area. I was successful in my time with that company not because of any business "hard skills" I possessed, no project management certificate, no associates, no BBA, no MBA or otherwise. I was successful because through my family leadership and my military leadership, I developed and possessed, a willingness to listen, to learn, an ability to communicate effectively, manage expectations, and how to be a compassionate leader to my employees and my soldiers before them.

Now, life and an economic recession brought me back to my first love, protection. I did an industry "180" yet, the expectation is no different. In the private security industry, it's hard to not suffer from "imposter syndrome." The amount of people with a wealth of experience, skillsets, degrees, and all of the technical and tactical "hard skills" that encompass this sector is breath-taking. After 12 years in the private security industry, I have again been successful. Promotions, raises, bonuses, certificates of appreciations, meritorious awards can act as a measure of success. I prefer to measure it by the impact I made on the a company's culture, the employees, soldiers, teammates and leaders that continue to stay in touch and reach out. Your soft skills have an ability that hard skills do not. The ability to influence another without formal training, but by mere presence. And here's the thing. Overtime, hard skills, technical skills, classes learned in college, all of which, if not properly maintained or utilized fade and diminish. What does not fade is what is at the core of a person's heart, their soft skills, strategically developed by time and experience, that are rarely acknowledged by ones' own self, and depended on by others. This never fades or diminishes and that's why your soft skills will always be your ace in the hole.