Transition Of Military Veterans : Upskilling - 3

Is it essential to upskill, for a veteran with 10 to 20 years of work experience in uniform? In my humble opinion, yes.

While a veteran has a level of skills which are seldom matched in the corporate environment, there is a crucial gap. The veteran is programmed to get a job done "at all costs". He needs to adapt to the methodology of getting the work done "at the optimal cost".

While the scale and quantum of operations give rich experience to a veteran, what changes on transition is that the aim of all activities becomes 'wealth creation'. After all a business cannot run without that objective. While the soldier will get a task executed , he gains no experience in wealth creation or earning PROFITS, while he pursued a noble cause as part of his service.

What he/she needs is a bridge. The bridge that connects his skills with acumen to convert his work into profitable work. Whether he decides to seek employment or take a shot at entrepreneurship, the need for this bridge is acute.

Apart from courses and certifications there is one more way of hands on learning, and that is 'INTERNSHIP'. It can be done during breaks, vacations or holidays to get into an organisation for a short time to get first hand experience and extremely rich learning. If some experienced hand agrees to mentor a veteran in this endeavour, it can create great value at the mentee's end.

While major organisations like 富国银行 高盛 摩根大通 摩根士丹利 and 亚马逊 have formal 'Veteran #internship' programmes on a routine basis, a whole lot of opportunities lie in the informal arena.

The effort to seek, has to be from the aspiring mentee, and of course the senior management in various corporate houses need to be open to the idea. The 'on the job' learning for the intern will be tremendous. At the same time the mentor and his company will also get a great insight into the #veteran mindset and capabilities.