Why Veterans are Real Estate's Secret Weapon

In a recent study on Military Veterans workforce trends by LinkedIn, showed that veterans are not typically recruited or go into real estate. As both a Veteran and real estate professional this confounds me, as there are so many areas that connect the two and make real estate a perfect career choice.

I think one of the reasons why Veterans do not look to real estate is that the assumption is that real estate means being a residential REALTOR? or being an investor/flipper. This simply is not true, there is the commercial side of the business, property management, building engineers, lending, insurance, asset management and so many other options that are not typically thought of.

By not looking at hiring Veterans into the vast world of real estate we are truly missing out on the skills and experiences they bring to a post-military career. We will highlight the skills that veterans have that are a perfect fit for real estate.

1. Interpreting legal language.

We all know that regardless of our role in real estate we are reading some form of contract language and are expected to interpret that language to an extent and be able to act upon that information. It is also one of those skills that you have to teach and develop over time with new hires. The military is already developing those skills so they can do the same thing. Below is an excerpt from Army Regulation 670-1 which covers the wear and appearance of uniforms, specifically this section is covering the wear of badges.

After reading through that regulation, it is clear this was written by an attorney and is open to interpretation, "if this, then that" contingencies, along with references into other sections and chapters. While it may not be a contract, it is certainly written and needed to be interpreted just like one. It is not a far stretch to take interpreting this or other documents, to apply them to contracts. While there is still going to be some learning curve, you are further along with veterans that if you are starting with someone fresh.

2. Making the World Work

Regardless of what someone does in the military, we were all responsible for the repair and maintenance of something. It may have been as simple as a weapon or as advanced as an aircraft. This means that veterans will have some skills in either actually making repairs and are mechanically inclined or they are used to managing maintenance tasks or both.

What this means is that these skill sets translate well into roles like Property Management, Building Engineers and Maintenance, Project/Construction Management and Facility Management. While there are some skills that transfer over easily like an HVAC repairer, others like a Chemical, Biological, Radioactive, Nuclear (CBRN) equipment specialist may not. What may not translate directly for our CBRN specialist will still have skills transfer in such as understanding inspection standards, understanding maintenance records, as well as the general mechanical inclination.

3. Veterans can adapt and overcome.

The Society of Human Resources Management commissioned a study to go along with the Veterans in Work program they host and showed that Veterans are able to adapt to changing environments well and are comfortable in those situations. The military, in general, is a changing environment and this isn't even looking at the chaotic nature of war. Military staff are moved and reassigned to the needs of the military. They may be in one role today and then find themselves in a different role tomorrow.

In my own career, I started off as an Electronics, Avionics and Weapon Systems repairer on the Apache Helicopter, to spending time in the orderly room (office work) to being responsible for the calibration of tools, responsible for the packing and shipping of all equipment to Iraq, to overseeing staff that maintained other aircraft as well as a few other roles in my nearly 7 years in the military. This is not uncommon and veterans quickly adapt to new challenges naturally.

For real estate, constant change is the normal course of business. New property assignments, equates to prospecting different potential tenants, tenant rep clients are moving to a new market and you have to get up to speed on that market, the portfolio you managed or maintained sold and now you find yourself working for a new company. These changes and uncertainty are things that military veterans are comfortable in and will excel in these positions.

4. Training.

Another thing the study by The Society of Human Resources Management pointed out was the advanced training service members receive. As I pull my training records, I get 27 pages worth of education that I took while in the military and as I dug in, it was missing a large number of courses I took. My training record contained things like Microsoft Office, maintaining aircraft, medical training, driving a bus, logistics, shipping and receiving, HAZMAT training, information assurance, and leadership and management training. The fact is the military paid for much of this training and experience that can be used after I left the military. While some things like the proper operations of an M2 .50 Caliber Machine Gun Operations may not directly translate into a career in real estate (unless you have "those properties") things like management and leadership training, HAZMAT, rail operations, truck driving, medical, electronics repair or numerous other training courses actually will directly translate or give the veteran the frame of knowledge to understand the customer's need. While in the military, I would have never thought logistics training with shipping of equipment on trains, boats and aircraft would have translated to a career in real estate, but here I am working in Industrial Real Estate with both an Airport and Railport and understanding the basic needs to the operators.

5. Leadership

This likely is the one thing that people expect from veterans is the ability to be a leader. While there are always different levels of leadership ability, it is something that is thrust upon you from an early stage in your military career. I can recall being in the military a matter of days when Drill Sergeant Martinez yelled out to me, "PFC Curtis!! You are in charge of this squad now, they better be able the drill (marching) by the time I come back". Leadership is deligated regardless of rank. It might be as simple as being in charge of a work detail or in charge of a division of thousands of people, the fact is a veteran has been a leader at some point.

Military leaders are also comfortable in diverse and cross-functional roles. Much of the military is made up of a melting pot of the nation and people of every background and diversity make up the members of the military. Being in diverse and inclusive environments is something veteran leaders are comfortable with and being around. Veterans are also very loyal to their groups and organization. I recall when looking to leave the military the feeling of guilt because I was not going to be there to lead the next group of soldiers. This loyalty can be linked to lower attrition by veterans in the workplace and it pointed out in the SHRM study on Veterans in the workplace.

It is important to keep in mind that the rank a veteran held likely will dictate what they were in charge of. Examples are:

• Lower Enlisted (E1 to E4) are generally the "doers" of the military. They will generally be in charge of small details, specific tasks or equipment and sometimes fill the roles of Junior Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs)
• Junior NCOs (E5 & E6) are the first line leadership that manages the military. They are typically responsible for the day to day activity of the Lower Enlisted and as well special responsibilities that represent that shop, platoon, or flight.
• Senior NCOs (E7 to E9) are generally the overall operational leaders for a larger group and they work hand and hand with officers. While officers are legally charged with the command of service members, the Senior NCOs are the ones who generally are carrying out those orders and making sure they Junior NCOs and Lower Enlisted are doing so.
• Warrant Officers are not seen in every branch of service, but they are generally technical experts in their field and may have some more specialized leadership roles given their experience. Most Warrant Officers were previously an NCO at one point with the exception of aviators.
• Junior Officers (O-1 to O-3) are generally responsible for groups as small as 30 people up to a few hundred people or they are in charge of specific roles like supply, security etc. for a larger group of up to 1,000 people. They work hand and hand often with the Senior NCOs.
• Senior Officers (O4 to O6) are the next level of leadership that is typically overseeing groups that are 1,000 service members or more or they are the specific functions like supply, security etc. of larger groups that are run by the General Officers.
• General Officers are those individuals with stars on their uniforms and are the closest thing to a CEO of a major company that you will see in the military. They can be responsible for tens of thousands of service members or entire branches of the service.

I take the time to point all of this out as many that are not familiar with the military have a difficult time understanding the structure and level of responsibility. I have been asked numerous times when I expected to make Colonel after telling them I was a Sergeant. The ranks are on different career paths and as a Sergeant, I likely would never become a Colonel. I also point this out, as some of the languages that veterans use may not translate well and this can help guide an understanding of roles and responsibilities.

Source: https://www.shrm.org/mlp/Pages/Veterans.aspx

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