Finding work has been a challenge for veterans transitioning out of military service since the days of Caesar and Pompey. Today is no different. In fact, with unemployment recently reaching as high as 15 percent for post-9/11 war vets — and 22 percent for male vets specifically — those coming out of the military face a job market about as welcoming as enemy fire.
“In the last two to three years, the competitive hiring landscape is echelons more difficult than it was previously,” says Chad Storlie, a veteran and author of “Combat Leader to Corporate Leader: 20 Lessons To Advance Your Corporate Career.” “Before, a veteran may have looked at three or four employers. You may now have to look at 20.”
But that doesn’t mean a soldier returning from Iraq or Afghanistan can’t get work — far from it. Experts say if they can “civilianize” their military experience into language a hiring manager can understand, use the resources and networks designed to help them find work and otherwise strategize, they can find a job with no less difficulty than anyone else.
So to help those who’ve served, @work asked experts on veteran hiring for their tips on making a successful transition to civilian employment.
Talk their language:
Perhaps the most crucial task for job-seeking vets is to explain their military duties and accomplishments in language an HR denizen can understand.
“The biggest stumbling point is how do you take your military skills and translate them into something understandable for those that are hiring,” says T.L. McCreary, a retired rear admiral and president of Military.com, a job-search site for vets. “And quite frankly, that burden falls almost 100 percent on the military member.”
That means you need to prepare, to “take the time to look at your skill sets” and your achievements and think carefully about how to impress on a civilian what they represent. Military.com and other vet sites have “skill translators” where veterans can type in what they did in the service and get a list of corresponding civilian skills. (In fact, the Military.com function will connect a vet with appropriate jobs posted at Monster.com.)
Sell the skills:
In addition to the skills they learn from their military experience, veterans typically amass a wealth of supervisory, leadership and other talents. So be sure to articulate that to an employer.
“If you’ve been a tank operator, that doesn’t just mean you operated this heavy piece of equipment,” says Jerold Ramos, the manager of talent acquisition at AlliedBarton Security Service, and a Navy vet who advocates for veteran hiring. “It means you probably supervised people in doing it. It means you protected assets. It means you utilized your critical thinking skills, and it means you showed up on time to work. Those are the things the employers are going to want to hear, not about how a tank blew up a car or a building.”
Storlie adds that veterans shouldn’t focus on their duties as much as their accomplishments. Even lower-ranking soldiers should be able demonstrate successes.
“If I know you improved your maintenance level 50 percent, that’s a tangible accomplishment that will translate to nearly any line of business,” he says. “When you start to show those accomplishments, that really demonstrates what you can do as a person.”
Lose the jargon:
Veterans’ resumes tend to lean on jargon that most civilians don’t understand. To make sure yours doesn’t, have a nonmilitary person go over it with a fine-tooth comb.
“When I transitioned out of the service, I wrote my resume and sent it out to civilian and government folks that I knew. And I asked them to have a big red pen and send it back to me and tell me what I did wrong,” says former paratrooper and Army officer Joseph Arata, assistant director at the National Recruitment Office in U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
“Quite frankly, it was a humbling experience, but it got me on the right track.”
Tell stories:
A good way veterans can translate their experience into something an employer can understand is by telling it as a story. People love stories.
“A story that tells, ‘Hey, this is how it was when I got here and these are the things that I did and this is how it was when I left’ “ can make a big impression, says Storlie. And “if you have it on your resume, it flows really well into the interview.”
An Afghanistan vet, for example, can speak of traveling to remote villages of mud huts in wooded mountains, tasked with the duty of creating a village council. He can speak of figuring out who the village elders were and how he gained their trust. Such a tale could go a long way toward helping a vet land a sales job, Storlie notes, since gaining the trust of customers and figuring out who has the purchasing power are vital skills.
Tap networks:
Veterans may comprise a small percentage of the population, but there are still millions working throughout the country. And many if not most are enthusiastic about helping their fellow ex-soldiers and ex-sailors.
“There are lots of vets who are more than happy to help other vets. If you’re moving back to your hometown and you want to get a job at a certain company, we have a veteran’s career network of a million members,” says McCreary, referring to Military.com’s network.
And a small but growing number of companies have designated military recruiters; find out if any companies that you’re interested in do, and contact them directly.
Get help:
In addition to corporate military recruitment programs, there are numerous other initiatives designed to help vets find work. The US Office of Personnel Management recently created a Web site — Fedshirevets.gov — designed specifically to help veterans find work in the federal government. And there are numerous organizations working toward the cause, including Military.com, Woundedwarriorproject.org, Hireveterans.com and others. Some run job fairs specifically for former service members, so look for one coming to your area.
Pace yourself:
Military training ingrains the concept of PACE — primary, alternate, contingent and emergency — in recruits, meaning there should be three backup plans to every main plan. It’s a concept that will warm the heart of the average employer, so it’s incumbent upon vets to make clear that they’ll be bringing those skills with them, says Storlie.
“If you’re on a battlefield and you’re injured, you’re not going to want to have just one way to get you back to a hospital. You want to have four ways. That’s where PACE comes in,” says Storlie, adding that almost every aspect of the business world could benefit from a vet having PACE as second nature.
Double team it:
Another trait employers prize that military members tend to have in spades is an ability to work collaboratively, and that’s something job-seekers shouldn’t fail to emphasize, says McCreary. He notes that teamwork is such a part of a veteran’s DNA that “most military members won’t say ‘I’ when they talk about accomplishments. They’ll say ‘we.’ And they’ll only talk about ‘I’ when they’re talking about accountability.”
Confront stereotypes:
Vets sometimes face employers who think they’re stress-addled time bombs who’ll be unreliable or worse. The truth is far different, even for those vets who are struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder, and the best way to defeat misunderstanding is to confront it head-on in interviews, says McCreary.
“If you detect a nervousness about health issues, I would describe it. Because a lot of them are quite minor and really just require engagement,” says McCreary. Talk directly and sincerely, and “people will see you’re not some guy walking off a headline.”
Mail it in:
To secure informational interviews after he left the service, Storlie sent out postcards with pictures of him in both civilian business dress and in his military uniform. On the back, he outlined his military service and asked for a brief meeting. Out of the thousand he sent, he set up 300 meetings. Given that kind of success rate, other vets would do well to follow suit, he says.
“You have to get out there and differentiate yourself,” he says. And if you do land a meeting, ask the people you meet with for additional leads.
Be realistic:
A veteran must have a pragmatic understanding of what jobs she might be able to land, says Arata. If you’re looking at jobs that require a college degree or five years experience, and you don’t have that under your belt, then you’re not going to get the nod no matter how vet-friendly an employer might be.
“If you want to be a police officer, you’re not going to come in as the chief of police,” he says. “You’re going to have to go through the academy.”