One of the most valuable and useful lessons I learned while serving in the military is that proper prior planning is a crucial element of any endeavor in wish you hope to succeed. There is not a mission that the military undertakes that is not planned, rehearsed, and revised dozens of times before it is begun. The entire culture of military readiness is saturated with an obvious obsession with continuous, detailed, and thorough planning. Every training mission and every evolution must be thought through and any and all contingencies must be considered. The deployment of ships to the Persian Gulf, the deployment of Marines to Haiti, or the Humanitarian missions following Hurricane Katrina all have this one element in common and without it, success would often be out of reach.
Since learning this wonderful principle, I have made every attempt to apply it to every personal undertaking from the purchase of my first home to my transition from active duty to civilian life. I am writing this to offer those who wish to leave the military service an example from my own experiences and to reassure those who are facing this new horizon that there is indeed life after the military. I see it like every other mission you have undertaken; it requires a degree of concentrated planning and effort if it is to be successful.
First and foremost, I feel that it helps to periodically consider what it is that you would like to do after you leave the military service. You should make time regularly to think about the type of person you are, what you are good (and bad) at, what you like to do ( and what you don’t), and how long you have before you will have an opportunity to pursue it. For me this meant taking the time to read websites and books, talk to veterans who were successful in their civilian lives, and take stock of the skills, attributes , and attitudes I had developed in ten years as a sailor. I wrote many lists to inventory these items several times throughout my enlistment.
I studied my service jacket detailing all the schools that the Navy sent me to and I looked at my daily job and thought about the things I actually did like about it. What I eventually discovered was that the technical field in which I served was only partially satisfying. I was Navy Engineer, particularly a Gas Turbine Electrician, which meant that I worked in an industrial environment with many hazards from chemicals and noise, to hot temperatures, and rotating machinery. I stood many hours of “watches” over machines that burned fuel, pumped fluids, and compressed gases and often this was on a rotating shift and required long tedious hours of repetitive activity. I quickly discovered that while it was good experience, it didn’t really appeal to me very much.
What I did like was troubleshooting. I loved to take a machine that didn’t work, figure out how it worked, and eventually use this knowledge to get it to work again. Personally, this was always my favorite part of my job and because of this; I found it easy and appealing to learn more and more about how to do it. I also discovered that I enjoyed training others to do the same thing, developing other technicians, and organizing and researching information. Once I had this knowledge, I internalized it, revised it, and then began to research potential civilian careers that had these qualities.
Some of the resources I found available to me to aid in this research were: Navy Knowledge Online, Navy COOL, and the Naval Station ESO. All these resources had examples of how my military skills translated to civilian jobs and gave me comparisons of what I knew from my rate against what parallel civilian technicians knew. Through my ESO, I obtained my SMART transcript and frequently compared it to the skills required for civilian employment. My “hard skills” such as electronics and general engineering fundamentals were very similar to civilians and my “soft skills” like the ability to obtain, organize, and utilize information about problems all seemed to correspond with jobs involving power plant operation, industrial maintenance, and technical representation. The more I learned about particular fields, the more I began to understand how I could transition from the military to the civilian sector.
Eventually, I determined that there were almost unlimited opportunities for people with my skills and experiences and I decided to expand my credentials to encompass a group of technical fields in which I was interested. During my time in the Navy, I had been a field calibration coordinator, a maintenance technician, and an operator. I had worked with all types of electricity from 28 volts DC in control consoles to 440 volts AC in main switchboards. I had operated, maintained, and installed all type s o f machinery from air compressors to marine gas turbines and I quickly discovered that while many civilian jobs targeted only one set of skills, my time in the Navy had required me to develop several sets of skills. Therefore, I began making lists of the types of jobs that interested me the most and building several resumes for several careers that I felt would interest me.
I also looked at the educational requirements of these careers and considered whether or not I met them. I searched the U.S. Department of Labor website and discovered how education affects your earning potential and your competitiveness with other candidates. I sought out people working in the fields I was interested in and asked them what they did to get where they were and what they would suggest to a person who wanted to do the same thing. Eventually, a potential pathway toward these careers began to emerge in my mind and I started to see what I would need to do to get there. At this point I h ad 36 months left on active duty and I realized that while I had lots of experience, I didn’t meet many of the educational requirements to enter the civilian workforce with the competitive edge I would need to earn superior pay. At that time, I decided to pursue my educational goals.
In the Navy, there is a Navy College Program which offers sailors the opportunity to obtain professional degrees at accredited universities in a variety of ways. Some required actual attendance at a campus, others offered online or other “distance learning” options but one thing they all had in common is that they were 100% FREE. I began studying for an Associates of Applied Science in Electronics and by the time I had 18 months left on active duty, I had earned all the credits required for the degree. While it was difficult and left me little time for relaxation--it was worth it in the end and because of the special partnership the Navy has with many wonderful colleges and universit ies , I was able to earn college credit toward my degree utilizing schools I had attended in the Navy. In fact, the school I eventually earned my degree from had an actual path for someone in my particular field! They took stock of my SMART transcript and gave me nearly two thirds of the credit required for the degree before I ever enrolled in any classes. The best part was that since I did it on active duty I didn’t have to pay anything out of pocket, nor did I have to use my GI Bill which I am currently using to pursue my Bachelor's at a four year university.
When the time came to start building resumes, I researched all the potential employers I had ever heard about, read about, or known someone who worked there. I looked at the job listings they had posted on their recruiting sites and I began to compile several resumes. I researched all the technical requirements of each companies resume process and I tailored each resume for each employer. I talked to headhunters, re cruiters, and other professionals and had my resumes reviewed and critiqued by anyone who had successfully obtained work in the field of their choice. Once I felt I had properly represented my experience, education, and abilities, I began to distribute them. Not too many at first since at the time I still had 12 months of active duty remaining. Many employers didn’t feel as though it was worth talking to me when I still had a year left. Some said they thought I had a great resume but they needed to fill those jobs sooner than when I was available. Instead of becoming discouraged though, I took it as a key point. The actual job search should really begin when you are at least six months out. In many cases, you will have to begin your job search at 3-2 months to actually be considered for a position.
When I was 8 months out from separation, my ship was scheduled for a deployment which would not be over by the time that I was due to be discharged. I would have to serv e almost half of the deployment before I would be able to go home which would leave me with about 30 days to job search before my last paycheck. I had bills to pay off and I didn’t feel comfortable with my savings so I decided to extend for six months so that I would be “shore-side” for at least a month before I got out. Another factor was that my I also transferred from a command during my last deployment and travel back to the States was pretty big challenge. While the extension put me a little over the ten year mark, I felt the extra money I could save from the deployment and the ability to keep my mind and body sharp by remaining in the high tempo environment of deployment would benefit me when the transition finally did come.
In the end I saved over $8,000 dollars, received two awards, and returned home with no outstanding debt (other than a monthly mortgage of $1000) and 30 days of post deployment/ separation leave. As soon as the ship headed home, I started po sting resumes. Within days, I received responses on every single one. By the time we got back to port, I had seven interviews scheduled one of which was out of the local area and involved an expense free flight to Ohio to interview with Rolls Royce Corporation. All in all I sent out twelve resumes and got twelve responses. Four of the jobs were ruled out before I ever got a chance to interview because they didn’t offer competitive pay. Of the remaining eight, I eliminated three because of inferior benefits packages or poor working requirements. The last five all sent out competing offer letters and I eventually settled for a job working with a military contractor who needed people for a Navy program with which I was very familiar. They offered superior benefits, great compensation and allowed me to work with many of the same people I served with.
It’s now been a year and I have recently transitioned from a government contractor to a full time government hire. My pay have increased over $17,000 from what I made as an E-6 in the Navy and my Navy time still counts toward my civilian retirement. I like what I do and I am still plotting a career path to bigger and better things. In light of the current recession, I feel that I am in an “insulated” career and the future in still looking bright. While I didn’t want to make the Navy a lifelong career, I will never regret the day I joined and will always encourage other young people to give the military a chance. It’s an opportunity to serve our nation, explore the world, and get to know you. If you are serving in the military now and you are thinking of transitioning out, I hope this serves as a glimpse of how it can be done. Never let anyone tell you that you are not marketable – you are! There is definitely life after the military-- the only catch is that like everything else you will ever do in life: Proper Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance. Use that lesson and start today no matter how much time you have left!
(Submittied by Mr. Paul Jackson)
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