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One Simple (not easy) Tactical Recommendation for Military Transitions
Congratulations. You have had a successful military career and are now preparing to transition to the next phase in your professional journey. You attended transition courses, prepared resumes, spoken with friends, and are now searching for the right job. Excited and anxious, you write down all your questions as you contemplate civilian clothes, work environment, salary, required skills, culture, and the list goes on. Using your military experience and proven problems solving abilities, you orchestrate a deliberate plan of attack and soon find your first post-military job.
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After the initial, “new job honeymoon,” you stumble through the first year wondering if you made the right decision, trying to understand your new normal, and seeking to redefine your professional purpose. Despite great transition rigor and incredible attention-to-detail, thousands of Service-members, just like you, successfully adapt and begin to question their post military employment decision. I have continuously witnessed this cycle from multiple perspectives as a retiree myself, a trusted friend who has coached dozens of veterans through their own transitions, and as a hiring official who has interviewed and hired many. From my vantage, this sentiment is very common and relevant for individuals of all ranks, ages, experience levels, and career fields. In fact, I have yet to meet a military retiree who believes he/she was adequately prepared.
I write this article and humbly offer one simple piece of advice. Yes, my advice is simple, but not easy as it requires intentional clarity, trust, and honest communication with yourself and those seeking to hire you. I believe the single most important thing you can do when considering a job is gain precise agreement on your North Star Value. By North Star, I mean return to your list of questions and seek to define, "HOW YOU CREATE VALUE within the organization and the job you are being considered." Value creation is the genesis of all business and relevant for most organizations. When I say gain precise agreement, I mean:
• Clearly define and understand how your potential employer delivers value and to what customer base.
• Clearly define the value your employer wants you to deliver and to whom.
• Understand how your work value aligns with the greater organization’s mission.
• Define how your value is measured.
• Understand your pay and compensation model as it relates to the North Star value.
• Reflect critically on personal alignment value target. Does the target align to your personal mission and strengths? Do you have the desire to pursue that target? Do you trust the clarity and leadership of your future employer?
• Finally, recognize that this North Star value alignment reflects the need at a specific point in time—your hiring. Organizations are living, breathing organisms with changing needs. You may have been hired to lead a specific project that never materialized. As such, the agreed upon value statement and definitions may no longer be relevant. Fortunately, you have built a trusted relationship built upon intentional clarity and can now determine how to redefine value given your evolving circumstance.
In my opinion, the process of gaining agreement on an individual’s North Star Value is a cycle you will repeat often and is my number one recommendation for those transitioning from the military and anyone seeking to create value. Leading and facilitating a value-centric discussion will increase your chance of getting hired to the right job, decrease the likelihood of professional misalignment in the first year or two, make you more relevant and desirable, and allow you to better serve.
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