Today is a day to honor our nation’s veterans for the sacrifices they have made in their lives. But lets take a moment to honor the sacrifices of their spouses as well.
A few months ago I had the pleasure of interviewing business coach Royale Scuderi, a military spouse and founder of the Guard Wife blog. The job description for the role of military spouse is not for the faint of heart. Being a military spouse requires patience, empathy, the ability to multi-task, and a sense of humor. You can read Scuderi’s tips for succeeding in the role of military spouse here and thank you to all veterans and military spouses for all you have sacrificed to help protect our country.
Military people don’t think often about deferred compensation. I’d guess military people don’t think about compensation much at all while on active duty.
But compensation is more than money. Compensation means time…time to take care of personal and family matters. That is a major factor for people on active duty. They are concerned about the “tempo of operations” (for which you may read number and frequency of deployments and remote tours).
When they reach the end of their active duty service commitments, those day-to-day military concerns fade. After all, they can see the day when they will be civilians. That’s not a time to let down one’s guard when it comes to getting the time they need for that life-changing transition.
The services claim to make time for military members to take advantage of their transition services. But too often, the military member and her culture intrude on that time. Let me explain.
Those who separate, particularly senior members, aren’t easily replaced. They have corporate memories. They have networks they’ve built over years.
Some commanders try to tap into those powerful benefits right up to the day members retire or separate. Given the press of military business, that’s understandable.
The members themselves may be drawn in to the process. Many are reluctant, even anxious, about the change to civilian life. How attractive it is to hang on to the familiar and important right to the last. Some even consider it their duty.
While I admire the dedication, my standards as a career coach require me to relate an almost certain conversation among those who remain on active duty after their colleague separated: “Who was that guy? I can see his face. Boy, he knew everything there was to know about IOT&E.” My message is simple: it’s time to leave, time to let others you’ve mentored take over.
Military people willingly miss anniversaries, their kids’ soccer games and birthdays. The mission required it. But when retirement or separation approaches, it’s time to let the services deliver on their “deferred compensation,” giving people time they need to plan.
Over the years, nearly all the O-6s who have attended my Executive Career Transition Program say they wish they had started no less than year before they hung up the uniform. That sentiment is reinforced when I remind them the typical job search takes about a year.
If you are a retiring or separating military member, take the time the services owe you. I know your schedule is busy. But if you start a year or more out, you can fit in what you need to do with your mission requirements without stress.
If you are a coach working with military members, remind them their personal, career needs are important. After all, many can look forward to 20 years or more in a second career.
The nation needs them just as much out of uniform as they did when wore the green, blue, or “purple” suit.
Conventional wisdom tells laymen that military and civilian cultures are different in many ways. But as career professionals, we must dig deeper if we are to help our military clients well and establish trust with them from the start.
Perhaps the largest difference goes to the heart of how the uniformed services evaluate and promote people. It’s all about leadership.
When a civilian asks a military person what he or she does, the services want the military person to say “I am a commissioned (or non-commissioned) officer on active duty.” The services want their members to think of the rank or grade they hold first.
Of course, people in uniforms have different MOSs (Military Occupational Specialty for the Army), AFSCs (Air Force Specialty Code), or Ratings (Navy).
These indicate the kind of job each person is holds now. My career is typical. I was, at different times, a flight instructor and examiner, an air operations staff officer, a curriculum designer, a public relations officer, an educational instructor, and an education administrator. But the Air Force, and I, always thought of me as a commissioned officer. And the system used to promote me measured my effectiveness as a leader.
Military professionals know leadership is not the euphemism used in so many parts of the civilian world where it is confused with financial support, political gain, or winning a marketplace advantage.
The military leader feels his responsibility very deeply, and personally, to those who help him or her do the mission. Therefore, it’s completely natural for military clients to say their career field is “management” or “leadership.”
What they don’t realize—what may come as a shock—is there are no such specific career fields in civilian life.
Employers create jobs based on a capability they need. They describe that capability with a job title or career field. Helping our military clients find the one career field (from the many they may have worked in on active duty) that is right for them is our responsibility.
If we don’t guide our clients, they will chase one disconnected “opportunity” after another. That’s because job announcements almost always talk about “leadership,” “people skills,” “problem solving,” “strong communications skills,” and the like. But the military client may miss the skill sets unique to each career field.
For example, a non-profit executive director needs all the skills listed in the previous paragraph. But if she isn’t practiced in cultivating the donors, if she cannot build and enlarge upon a market brand, she won’t succeed.
As a result, our military client will always feel unprepared. Endless “tweaking” of the résumé follows. In the end, even if that person does find a job, how satisfying it will be is open to chance. And since so many Americans are unhappy, or very unhappy, in their work, the chances aren’t good.
You have many tools to help military clients match up with the right career field—as they define “right.”
As you use those tools, reassure your military clients their leadership and management will make them successful in their new careers just as it did when they are on active duty.
