The 4 Big Questions- Career

4. Do you know what you want to do when you get out?

This is something I didn’t know, I wanted to remain open to as many career possibilities as possible, and to be frank, I really didn’t know what I wanted to be when I grew up; heck, I still don’t know.  I don’t want you to decide to do something that you’re comfortable with unless that really is your passion.

“Well, I’m an MP, so I guess I’ll be a cop.”

No.  Stop that shit.  Do you want to be a cop? If the answer is no, then don’t just blindly do something because it was your MOS.  Look, I was an infantryman (11A) and an MI officer (35D), since I got out I’ve been an assembly line supervisor, marketing manager, and now I’m a program manager.  Luckily this is one area that I didn’t listen to those doom sayers.  Just because I had a TS/SCI didn’t mean that the best opportunity for me was to work as a DOD civilian.  I didn’t want to sit around in a SCIF reading intel reports.

A headhunter is a great resource here.  Be honest, if you don’t know what you want to do, but you’re articulate and you know how to spell, then there’s a really good likelihood that he’s going to be able to find you a job that pays about as much as you make now.

I know you want to make more than you make now.  That’ll come, and we’ll talk about it later, but we need to manage some expectations.  You’re starting at the bottom again and no one cares that you were a first sergeant or a company commander.  What’s your first name?  That’s who you are now; I became Louis, the ex-army guy with no experience.  The truth is, you don’t know how the real world runs, but that’s ok.  You bring a special set of skills that are highly sought after and I’m going to teach you how to use them, but before we get into that, answer these four questions.

You’re about to make a major life changing decision and you need to check your static line.  By the way “lead people” is an option.

-LJF