I Almost Cried in an Interview

“What is your greatest career accomplishment? What are you most proud of?”

Before I even knew it, the words came out, “I brought all my guys home from Afghanistan.”

In an instant my brain flooded me with memories.  Memories of the deployments, memories of the firefights, memories of the years in preparation.  I remembered how seriously I took every event, every run, every class as though my life and the lives of my men depended on it; because they did.  I remembered clawing my way through ranger school, never quitting even though my body begged me to.  I remembered the phone call with Robert Kislow, when he cried that he had lost his leg, when he felt as though he had failed us.  I remembered how I felt that I didn’t do enough for him and years later he took his life.  I remembered all the phone calls I’ve gotten since I left the military and all the friends I’ve buried in the last 14 years.

A knot formed in my throat. My eyes got glassy.  I tried to push that emotion out.  I opened my mouth to speak.  My voice cracked again.  I stopped.

I looked at the perplexed faces of the people interviewing me. They simply didn’t understand, they couldn’t understand.

It was the first time this ever happened to me. I’ve had many interviews since I left the military, and I’ve always been able to talk about my years as an infantry officer with objective detachment.  A surgical approach to my military career, Situation, Task, Action, Result.  For some reason, this question was different.

“What are you most proud of?”

Well, I didn’t get the job.

Nowadays I answer that question very differently and I avoid answers that will stir up all those emotions. I focus on tasks, actions, and results.  I give the interviewer the answer that I know they are looking for.

I prepare.

I know I’m far enough removed from combat now that I can give plenty of examples while avoiding discussions about my 24 months in the desert. While those stories make for great content in a book, they haven’t really helped me stand out in a positive way in interviews.  Honestly, civilians don’t relate well to those experiences (no matter how much they try and say otherwise), and if I’m at risk of another emotional spat by talking about it, then it isn’t elevating my interview either.

If you’ve had a similar experience, or a polar opposite reaction, tell me about it. Send me an email, comment, like, share, whatever.  I want to know what you are going through and what your experiences are.

I never again want to feel like I could have done more.

-LJF

 

For more information on transition, get the highly rated book on Amazon:

How to Fix Your Terrible Resume

Recently I received an email from a reader (we’ll call him Max) asking if I would review his resume.  When I first glanced at the document, I was on my way somewhere with the family and only had a few seconds to take a look.  I didn’t see anything exceptional and as I walked away I tried to recall anything about the person in the resume I just read.  I remember thinking, “wait…was that guy a battalion commander?!”  Here is a copy of that resume, although you can’t fully read my comments, you can see that I had a lot of them (2 pages):

bad max

 

 

Later, when I had more time, I printed it out, marked it up, then prepared to send a very blunt email.  I noticed that Max was a West Point and CGSC grad, had two master’s degrees, and was a battalion commander, so I suspected that this Resume was not his best work.  I sent him some stuff I’ve written on resumes in the past, and I explained the following:

  • Your resume is not the place to be humble
  • Tell me about YOUR accomplishments- focus on the back of your OER not the front
  • Use the STAR format
  • Include KPIs or Key Performance Indicators- numbers, values, objective results
  • Highlight your degree not where you went to school
  • Your society/memberships and military schools (like Basic training) really aren’t as important

With some trepidation, I hit send and waited.

To his credit, Max took the advice and sounded totally energized.  He had plenty of questions and got to work.  He basically scrapped his entire resume, created an outline, and started over.  In one of his emails, he sent me a STAR chart which was a great invention, and something I will be sending out in the future for resume outlines.  It allows you to put a job, your rater and senior rater comments, then several accomplishments in the position.  See the examples below (2 pages):

Star Chart

 

After he filled this out for every job in his 23 year career, a very enthusiastic Max sent me his updated resume which you can see below (2 pages):

good max

It’s clear that Max is a true top 1% performer that is probably ready for executive level leadership positions in the civilian world, but his initial resume didn’t convey that.  As a recruiter, I would have completely dismissed him with that first resume, but that second one puts me in a position where I HAVE to talk to Max further.

Recruiters are only going to spend a few seconds on your resume.  Give them no option to dismiss you.

-LJF

 

For more information on transition, get the highly rated book on Amazon:

Tom Brady Can’t Block

I often get weird looks from managers when I tell them that their individual team member weaknesses are not very important.  I’m usually asked, often with a touch of snark, “How am I supposed to help people improve if we don’t work on their weaknesses?”

It was an interesting question the first time I heard it, and I struggled to explain my position until I saw a highlight on ESPN one day of Tom Brady at practice.  It clicked when I realized that Brady focuses his efforts on what he’s good at:  throwing the ball.  His coaches understand that Brady doesn’t become an asset by focusing on his weakness, he becomes an asset to the team by focusing on his strengths (as do the rest of the players on the field).  Imagine the waste of time it would be to work on blocking with Brady!

When people do something they are good at, they are happier, more efficient, and more willing to take risks.  Having a team comprised of experts in their functional areas, with their own unique sets of skills that backup and complement each other is the most successful way to operate.  Those are the groups that get excited when a leader presents them with a challenge that pushes the limits of their capabilities instead of listing a million reasons why they won’t succeed.

If Tom Brady was a pretty good passer, a decent blocker, a good runner, and could catch a pass, he wouldn’t be MORE valuable, he actually wouldn’t be in the NFL at all (let alone one of the greatest players in the history of the game).  What is special about Brady is not that he’s well rounded, quite the opposite actually.

“Ok, well what about within his position as QB?  Shouldn’t we be working on his weaknesses within the position?”

Kind of, but not really.  Even within the position, you want to build your plays around the strengths of your players.  An offense with a quarterback that can run the ball looks much different than an offense with a quarterback who is an excellent pocket passer.  A quarterback that can read defenses well should be given the authority to call audibles on the line.  Great coaches know how to play to the strengths of their players, we should absolutely be doing the same thing in business.

This has several implications:

  1. It shifts the responsibility of performance on the leader
  2. It requires leaders to intimately know the capabilities of every team member
  3. It requires leaders to place team members in the right jobs

So stop focusing on the weaknesses of your employees and start focusing on their strengths.  Play to those strengths, give them responsibilities that allow them to shine at what they’re good at.  Encourage them to improve upon their strengths, by taking classes or pursuing challenges that mesh well with their premiere skills.  Let them know what they are really good at and how they can mold a career around their strengths.  Let your peers know how best to use the assets on your team.  Be an advocate, a coach, a mentor, a leader, and you, your team, and your business will all succeed.

-LJF

 

Click the image below to find out what we’re doing here at CONUS Battle Drills!

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How to approach the GI Bill

Good morning Mr. Fernandez,

I picked up a copy of your CONUS Battle Drills off Amazon last month and I am currently on chapter six. I just wanted to inform you how I appreciate your efforts and time in the creation of this book and I thoroughly enjoy how it is written – it’s almost as if we are having a casual conversation face-to-face. It’s not bogged down in formality like a military instruction manual.

As I’ve read thus far a lot of the things you have inscribed make sense and actually provide a pretty new and unique experience on things I haven’t really contemplated yet; and the things that I already had an idea or understanding about, your prospective definitely provided a new way for the information to resonate and solidify.

I have a question though if you do not mind: Obviously as an officer you entered the military with a bachelor’s degree (in History you said), but I am enlisted and joined straight from high school. I’ve been in for three years now and have three years left on my enlistment – how would you incorporate going to school in your guide?

Answering your four big questions:

Question 1) My finances are in order.

Question 2) I enlisted to figure out a purpose in life, knowing the military would provide and care for me in whatever capacity was required and hopefully it would provide me with direction, or at least at a minimum some skills that I could transition with later in life. The reason I want to get out after my six years is because I do not particularly enjoy what I am doing now in my MOS and I’ve always viewed the military as a stepping stone to help position in a better financial and skill set holding later in life – I want to move onto something more personally challenging, interesting, and rewarding.

Question 3) I’m a single pringle; location is not a bother for me; I’ve lived in California in the first 18 years of my life and Japan the last three as sea-duty FDNF.

Question 4) Not a fucken clue – and I feel that is something you and I have in common – we both intended (you actually did) get out and were open to anything (granted as long as it provided for your family). I’ve thought about school (which is why I mentioned above that I wish you would of hinted on that for us enlisted folks (maybe you did but I haven’t found it yet), but I’ve also thought about trying to start a business (I think I have a pretty solid conceptual plan), or civil service (such as firefighting).

Anyhow – I hope you have time to reply it would be incredibly appreciated. The book is great and I will continue to read and reread it surely.

Thank you,

Chandler

Chandler,

Thanks for taking the time to write and I’m glad you’re enjoying the book!  It’s funny that you ask this question because it encouraged me to write a post that I’ve been planning on writing for weeks but haven’t made it a priority (sometimes life gets in the way.  Your question as I understand it: When should I get my degree and what should I do?

So I’m going to try and answer your question without really answering it since these next steps are a matter of your own preference, but I’ll try and offer some perspective.

First let’s talk about the degree you choose.  As you know, I was a history major in college.  I was in ROTC and knew that I was joining the military, so I treated my degree as a path to get gold bars.  That was a mistake.  I see it in enlisted guys taking classes so they can get enough points to make rank.  We are wasting this great investment opportunity, and if I could go back and sit down with that 19 year old me who was leaving engineering because he didn’t like it and studying history instead, I would smack him across the face.  Instead of being a history major with an MBA, I could be an industrial engineer with an MBA; job titles and promotions for the latter would come much more easily!

The bottom line is this:  Don’t waste your major.  Consider college an investment, look at hiring trends and pick a major that will open up the most job opportunities in both quantity and quality.  Even if you’re not a huge fan of the course material, the workplace is rarely simulated well in the classroom.  That being said, don’t pick something you absolutely detest because you’re not likely to do well.  The US Military is the premiere leadership organization on the planet, couple that experience with a Bachelor’s of Science, and you’ll be well ahead of your peers.

Now, as far as timing for schooling, that’s going to be up to you.  I’ve seen soldiers go to school while serving and others that used the GI bill to pay their way and became full time students after ETS.  If you’re a single guy with no dependents, going to school full time seems like the better option.  I think you can challenge yourself further and have better results.  If you have a family, trying to get out and live off the E-5 base pay (without all the other assistance that you get while in uniform) is pretty difficult.  Again, it’s up to you.  You know your work schedule and your command climate, if they will support you then go for it.

One final point, if you’re starting a business, you need to consider that it costs a lot of money to do that, carries a lot or risk, and most new businesses fail, so you’re probably going to want another source of income.

Good luck and Godspeed!

Louis

 

Click the image below to find out what we’re doing here at CONUS Battle Drills!

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