Tag: ETS

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

 

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Five Reasons to stop and find another headhunter Immediately!

I’ve made it no secret that attempting to get out and find a job without a headhunter is a moronic move.  It’s already incredibly tough when you’re in the marketplace, your resume mirrors job requirements, and you’ve made contacts in the industry (plus you still have a job).  Try and find a job with a military resume, no market knowledge or contacts, and a drop dead date when you will no longer have employment without a recruiter and you are setting yourself up for failure.  That begs another question, however, how do I know my recruiter is any good?  Well, here are 5 things that if your recruiter does, you should probably start looking around for someone else.

1. Requires Exclusivity

If your recruiter is adamant that you cannot work with any other agency and asks you to sign an exclusivity contract, go somewhere else.  A good headhunter knows they are going to find you the best jobs and by allowing you to work with another headhunter, it makes YOU the commodity to be bargained for.  This will push them to listen to YOUR needs and make sure they are delivering what you want so you don’t go with someone else.  These companies that require you to sign exclusively with them for 6 months, when you’re 7 months away from getting out, know that as your ETS date approaches, you’re going to be more willing to accept whatever they throw at you.  They get their commission and you get screwed.  Don’t do it.

2.  Ask You to Pay

Recruiting services should be free to you.  Companies have a need to be met and they are willing to pay for someone to go out there, sift through the tens of thousands of candidates, and return with who will be the best fit.  It saves them thousands of dollars in infrastructure and Human Resource employees to simply outsource the candidate search to a headhunter agency.  I’ve seen offers out there, and even people emailing me about these companies that “help” veterans write resumes, update their LinkedIn, and find them jobs for a price.  Don’t pay for that crap.  Some of the resumes I’ve seen lately coming out of TAPS are decent and your recruiter knows exactly what the industry standard is at the time of your application.  They also know the jobs you’re going to be applying for, so they can guide you through that process.  Save the money and go out on a date with your spouse instead.

3. They don’t care what’s important to you

At the beginning of your relationship with a headhunter, you should have a long phone conversation where the recruiter gets to know you better.  They should have reviewed your resume and provided some feedback, then they are going to take some time to get to know you and what your needs/wants are.  How much do you want to make, where do you want to live, what do you want to do…sound familiar?  Yeah, it’s a lot like the four big questions.  Generally, you all think that when you get out you’re going to double your salary, which you aren’t, so I expect your recruiter is going to tell you that your expectations there are unrealistic.  The rest of those questions, however, are your personal preferences, and if the recruiter is marginalizing what you want or pressuring you to interview for jobs you don’t want, drop them…they don’t have your best interests in mind.

4. They are critical of your background

This one seemed unbelievable to me, but I have heard guys get told they have the wrong MOS/Rate for the civilian world, or their degree is no good.  If your recruiter is trying to talk you into hiding the fact that you were a grunt because of some civilian perception about infantry, drop them.  They won’t be a good advocate for you.

5. They weren’t in the military

There might be a case where using a recruiter that has never been in the military can be beneficial, like someone who specializes in hiring for a field where you have a degree, but generally civilians don’t understand what you have done and therefore can’t translate your skills effectively.  Because I was an Intelligence officer, I can tell you that the job is very similar to Marketing.  The intel analyst has to put himself in the mind of someone from another culture and look at the world through their eyes to make an assessment about what they are going to do.  Marketing is the exact same thing, except instead of making an assessment about the enemy, you’re looking at a product the same way a customer would and determining what actions that customer is going to take.  A civilian will never put those dots together for you, and that means fewer interviews and a lower salary for you.  A civilian also isn’t going to understand that there’s a vast personality difference between a guy that served in Ranger Battalion and another who was a quartermaster.  One isn’t better than the other, it just means that you come from different cultures and may not fit into the same role.

Stay vigilant and keep an eye out for any of these warning signs.  Good luck and God Bless!

-LJF

 

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Interviewer: “Do you have any questions for us?”

Recently I’ve been applying for new jobs internally and I was talking with one of my mentors about an interview I had coming up.  He’s a former First Sergeant who I can count on being brutally honest with me yet always gives some sage advice.  Because of this, I value his opinion greatly.  He asked me what questions I had for the end of the interview and I told him I didn’t really have any because I already spent 40 minutes on the phone with the hiring manager and he answered all my questions.  “Well, when I interview a candidate and they don’t have any questions, I think they’re an idiot.”  We laughed together and after a bit of ribbing, he dropped some easy yet insightful options that I’m now going to share with you.  So, here are 6 potential questions that you can ask at the end of an interview that will make you stand out as a candidate:

1. What is the first project/effort that you want me to tackle?

Not only does this question make you look like a forward thinking badass, but it also gives you an idea if the job is something you want to do.  It might have some sexy job title, but you find out that for the first 6 months they have a floor full of records that they want you to help digitize.

2. What are some of the Challenges that I might face?

Here you get some insight into the position, and it may open up an opportunity for you to talk about how you might tackle said challenges, further setting you apart in the candidate pool.  Again, the interview is also for you to get more information about the job to determine if it’s something you want to do.

3. Besides the manager, who should I look to for guidance in the role?

You really don’t want to be going to your boss for every question, you also don’t want to ask advice from the wrong person.  This will also help you identify the people who your future boss thinks are doing a good job and surrounding yourself with them.

4. What are you looking for in a candidate?

This is great if you still have some time in the interview.  Listen carefully, then find ways to show how you fit that description.  This is a way of getting the answer to the test, then having an opportunity to reword and present as your own.

5. What are the keys to success in this job?

This is an opportunity to get a candid answer from your next boss on what he/she is looking for, and it will help you understand what you need to focus on as soon as you start the job.  You’re probably going to have a lot to learn, many questions, and maybe little direction about where to start.  With this question, you will know exactly what you need to focus on and if you need training somewhere, what training you need to ensure your success rapidly.

6.  What does a typical day look like?

This last one is just for you.  Don’t let them get away with something like “every day is different”, hit them with a follow up like “well, what are some of the tasks that you have to do every day?”  You might find out right there that this is NOT something you want to be doing for the next several years.

There you go, you’ve now got 6 different questions that you can use at the end of an interview to get a better understanding of the job and make yourself stand out as a candidate, or as my mentor puts it, “Don’t look like an idiot.”

-LJF

 

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You hired a veteran, but how do you keep him?

According to a survey by VetAdvisor and Syracuse university, a full 65% of veterans leave their first civilian job within two years.  Usually at CONUS Battle Drills we focus on how the veteran can improve their position, but in this case, I want to send a shout out to folks out there hiring veterans and give them some tips.

At first glance, that statistic can deter you from even considering hiring a vet because of the costs of turnover, but there are some significant benefits that these people bring that make them excellent employees.  They are disciplined, on time, courageous, leaders with integrity and incredible work ethic.  They will accomplish tasks at what seems like impossible timelines, and they aren’t afraid to give you bad news, two qualities that are exceptionally rare in the civilian world.  They are fiercely loyal and if they have a problem you can be sure they will tell you about it…and bring a solution as well. I strongly believe you should always look at the veteran community when making hiring decisions for all these reasons, but you have to control that turnover rate.

Make a Career Plan

Before I had even pinned on my Lieutenant bars, I knew what my career would look like from my first platoon leader time all the way to retirement and the key jobs in between.  I could set career goals early on and work to achieve those goals.  Every move I made was calculated towards achieving those goals.  This is something that is greatly lacking in the civilian workplace.  For years I asked my superiors and mentors to no avail, all they ever said is “there is no real path”.  Turns out this wasn’t exactly true.   By picking up little bits of information as I went along, I was able to determine some key jobs titles that I would need to move forward.  So if you have hired a veteran, you need to have a career path of some sorts planned out for them, or be ready to give them some tips and key positions in their advancement.  The job they are in can’t look like a dead end and they need to know that there are future challenges ahead, this will keep them excited.

It also helps to know salary ranges with responsibilities.  For some reason human resources departments try and keep this information top secret which I have never understood.  The lowest private can see what his commander makes every month, and he can look at those salaries and make a determination where he wants his career to go. We come from a place where everyone wears their pay grade and qualifications on their chest, and we can all see how much the other guy makes.  The secrecy with which civilians deal with pay grades and salaries makes no sense, but I don’t want to fight for a promotion or a position if the pay isn’t worth the sacrifice in my opinion, and it’s better to know that before getting the job.

Training

The dismal on-boarding process that I have observed in many civilian companies is incredibly frustrating.  When the military takes someone on, they spend months training them to be a soldier, then more months training them in their initial entry job, then as they get promoted, there are other schools and training they have to go through in order to pin on the next rank.  When they aren’t deployed, they are training, train, train, train, train, train.  Civilians are terrible at training.  If you want to get the most out of the veteran you just hired and experience all the benefits I outlined early on, you have to train them how to do the job; a week of safety presentations and powerpoints is not it.

One way to develop a training plan is to list out the qualities that you are looking for in the job that you are hiring for.  What skills does this person need to have?  What programs do they need to know?  Who do they need to meet?  List those things out and give them to your veteran with a plan on how to have them “certified” in every item within the first 3 months.  This will provide a goal and help you work with them as they integrate.

Establish a Veteran Community

Hopefully this isn’t your first veteran hire, so there should be other folks in your company that have successfully made this transition.  We don’t usually shout from the rafters about our service, so you typically have to get to know us to find out that we have worn the uniform.  As a hiring manager, I assume you know the people around you and can introduce your new veteran hire to some senior veterans in your organization.  I can’t tell you how important this is.  There are questions that your veteran has about the differences between civilian life and the military that you are not prepared to answer.  Meeting someone else also establishes a support network of like-minded individuals.  Many of the questions your veteran has, someone else in your organization has already struggled through.

During our entire time in service, we always had a buddy.  One other man who had our back and we were accountable to each other.  We looked after each other’s gear and health.  We grew up in that world, and entering a different world where our jokes don’t make sense and we don’t have anyone out there looking out for us can feel very lonely.  This is going to decrease job satisfaction, and if there doesn’t seem to be a good career path and we have no idea what we’re doing because we haven’t been trained, then we’re going to find another job.  So establish a veteran community and some way of putting these veterans in contact with each other.

Even after you do all these things, you might still lose some veterans, don’t take it personal.  One of the four big questions I am always telling folks getting out is, “Do you know what you want to do?”  Too many folks get out without answering that question and some honestly don’t know.  Maybe they think they can leave the adrenaline junky job behind but find out after a year or two behind a desk that they can’t find joy in their life without chasing bad guys.  That’s on them, but if you want to take that 65% turnover rate and drop it into the single digits, you need to Have a Career Path, Make a Training Plan, and Establish a Veteran Community.

-LJF

 

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