Tag: salary

Do YOU Have a Headhunter?

You need a headhunter, period.  How many of you wrote your resume, posted it on monster.com and waited patiently by the phone expecting calls from potential employers?  Surprised that you didn’t get a phone call?  What if there was a surefire way to get an interview for a job that pays what you are looking for?

Let me put it in a way that you guys will understand.

nightclub[1]

You decide to go to a nightclub to look for a great woman.  When you get there, the line wraps around the block, so you know it’s going to be an awesome club right?  There are nearly a thousand people in that club tonight, but there’s a problem…only four ladies.  There are 250 dudes for each woman in this club!

You’ve got your eye on one particular hottie, her name is Jobelina, and you saw her online profile.  You know what she’s looking for in a man, and you KNOW you’re perfect for her.  The problem is that there are 250 other dudes trying to do the same thing, and you can’t even get a chance to talk to Jobelina to show her how perfect you guys are for each other.  You might get lucky, and she’ll take a look at you, but only for 6 seconds, so you get drunk and go home alone.

Now let’s imagine this scenario a different way.

Jobelina has a good friend that i’ll call Eddie, and she trusts Eddie.  Instead of going to the club and trying to get her attention somehow, you talk to my buddy Eddie, and he gets you a blind date with Jobelina!  You moved to the front of the line and got preferential treatment over all the other deuchebags out there spamming their resumes at companies.

That’s how a headhunter works.  My headhunter’s name was Eddie Commender with Lucas Group.  I never once got an inquiry from any job I applied for on monster or any other job finding site for that matter.  Eddie on the other hand got me 9 interviews in a single day with companies like John Deere (obviously), Fidelity, Diageo, Nestle, Unilever, and Rolls Royce to name a few.  He helped me write my resume (many of those tips I’ve shared with you), he  coached me through interview questions, and then was my advocate after the interviews.

Seven of the nine companies I interviewed with said “yes” and wanted a second interview.  It was then up to me to decide!  I wasn’t even out of the Army yet, but thanks to my headhunter, I had companies waiting in line for me.  It was by far the best decision I made for my career.

You absolutely must get a headhunter, you don’t have to go with Lucas Group, there are others out there, but do not go it alone.  Don’t think that there are employers out there scouring job sites looking for veterans to hire, because they’re not.  You need an advocate who literally feeds his family by getting you a job.

 

-LJF



The 4 Big Questions- Career

  1. 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

The 4 Big Questions-Finances

  1. Are your finances in order?

Before you get out, make sure you have zeroed out major debts.  I really recommend paying off cars and having as few monthly payments as possible.  Take a look at what your monthly expenditures are and make a budget.  This will let you know exactly what you need to survive.  If that number is equivalent to what you are making in the military (including BAH), then you’re spending too much.  Chances are, your first job is going to be equivalent to your base pay, if you’re lucky, but probably not higher.  So you’re going to have to learn to survive on just your base pay.  You are going to be entering a world where salaries are negotiable, and employers are going to offer you the least they think you will accept, so you need to know exactly how much you need.  You and your family are used to living at a certain standard, you’re going to start off below that standard, and you need to know exactly what your floor is.

Also, there are taxes to consider.  If you’re like me, I kept my Florida registration so I didn’t have to pay state income tax.  Once I got out, that all changed and it was a kick in the nuts to have that extra expense.  You’re going to have to pay for health care now as well and that’s not cheap.  There are a lot of unexpected financial hits that you’re going to take, and it’s best that you’re set up to take those punches.  If you’re not ready now, take a few months, maybe extend out your ETS date if you can so you can get it together.

Here is an example of what happens with my paycheck.  Take a look at the deductions and taxes!

paycheck

This is something I certainly wasn’t prepared for.  About 40% of my paycheck is gone before I even see it.  Some of that goes to pay for my healthcare, some goes into a 401k for retirement, some goes into a dental policy, and some goes into a Health Savings Account or HSA.  So if your target salary is $72,000 a year, make sure you’re not planning for having $6,000 a month in your bank account, you’re probably only going to bring home about $48,000 of that.

For most of you while you’re in, your base pay is pretty much equivalent to what ends up in your bank account.  If you’re deployed you’re not paying taxes, and if you’re stateside, you have COLA, BAH, and BAS.  Once you get out, everything is coming out of that base pay, plus health care costs, plus you’re paying for your retirement somehow.  I didn’t realize this and accepted a lower base salary than I would have if I realized I was going to lose 40% off the top.

If you’re thinking of getting out, go make a budget right now.  You can’t even start to look at jobs and salaries until you’ve figured this out.

 

 

-LJF