16/06/2021
Are you Transitioning from the Armed Forces?
Are you preparing to transition, struggling with transition or already transitioned from the Armed Forces, why not get in touch with the UK's Number 1 authority on all things transition related? We here at Boots 2 Suits will help make your transition as smooth as possible. Get in touch today.
Oftentimes, people do not prepare – they just blast out a job application with a generic CV and then sit back wondering why they haven’t progressed in the process.
I regularly talk with members of the Armed Forces in transition or who have already transitioned who are not clear about what type of job they want. They often tell me:
“But I can do anything,”
“I can do a wide variety of jobs,” or
“I worry I may miss out on a good job because I told the employer I wanted X amount of money.”
As I will rarely engage with those who try to sell me something that is obviously not right for me or my business, a recruiter, hiring manager or employer will oftentimes respond in the same manner with applicants that are obviously not qualified for the job.
Whether you are preparing to transition, or you have already transitioned, you are going to be selling yourself to potential employers. And you are going to be in competition with many other candidates trying to do the same thing at the same time. So, why would you lower your chances by not doing the groundwork and laying a solid foundation for your future success? A top salesperson knows not only what they are selling but they also know who is most likely to want, need, and ultimately buy their product. They conduct market research. They learn and study the needs of consumers. Hence, they sell their services or products by understanding each individual consumer/customers’ needs, wants, and interests.
I was a member on a panel where an Armed Forces veteran was presenting amongst others business ideas for new start-up businesses that were interested in securing investment opportunities. This veteran had a great idea and was presenting themselves in an extremely professional manner and full of enthusiasm. But there were gaping holes in some of their basic assumptions, industry knowledge, technical knowledge, and financials. I watched in awe as members of the audience began looking at each other in disbelief, some even left the room. To the audience, this veteran was an ‘unknown’ with an apparently random idea that did not make business sense. I am sure they did not see themselves in that way. I bet they seen themselves as an Armed Forces veteran with a great idea that could change the world.
Unfortunately, you are usually an ‘unknown’ to potential employers. Employers are not willing to do any extra work to understand or hire you. Recruiters, hiring managers, and employers have lots of other available candidates. How do you avoid the discard pile?
Know Yourself
What do you want to do next? What goals do you have for your future, do you have both short- and long-term plans? Once you have some basic ideas and goals, start looking at jobs that you find interesting.
Learn as much as you can about the job first to ensure it interests you and will support you and your family.
Look at a variety of job advertisements that have a job title/description that interests you or is in an industry that interests you.
Is the scope of the work and the job roles/responsibilities what you thought they would be? If you are still interested, look at the common requirements for that job – and ask yourself do you meet them?
Over half of the transitioning Armed Forces members that I talk to want to be a Program/Project Manager. Very few seem to realise one is a PM in a specific field, like computer/data science or supply chain management. Even fewer are aware that many employers would like a PM to have Profit & Loss experience. Too many do not even know what P&L is. You need to understand enough about what it is that you want to do to sell yourself well on social media, on your CV, and in networking situations.
Pick no more than one or two specific career fields and positions – it becomes extremely difficult to focus on more than that. When you have selected and understand a lot about them, you are ready to start to learn about potential employers that may match your needs. Targeting specific employers is the fastest way to success in your transitional job search. Learn all that you can about each employer that interests you. Look at their website while also conducting other searches on them to see if they would be a suitable match for you, remember, you are not the only one interviewing for a job, but the employer is interviewing with you. You are looking for those recruiters and employers whose values match your own personal values, and which look like places where you can succeed.
Once you have selected the employers you want to target, you can begin to look for ways in or networking opportunities:
Find out if they are a signatory of the Armed Forces Covenant.
Follow them on social media.
Search for their recruiters on social media and connect with those in your career field.
Ask your friends for information and contacts at each.
Create a Personalized Marketing Campaign
Once you know what you really want, you need to show why you are a great candidate through evidence on your CV and ensuring your social media profiles portray you as a quality candidate/employee.
Go through all your achievements and pull out those that show your skills and experience that are RELEVANT to the job in which you are applying.
Translate your military titles to civilian titles – yes, more research. Use those in your field whenever possible.
Design your CV and profiles so that the strongest achievements that are related to the job you want are highlighted and each job listed.
You may have held many jobs or roles that you remember fondly or think show how great you are, but if they do not speak to the job description and requirements for the specific job you are applying for, they are wasting space on your CV.
Create a reverse chronological CV first, I have noticed this past year a big uptick in functional resumes and sadly, for you and every other career changer, almost no recruiters or hiring managers truly like this style so oftentimes, they may ignore CV’s using this format. Recruiter and hiring managers want to see what role you were in with quantifiable achievements. They are looking for context to help them understand how you and your experience will help the organisation.
Design your CV to give the greatest amount of space to the most recent job or two and show your most important achievements in a quantifiable bullet under each. You might have 5-7 bullets for these jobs depending on tenure, roles, responsibilities, and achievements with fewer and shorter bullets for jobs held previously. As you change your official titles to civilian terms, make sure you build from the bottom up. Recruiters and hiring managers want to see progression demonstrated through titles of increasing magnitude. Skip military rank not only do most not care, but it carries a message that you are not ready to leave the military while many don’t know or understand the military rank structure.
Once you have built a solid CV, full of achievements tied to the job you are looking for, it is smart to create a one-page networking version. This is great to send after a good conversation with someone you were referred to or met, to use to remind past bosses what you did so they can serve as references, and to help people you know keep your interests in mind.
Every good marketing effort includes networking. That means human connections.
Start with family and friends, add in people you know from the past as well as in the community.
Build new connections in your field via professional groups, job fairs, and social media.
Give people a reason to learn about you and to help you. Help them as well.
Do not expect to make a network just for this job search. This effort is only effective if you think in longer-term career and life choices. As you build your network, ask people you already know and those you meet for referrals to people in your targeted employers, preferably in your field. Learn, learn, learn. Network, Network, Network. Talk to referrals to verify and build your knowledge of specific employers as well as of the realities in specific jobs that interest you.
I recently talked to someone who had been interested in brand management and had a great CV based on real job advertisements and descriptions only to discover in talking to other brand managers that the job really focused on one aspect more than all the others and was far less interesting after all, than it had initially appeared to be.
As you confirm your interest in an employer, turn to them for an employee referral. Ask directly for a referral from someone there who is in your field and runs the function whenever possible. If you see a specific job ad for the employer, ask them for a referral for that job. Employers love employee referrals and your chance of getting an interview is more than 15 times greater than from just applying via a job advertisement.
Learn how to use social media effectively. There is a huge amount of industry and career information available on social media that will help make your transition smoother. Skip the doom and gloom-scrolling and go for useful groups, contacts, and companies. Build your knowledge and your connections. Hiring managers and recruiters will be looking for you on social media – be sure you give them information that makes them want to talk to you. Clear out any old, messy stuff that may not present you in a professional and positive light.
Ex*****on
Get out there and work your plan. Adjust it as needed. There is a world full of resources to help you in your transition. In fact, there are so many services and support available for transitioning military it can be overwhelming and hard to find the most suitable resource. Ask people you know what worked well for them in their transition. Unless you are planning to take a sabbatical after getting out, you need to put the work in now. The earlier you start, the better. The less time you have until your transition date, the more time you will need to dedicate to the job search. Create your plan and get your boss onboard – no excuses. Work your plan every day until you have accepted and started that great new job.
It’s Your Journey, Own It!
