Cover
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Palisades Publishing, Greenwood Village, Colorado
© 2014 by Lida Citroën. All rights reserved.
www.YourNextMissionBook.com
ISBN: 978-0-9831690-4-8
eISBN: 978-0-9831690-5-5
Library of Congress Control Number: 2013955006
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Requests to the publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permission Department, Palisades Publishing, 4950 S. Yosemite Street, F2-337, Greenwood Village, CO 80111.
Printed in the United States of America.
Edited by Ruth Goodman
Cover design and graphics by Scott Maiwald
Dedicated to the parents who have supported their children in the Armed Forces--I cannot imagine what that experience was like for you.
To all the brave men and women who fought for our freedom, thank you. I enjoy the liberties of the American Dream because of your commitment, loyalty, and sacrifice.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Introduction
About This Book
PART I: Understanding The Transition
Chapter 1: Approaching the Transition
Chapter 2: Top 5 Career Myths Dispelled
Chapter 3: Why Hire a Veteran?
Chapter 4: Corporate Culture 101
Chapter 5: Trust
Chapter 6: Hollywood Misperceptions of the Veteran
Chapter 7: Civilian Careers Other Than Corporate
PART II: Getting Started: Your Personal Brand
Chapter 8: What is Personal Branding?
Chapter 9: Why Do Veterans Need a Personal Brand?
Chapter 10: Important Elements to Build Your Personal Brand
PART III: Building Your Personal Brand
Chapter 11: What is Your Current Brand?
Chapter 12: Articulating Your Desired Brand
Chapter 13: Set the Vision of Your Goals
Chapter 14: The Power of Feedback
Chapter 15: Writing Your Brand Promise
Chapter 16: Understanding Your Target Audience
Chapter 17: Understanding Your Competition
Chapter 18: Tying It All Together
PART IV: Marketing Your Personal Brand
Chapter 19: Your Elevator Pitch
Chapter 20: Intentional Networking
Chapter 21: Your Visual Brand Identity
Chapter 22: Personal Style, Wardrobe, and Image
Chapter 23: Body Language
Chapter 24: Promoting Yourself
Chapter 25: Social Media / Social Networking
PART IV: The Job Search
Chapter 26: Job Search Tools
Chapter 27: Positioning Yourself for Success
Chapter 28: Research and Preparation
Chapter 29: The Interview
Chapter 30: Closing Thoughts
About the Author
Acknowledgements
I find it difficult to possibly express in words my appreciation and acknowledgement for all of the people who helped make this project possible. With tremendous gratitude, I’ll try.
John Jones, Staff Sergeant (Ret.) United States Marine Corps; Special Projects Director, Marine Corps Scholarship Fund. Thank you for giving me an opportunity to work with you back in 2009 and open the door fully to my ability to impact the transition of veterans across the United States. You took a chance on me (what could a civilian know about working with veterans?), and I hope I’ve lived up to your vision of where personal branding can impact returning service men and women.
Chris Ford, Lieutenant Colonel, United States Air Force. I cannot express how grateful I am for the contacts, feedback, and insights you provided to me on this book project. Your words and actions are consistent with your value as a leader and champion in the veteran reintegration space, and I am truly grateful to know you and call you a friend.
Katie Haddock, Colonel, United States Marine Corps; Executive Director, Wall Street Warfighters Foundation. Thank you for the access and opportunity to continue to serve the associates of the Wall Street Warfighters Foundation. What a blessing and an honor to be associated with this important mission!
Jon E. Arnold, Staff Sergeant, United States Army (Ret.); Advocate with The Army Wounded Warrior (AW2) Program, Warrior Transition Command. When we first met, I knew we’d get along great, Jon. While you root for the wrong football team, you are one of the most passionate veteran advocates I’ve had the pleasure to know. Thank you for your support and assistance in putting this book forward in a meaningful and relevant way.
Jerry Majetich, Staff Sergeant (Ret.) 304th Psychological Operations Company, United States Army; Vice President, Drexel Hamilton. There are few like you, Jerry—your spirit, energy, and optimism make you memorable. Your story makes you unique. You are not defined by circumstances and that lesson was critical to my understanding of how to address and add value to the wounded veteran returning to civilian life. Thank you for the gifts you shared with me and others.
John Melia, Corporal, United States Marine Corps.; 1st Lieutenant, United States Army National Guard; founder and former CEO, Wounded Warrior Project. I am so grateful to you for your insights, perspective, and contribution to this book, John. It is truly a pleasure and an honor to call you a friend and include your testimony in this message to veterans who will transition after you.
Denise Koster, Senior Talent Acquisition Specialist, Federal Reserve Bank of New York. As civilians, you and I share a passion for helping those who put their lives and families on the line to protect our freedoms. Thank you for your encouragement, feedback, and insights on this book, Denise. Your work is so important!
Lindsay Jefferson, Marketing Associate, LIDA360. I know none of this book would have come together as flawlessly as it has without your help and guidance, Lindsay. You are such an important part of my business and my life. We can both be so proud of this book!
Dan Goldenberg, Commander, United States Navy Reserve; Executive Director, The Call of Duty Endowment. Thank you for your important commitment and contribution to this book and the work of helping veterans gain opportunity through employment in the civilian sector. The work you are doing to fund worthy organizations will truly lift the resources needed to impact veteran transitions.
Kevin Preston, Colonel, United States Army (Ret.); Director of Veterans Initiatives at The Walt Disney Company; James Rodriguez, 1st Sergeant, United States Marine Corps (Ret.); Director, Government Relations, BAE Systems; and Frank Clark, Senior Master Sergeant, United States Air Force (Ret.); Director of Operations Support, USAA, thank you for spending so much time speaking with me about the intricacies and challenges of the military-to-civilian transition. Your advice and contributions are meaningful to those who come after you. You have truly paved the way to ensure veteran-friendly and veteran-committed organizations can thrive!
Paul Bogacz, Captain (Ret.), United States Air Force; Curriculum Developer, United States Personnel Professional Development School; Dana Niemela, Lieutenant, United States Navy; Program Manager, Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program at City and County of Denver; Izzy Abbass, Staff Sergeant, United States Army Reserve; Director of the Boots to Suits Program, University of Colorado Denver; past Commander, VFW Post 1; Theresa Z. Blumberg, Colonel, United States Air Force Reserves (Ret.); Former Judge Advocate General and Chief of Joint Staff; Colorado National Guard; and Vice President and Co-Founder of Women Veterans of Colorado; William Doe, III, Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army (Ret.); Matt McGuire, Former United States Army SPC; John R. Toth, Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army (Ret.); Jan Rutherford, Special Forces medic; “A” team executive officer; a military intelligence officer; Shane Schmutz, Captain, United States Army; Executive Director, Veteran's Passport To Hope; and Dick Young, Rear Admiral United States Navy (Ret.), Colorado Chair, Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, thank you from the bottom of my heart for your unwavering support, insights, feedback, and encouragement as I write this book and serve this great community!
Scott, Clark, and Beau. You are the three most important men in my life —always and forever. Thank you for your support as I took long trips away from home to work with veterans groups and counsel veterans just home from service. Thank you for giving me the time I needed to learn more and spend hours listening to veteran stories in order to gain the best practices and tools I needed to be effective in pursuing this passion for helping veterans. Without your encouragement and support this book could have remained just a dream.
As Nelson Mandela once said, “There is no passion to be found playing small--in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.” I truly thank all of you who have been part of helping me share this important message with the brave men and women of our United States Armed Forces.
Foreword
Attending a military career fair a few months ago, a corporate recruiter introduced me to a young Navy officer preparing to leave the service. The recruiter didn’t know what to make of him and thought I might be able to help. As I came to learn, he had said something very typical of veterans searching for their first civilian job: “I’ll do anything.” And as military veterans who are new to the civilian job search often do, he took a virtue of military service—a selfless, can-do attitude—and turned it into a sin of the civilian job search—telegraphing a lack of focus and unpreparedness. Recruiters are not career counselors—they have specific openings that must be filled by well-qualified candidates who can articulate their value in a compelling way.
In that innocent statement, a smart, experienced, energetic leader had taken himself out of contention for a job with a good company. And in fact, this is a very common occurrence among veterans, the first of many pitfalls a military member is likely to encounter in their initial civilian job search. Again and again, what seems to be the right thing to do in the military context—being humble, talking in terms of “we” instead of “I,” and labeling extraordinary achievements as “just doing my job”—is exactly what not to when trying to get hired in the civilian world. While the experience of military service makes vets more successful once hired,1 it does not prepare them to establish a “personal brand” that is so critical today in getting hired for the right position.
After getting to know Lida Citroën and her book, I’m confident she has created a guide to a rewarding career after military service. I was lucky enough to meet Lida through Lieutenant Colonel Chris Ford from the Warrior and Family Support Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In a conversation with Chris, I remarked that vets could really use a comprehensive guide to getting hired, tailored for their unique needs— something that would stay with them beyond the required transition training we receive when exiting the service. Chris mentioned that he knew someone who was doing a wonderful job of creating just that: Lida Citroën.
Indeed, Lida has created a fantastic and accessible guide for driving success in a veteran’s job search. Given her work helping many corporate business leaders create strong reputation management and personal branding strategies and the last four years customizing this work for veterans, she is uniquely qualified for the task. She has committed herself to sharing the same tips, resources, and techniques with veterans who, because of their service or background, do not have an understanding of or network into the corporate world.
Lida’s message of personal branding helps place veterans on a more equal footing with their civilian counterparts. It’s an approach that allows them to highlight their valuable and hard-won talents as leaders, technicians, and diligent contributors. These are attributes employers are seeking but also ones that vets have been stymied in communicating effectively to the market.
According to The Center for a New American Security’s research, among the top six reasons companies do not hire vets are: “difficulty translating military skills into skills useful in the civilian workplace, a negative stereotype or negative attitude toward veterans, a mismatch between veterans’ skills and those needed by companies, concern about subsequent deployments of guardsmen and reservists, the time veterans need to acclimate to the civilian environment and the difficulty in identifying veterans to hire.”2
While many of these obstacles are based on employer ignorance, what’s particularly wonderful about this book is that it arms a veteran with everything he or she needs to get past these barriers and advocate for themselves during the hiring process. Fundamentally, it shows them how to become more competitive and relevant so their value shines through and overcomes stereotypes an employer may hold.
At the time of this writing, veterans’ unemployment in America remains a difficult issue to solve. Highly skilled, disciplined, and experienced post-9/11 veterans under age 30 are unemployed at twice the rate of their non-veteran peers.3 My organization, The Call of Duty Endowment, attempts to address this problem by finding and funding the best non-profits at preparing veterans for their job search. The organizations we support are excellent at helping vets get on the path to career success, but given their high-touch model and limited resources, they can’t reach every veteran in need. This book is a great way to support the unserved tens of thousands who desperately need help and focus in their career efforts.
Business professionals live in the world of differentiation, value propositions, and competitive advantage. Business schools and corporate experience teach civilian job seekers to capture the attention of target audiences with compelling and relevant messaging. At all levels of the civilian work environment, individuals are embracing the power of personal branding to cultivate a reputation that draws opportunities to them. Vets need to understand this too; that a strong personal brand gives them competitive advantage, connection with their passion, and a renewed sense of mission.
I hope the Navy vet I met a few months ago has landed a great job, but if he hasn’t, I think this book would be of great value to him—in figuring out what he wants to do in the civilian world, translating his military achievements to skills necessary to compete for his dream job, and ultimately marketing these credentials through a compelling and focused personal brand. Lida Citroën has done a remarkable service for our veterans by putting this all together in a user-friendly manner. I hope you will unlock the value contained in this book and encourage other vets do the same. Good hunting!
-- Dan Goldenberg, The Call of Duty Endowment
_________________
1 Data from CEB’s Corporate Leadership Council shows that veterans are 4% more productive and 3% more likely to be retained than their non-veteran peers.
2 “Employing America’s Veterans: Perspectives from Businesses,“ Margaret C. Harrell and Nancy Berglass, Center for New American Security, 2013.
3 “The Employment Situation of Veterans,” Syracuse University Institute for Veterans and Military Families, November 2013.
Introduction
I met Jerry on my first day of a new workshop for veterans. I walked into the training room at Drexel Hamilton and was immediately greeted by a group of handsome, well-groomed, and very polite gentlemen. They were veterans who were going to listen to me teach them personal branding for the next three days. They seemed curious (maybe a bit skeptical), friendly, and professional.
One by one, I made my way around the room, meeting them and shaking hands. When I got to Jerry, he said, “I bet I’m the only person you’ll meet today with plastic ears.” I was taken aback. Jerry then extended a nub of a hand and I shook it. Jerry made an indelible impression on me that day—his confidence, authenticity, and smile made me comfortable and at ease.
In 2005, Al Qaeda had a bounty on Army Staff Sergeant Jerry Majetich’s head, and the result of their focus led to an attack in Iraq, where Jerry’s armored Humvee was attacked. Two artillery shells, bundled with 50 gallons of propane, took Jerry’s vehicle from a safe transport to a crumbled mess of metal. Jerry sustained many wounds, spent years in the hospital, and had numerous surgeries to repair his burns and scars.
What the incident couldn’t take away, however, was Jerry’s infectious smile, his warm heart, and his passion for helping others. He was—and will always be—a leader and a fighter. That spirit can never be extinguished.
I have no direct connection to the military. No one in my immediate family has served in the armed forces, has paid the ultimate sacrifice first hand, or has welcomed home a soldier.
In 2009, my husband and I attended a Denver Broncos football game. It happened to be the game where they celebrated Veterans Day that year, and the team offered a tribute to our fallen heroes by including a touching speech by a recently returned soldier from Iraq. He talked about the honor, passion, and commitment he felt to his decision to serve. He spoke of the challenges and obstacles he encountered upon his return. He talked about the struggles of trying to find his passion and redefine his career after the military. I turned to my husband and said, “I think I can help.”
In my career as a corporate and personal brand strategist and counsel for executives of international companies, I have had the honor and pleasure of helping all kinds of people direct their reputation: innovators in education technology; venture capitalists with a passion for sustainability and impact investing; outspoken advocates for the advancement and empowerment of American adolescents; cancer survivors; disabled U.S. war veterans; coaches; consultants; and moms, dads and their college-age kids. My clients aren’t celebrities, but they are well known in their respective industries.
My work is primarily with professionals in corporate sectors. My clients tend to be CEOs and executives of leading-edge businesses, and what they all have in common is a consistent passion for the mission of their business and their vision. I am hired to help them define their personal brand, understand their target marketplace, and then create strategies and programs that drive their relevancy into those markets to meet specific business and personal objectives.
What I really get to help these executives do is to create meaning in their work and their lives. My clients recognize the importance of managing their reputations and building authentic relationships though personal branding. The corporate community brings such high competition, that without clearly differentiating each executive’s value proposition, the ability to lose purpose is rampant.
I bring experience in the corporate arena to help you understand why and how to position yourself to be competitive in this new world. Military service is vastly different from the service you will encounter on the civilian side, and my hope is that you will gain understanding and insight into your value, your successes, and your need to position yourself correctly to be effective in your new, civilian career.
After that Denver Broncos football game in 2009, I set out to find a group through which I could donate my expertise to help veterans in transition. This was not an easy fete to accomplish! I naively thought every group out there—from the Veterans Administration to independent veterans assistance programs—would want my help. Why shouldn’t they? I was a civilian corporate professional offering my talents and skills to help veterans at no cost. Then I learned about military culture and trust. There was a reluctance to engage me and let me volunteer my talents for fear that I was “selling something.” In addition, navigating the systems needed to get my help to the actual veterans in transition proved complicated and frustrating.
Through a mutual friend, I was introduced to John Jones, then Executive Director of a group helping veterans based in Philadelphia. John explained that Wall Street Warfighters Foundation (WSWF) was the vision of General Peter Pace, United States Marine Corps (Ret.) and 16th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who created a program to help veterans secure high-paying jobs on Wall Street. The Foundation is helping rebuild the firms on Wall Street by leveraging the talents, integrity, and work ethic of military veterans, and advancing awareness of veterans as valuable employees in Corporate America. In addition, General Pace focused the program on supporting service-disabled veterans, an often over-looked segment of the veteran community.
John was willing to give me an opportunity to bring my program to veterans. The first year I worked with the candidates in the Wall Street Warfighters class was eye opening for me. I brought my traditional personal branding workshop materials and quickly learned how different my program needed to be to serve this audience.
I have worked with Wall Street Warfighters for many years now. I keep in touch with many of the veterans I met through that program—often continuing to coach and advise them as they grow in their civilian careers. Some of their stories are included in this book. Others have helped me edit and refine this book to make sure it serves the intended purpose—to give you the tools, inspiration, and resources needed to transition from a military-to-civilian career. I am eternally grateful to Wall Street Warfighters, John Jones, as well as the current Executive Director, Colonel Katie Haddock, and the entire WSWF Board of Directors for their vision and commitment to keeping veterans informed about the power of personal branding and including me in that effort. Their work ensures veterans have the skills, training, and insights to become competitive on the civilian side.
Later, I became active with Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR), a Department of Defense agency focused on helping employers hire veterans. Through this group, I have learned many of the struggles, obstacles, and passions of employers trying to do the right thing— striving to hire former military—caught in the web of bureaucracy and paperwork to the point of frustration.
In 2012, I became a contributing writer for the careers section of the military website, www.Military.com. Through this site, active and separated military veterans can learn everything from how to secure a home loan to dealing with family stress and finding a civilian job. The stories I hear back from veterans who’ve enjoyed my articles still surprise me. There is so much frustration, a lack of available tools and resources to help the veteran differentiate themselves, and a sense of disappointment when the veteran tries to bridge the military-to-civilian gap and falls short. My work is to help fix that.
You hold responsibility and accountability for your personal brand. No one can brand you. I will guide you through this process, but you must own the implementation and authenticity needed to be effective. Only then will you experience the true power of personal branding and reputation management.
With gratitude for your commitment, service, and sacrifice,
Lida
About This Book
Business professionals live in the world of differentiation, value propositions, and competitive advantage. Business schools and on-the-job corporate ladder climbing taught us to capture the attention of target audiences with compelling and relevant messaging. At all levels of the civilian work environment, individuals are embracing the power of personal branding to intentionally build a reputation for themselves that attracts opportunities to them.
In this book, I will share my views and approach to personal branding and the processes that will enable you to leverage your expertise and experience in military service to market yourself more intentionally and effectively to hiring managers. You will be armed to now become the person you are meant to be, to attract the clients and relationships you desire, and to draw opportunities to you more easily. Your personal branding journey starts with you and ends with you. It will reflect your experiences, talents, weaknesses, and beliefs. Later in the book, I will share many strategies for you to intentionally put your value into action to bring yourself more joy and wealth and the ability to craft your own legacy.
Veterans Need Personal Branding
I first met Lida Citroen while I was attending financial training with the Wall Street Warfighters.
After a 20-year career in the United States Army, with experience in leadership and fields from infantry to finance and Psychological Operations, personal branding wasn’t something I thought about.
What I learned from Lida was amazing: I became aware of how important personal branding is, especially when you are trying to build a positive reputation. Once I learned how to build a reputation, I learned how crucial personal marketing skills are not only for job seeking but for continuing to build a strong background, which could help me build a future customer base or networking contacts. One of the biggest tools that was brought to our group’s attention was that we, as individuals, are a complete package. We learned that anything available on social media (and the Internet) reflect on your personal branding. Lida’s program shined light on so many things that, before meeting her and taking her class, few of us had any idea about.
Using the tools Lida provided us, I was able to find placement with my company of choice. While working as a Vice President with Drexel Hamilton, I have built a reputation for myself through meetings and accomplishments. With Lida’s training, I walked into meetings with a positive image that helped me build a strong customer base.
I strongly recommend personal branding and reputation management training with Lida to any professional who wants to take steps to advance their career.
Jerry Majetich, Staff Sergeant (Ret.), 304th Psychological
Operations Company, United States Army;
Vice President, Drexel Hamilton
As the veteran transitions from military service to a civilian job, I find many of them unarmed with the tools, resources, and insight to compete effectively in finding employment. In all my work with veterans, I see progress forward (veterans successfully learning the skills, techniques, and qualities it takes to compete for civilian work) and the steps backwards (a lack of fundamental understanding of the civilian sector, a lack of resources to help veterans navigate the hiring process). It is surprising that we are not taking more action to address the issue*.
The veteran transitioning from military service is at several competitive disadvantages in trying to secure a job in the civilian sector:
And the resume is not the answer. I believe personal branding is where we should begin in helping the veteran secure a civilian career. Without a clear picture of the person’s values, goals, intention, targets, and vision we cannot possibly help veterans successfully navigate to fulfilling careers outside of the military.
Building your personal brand will require commitment, focus, self-reflection, and self-confidence and will push you to consider your goals and feelings in new ways. I appreciate that I am introducing some new and unfamiliar territory for you, and it may not feel consistent with your service experience and what it took to be successful in a military culture. If you can remember that your civilian counterparts are learning the skills of reputation management and personal branding—and are gaining advantages—you can push yourself to learn these skills as well.
Personal branding may be simple, but it is not easy. It is important to remind yourself that you have been successful before. If you can reflect on the patterns, traits, and attributes in your past successes, you can reveal the strength you will draw on to begin to market your personal brand.
Personal branding begins by understanding what you are passionate about, what you value, and how you live an authentic life.
Personal branding doesn’t encourage you to brag, boast, or become arrogant. This is not about making your voice louder. It is about finding a language, message, and position that is understandable and compelling to an audience who needs to find you and hire you. The personal branding process is empowering and gives intention to action that might otherwise feel random.
This book will walk you through the fundamentals of building a compelling personal brand. Through personal branding, you will discover not just WHAT you are but also WHO you are. Ultimately, how do you want to be perceived and remembered? What is your legacy? What will your life mean?
This enables you to decide:
I will then help you understand how to put your personal brand into action:
The work I do is strategic, goal-oriented, and feelings-based. We have to understand perception (because it is reality to our audiences). How that hiring manager FEELS about you influences whether they want to give you a chance. I help veterans understand that the words they choose, the people they associate with, and the way they present themselves to others creates a perception about them—they can be in control of how they want to be perceived and drive the opportunities to them.
In my 24 years in the corporate and non-profit business arenas, I’ve learned a great deal of information and insights to aid you in this transition. Throughout my career, my greatest success has always been in promoting companies, products, or people that come from a place of authenticity and genuineness—realness, in other words.
I also have, like you, a reputation. I created some of that reputation through my actions, with little thought. Other aspects I designed intentionally to ensure that the people who matter to me find me valuable and relevant. That’s the part I’m here to share and teach you how to create.
I will share many of the differentiators between a military and civilian career. For instance:
While I am writing this for you, the veteran, I recognize that your community and family served along side you. As my colleague, Izzy Abbass, Director of the Boots to Suits Program, University of Colorado Denver, and Staff Sergeant United States Army Reserve, states it, “The whole family serves, but one person happens to wear the uniform. The whole family has shouldered the burden of deployments and military service, and it’s important that when we look at the veteran population, we include current and former service members and their families.”
"A man who is good enough to shed his blood for the country is good enough to be given a square deal afterwards."
— Theodore Roosevelt
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PART I: Understanding The Transition
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Chapter 1:  Approaching the Transition
“The most difficult part of my transition has been applying what I’ve done in the military to the experience the civilian companies are looking for. I’ve been supervising administrative/HR offices and have an MBA, but I can’t seem to get a foot in the door without specific experience in related fields such as retail, banking, etc…”
— Paul
Each Person’s Transition is Unique
I have spoken to and coached hundreds of veterans in the past few years. Never has their transition experience been the same. Some of you went into service taking time out from successful careers. You returned from service to fanfare and job offers—as if you never left.
Others of you had your military careers cut short due to injury— physical, mental, or emotional trauma or disability—forcing your military career to end sooner than you would have liked.
However you came to your transition, now is the time to look forward. We will work together to understand your unique values, beliefs, skills, talents, and dreams. I will help you understand the target audiences in the civilian employment world who might be the best fit for the work you want to do. We will craft your desired legacy, and through that, you will write your brand promise, an articulation of what others can expect in working with you.
We will learn from others, too. While your transition is yours alone, others have had valuable experiences that they generously share in this book. When I suggest networking, you will network with those who can offer unique perspective on your transition because they walked in those same steps. When I discuss finding a target audience, you will include veterans who can advocate and advise you. Learning from others who can guide you and provide resources is very important. Take their advice to heart, and understand what might also make sense for you by listening and learning from their experiences.
Your transition will be a journey. After reading this book, you will have clarity, tools, and ideas to implement, but this doesn’t come to life overnight. Understand that transitioning from a culture, work environment, stressful situation, and intense atmosphere, such as what as you encountered in the military, is not easy. You will undoubtedly hit hurdles that will feel insurmountable. You will meet people who seem untrustworthy and disloyal. You will find situations that conflict with your values. This does not mean that the corporate environment is negative.
As you network, learn, develop, and grow your reputation, be sure to take note of others’ successes and tips, but remind yourself that your journey is unique to you. No one has the “script” of how this works for everyone. There is no official “way” to find happiness and success in the civilian sector. You will see that structure, protocol, and formality are different in the civilian world. While this might frustrate you at first, you can learn to successfully adapt as many who came before you have done.
Similarly, understand that your transition is your responsibility. You must take accountability for your transition and opportunities you will attract and take advantage of. Many, many people and organizations want to help you and provide tools, but no one can do this for you. As you own your personal brand, so too do you own responsibility for how you behave and execute actions according to your values. If you want people to view you as a leader, you need to act and think like a leader. If you desire a reputation for integrity and honesty, you must behave that way. Branding (as you will learn) is about authenticity and integrity.
As Theresa Z. Blumberg, Colonel, United States Air Force Reserves (Ret.) and Vice President and Co-Founder of Women Veterans of Colorado states it:
As military members we wear uniforms that tell so much of our story in the glimpse of an eye: our name, rank, branch of service, job in that service, and if we have our ribbons on, one can also read the level and extent of accomplishments, expertise, time in service, combat tours, etc. We become very comfortable in the uniform and the environment that “reads” all about us in a glimpse. Transitioning out of the service and into the civilian world, we must learn to tell the story our uniform once told for us. Just as the uniform did so in a quiescent fashion, so must we learn how to share our vast experience, training, skills, and expertise in a manner that translates into the needs of the civilian work environment. As we ‘doff the blue and don the mufti’, we no longer have our story broadcast; rather, we now blend into an environment undistinguished one from another. This is where branding, as Lida Citroen describes it, becomes a critical tool in our job seeking toolbox.
The Jobs Aren’t Where You Think They Are
Personal branding is the critical tool that will unlock your value proposition and competitive advantage and will position you to attract the attention from employers.
Most often, unemployed workers turn to job boards, employment exchanges, and online forums. They fill out applications, attach resumes, and craft a somewhat-tailored cover letter and pray for the best.
What’s interesting is that according to employers, most job candidates are not sought out on online forums and job boards. In one recent study, 83% of employers said they hire through social networking and personal referral, with only 7% of employees coming through online employment tools.1
What does this mean for you? As you consider investing in transition assistance tools, translating your military resume to a civilian one, and spending hours on the computer filling in forms, consider your personal brand first. Your ability to get recognized, stand apart from other candidates, and clearly define your value to a potential employer is what will get you noticed.
Your Transition is Unique to You
As you navigate this book and your personal brand development, you’ll quickly see that for every positive move, there are potential self-limiting moves as well. You will use your personal brand lens and vision to guide you through these opportunities and challenges. When faced with opportunities, contacts, and relationships you will need to use the filter of “is this best for me and where I want to be?” in evaluating them.
You are making the civilian career transition because of your own reasons. Some of you are retiring after a long military career; others of you are separating after injury or other reasons. Some of you are leaving service with college and advanced degrees; while others of you have not advanced your education alongside your military service.
For most of you, retiring from military service is a family decision. You have evaluated your decision to leave the pay certainty and consistency of the military and are entering the civilian world full of expectations and hesitancy of what it will bring. You have likely already discovered that the military and civilian worlds are very different.
Self-Promotion Will Feel Like a Foreign Concept
In speaking with so many veterans and military leaders, I’ve learned that the culture in which you were taught did not value or support self-promotion. For many of you, this concept (How can I be sure I’m not sounding arrogant, like I’m bragging about how great I am?) will be challenging. I had a Lieutenant Colonel tell me once, “In the face of battle, we aren’t fighting for the President of the United States. We’re fighting for the person next to us.” The sense of connection and loyalty you realized during your military service might feel in contrast to the idea that you now need to learn to promote yourself and your skills. This does not mean you’re not supporting your fellow comrades. You are now learning a narrative and language that is needed to compete effectively in the civilian sector. Without the ability to speak clearly and confidently about your skills, values, and passions, you risk being invisible and irrelevant to hiring managers and future employers. I will help you craft that positioning without crossing the line to arrogance and bragging.
When I speak of self-promotion and self-marketing, I am not suggesting you push yourself out front at the expense and to the detriment of those along side you. Rather, you need to learn how to articulate your value to a potential employer to get them to notice you and find you relevant. This is competitive advantage, not cutting others off at the knees to serve yourself. If you sound boring, you will come across as irrelevant. If you can create a narrative about your experience that is unique and compelling, you can highlight your talents and successes without bragging. One recruiter explains it this way: “I had a veteran candidate tell me, ‘I just did what I was told…’ I looked at her and said, ‘Would you read a boring book?’ The veteran replied, “No, I would not.” I said to her, “Then why would you tell me about yourself in such a boring and uninspiring way?” This recruiter encouraged veteran candidates to practice and rehearse how they explain their successes and accomplishments to get more comfortable with self-promotion.
The reality of civilian-side work is that being able to stand apart from others and being known as valuable and relevant for a specific job/skill/ quality is critical to sustainability on the job. Being able to ace the interview is only half the battle. You are trained to know how to adapt and overcome. But on the job you will be required, on a consistent basis, to be able to articulate why you are valuable and relevant and help others see the value in your skills and abilities.
Instead of bragging, become focused and intentional. This book is your first step! The company that will hire you needs you to be clear about your contribution to the project or the team. You are not bragging when you can share your personal brand and value to others in ways that create better alignment, systems, and efficiencies for the group.
Here’s how that looks:
Bragging:      “I’m so great. Everyone wants me on their team!”
Personal
Branding:      “I am passionate about bringing out the best in my team.
When I’m leading a team, I call upon my ability to make everyone feel valued and relevant to be a good leader.”
Bragging:      “I led my teams through more complex scenarios than any business can offer. Hire me and you won’t regret it.”
Personal
Branding:      “Using the leadership skills I gained in my military service, I will apply my sharp listening skills, empathy, and training to create efficiencies and collaboration throughout the organization.”
Know, too, that other cultures also struggle with self-marketing and promotion. Years ago, I worked with Aimee (not her real name), an accomplished account executive in the tourism industry. She had been personally responsible for major campaigns and initiatives to attract tourist interest and dollars to areas such as the Middle East and Singapore. Based in Abu Dhabi, Aimee now wanted to pursue similar job opportunities in the U.S. tourism market and realized she had cultural norms to overcome in learning how to market herself effectively in America.
We worked together on her personal branding over Skype and quickly identified several of the issues with which she struggled. Aimee’s issues were common to other clients, specifically Asian executives, with whom I’ve worked. They all had strong cultural connections to navigate when amplifying their personal brand power.
First, Aimee needed to embrace a “self-focusing” approach to positioning herself. She was raised with the understanding that the team/company/community/family is more important than the individual. While this is valid, the premise of personal branding begins with a deep understanding and appreciation for the unique qualities of the individual, not the team, and what that individual has to offer to the team, company, community, and family.
I helped Aimee see that putting her needs and values out front enabled her to understand how she could add value to the organization. This is a good thing! This makes the company and the community better. She learned that focusing first on herself meant she was able to contribute at a higher level.