Some 200,000 men and women transition from the military to civilian careers each year. VA Secretary Robert Wilkie is on the record saying that for the first time in almost half a century, there are just as many veterans under retirement age as there are veteran retirees.

Wilkie also mentions, “…Of 20 million Veterans, 10% are women and the number of Women Veterans receiving care has tripled. The new generation is computer savvy and demands 21st-century service efficiently delivered and available when needed.”

One of those needs? The ability to enter a new workforce after spending years in the military. Whether those are the years of an initial enlistment or the last hitch for a 20-year veteran does not matter–spend that much time outside the stateside workforce and you will have some catching up to do in the resume department.

What do you need to know as a service member when getting ready to transition out of your military career and into a new set of employment opportunities? There are some important resources you should know, and some good advice you should take.

The first bit of that advice? If you are leaving military service, it is never too early to start looking. In fact, some say you should begin planning a year in advance or more for budgeting and saving purposes.

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Career Path Options

The biggest choice some face in getting a job outside the military is whether to continue in the career that was built during military duty, or to start looking for a new line of work.

Not all military experience directly translates into the civilian job market. Those with experience with airframe weapons systems, combat communications, or artillery know they face unique challenges in the job market.

That said, you don’t have to try to take those highly specialized skills and literally translate them into non-military uses. You can take the skills you learned in these unique jobs–leadership, attention to detail, the ability to learn how to master new software or hardware, etc.–and sell your abilities based on them.

It is often better to do that rather than hoping that the work you did on the flightline, dining facility, or base disaster recovery team will have a direct equivalent on the outside. And that is especially true if you want to change careers.

This point of view does not mean some jobs in the military are not worth the time it takes to learn them, but rather encourages those about to retire or separate to think about the skills they have learned on duty in a broader sense.

How do you choose the right career path for you? Much depends on whether you want to diversify your skills in an existing area or if you want to start from scratch with a new type of work.

If you plan to use your GI Bill benefits and have enough of them remaining to complete a graduate or undergraduate degree, starting a brand new career path may be simpler than you think (in terms of taking advantage of your military education benefits to fully learn a new trade).

One very important job resource when planning your post-military career options is the Department of Veterans Affairs Careers And Employment assistance official page. You should get fully acquainted with the education and counseling resources offered there while you are in the planning stages of your career change.

Military Career Path Options You Should Know

When you retire or separate from the military, you have the following options open to you, including but not limited to:

• Retire or separate from the military and go back to school right away to begin studying for a new career using your military education benefits for a state-supported college, a private university, trade school or technical school, boot camps, etc.
• Leave military life and apply for Civil Service jobs, federal employment as a contractor, state, local, or municipal government jobs, or openings in the private sector.
• Enter federal, state, or local political races with your military experience as a selling point. Illinois Senator Tammy Duckworth (D) did just that starting in 2006. In 2011 she launched a bid to be elected as a Representative in Illinois’ 8th congressional district and later ran and won to become an Illinois state Senator in 2017.
• Become a civilian and apply for jobs that bring you back into the military ecosystem such as with a Veteran Service Organization like the USO, Red Cross, etc.
• Become a civilian and apply for jobs at military bases that hire non-appropriated fund employees.
• Become a consultant based on your prior military experience and career field.
• Return to life in uniform as a member of the Reserve or National Guard.
• Get certified to teach the skills you used in your military career, especially if you were involved in law enforcement, public affairs, computer security, network operations, and many other career fields.

Military Experience Translation

There are many challenges when it is time to sit down and translate your military experiences into something that a civilian hiring manager (or even a college admissions advisor) can fully understand.

Many articles have been written offering advice on how to do this. Instead of recapping all of that here (we will add some tips for doing it yourself at the end of this section) it may be best to get the help of an experienced resume writer.

There are many veteran service organizations that offer transition assistance to service members including help crafting resumes that include military experience but optimized for civilian hiring processes.

You can contact many resources including the Red Cross, USO, Veterans Of Foreign Wars, The American Legion, state veteran agencies, and the Department of Veterans Affairs itself to learn what help there is in your area for translating your military experience.

There is also help before you even leave the military. You can find transition assistance offices or seminars at your base depending on the time of year, demand, and other variables. Ask your unit orderly room or personnel flight where such transition assistance programs are held.

The VA provides many resources to help people move into their civilian lives, and most of these resources include some form of career help that may involve writing a civilian resume. The VA resources you should know about in this area include Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Chapter 31) programs and Educational and Career Counseling (Chapter 36).

These programs include resume assistance. The VA also has its own version of Transition Assistance, designed to help newly discharged veterans navigate all their benefits including resume assistance opportunities.

Tips For Writing Your Resume Yourself

There are many, many blogs and articles offering resume advice. The most important thing we can add to all of that information?

In the 21st century, some job seekers don’t fully appreciate the fact that automated hiring processes are more common than ever and many resumes and job applications are screened by an automated process before getting to a human being to review.

These screenings are keyword-based, which means the job description will have certain buzzwords that the automated review process is programmed to screen for.

If your resume isn’t tailored to match the keywords found in the job ad, your chances of getting an interview aren’t as good. You will likely have to submit a revised resume for every job you apply for to keep up with these screening tools. Don’t expect to fire-and-forget one generic resume, this is a losing strategy in the modern job market.

Here are some tips for writing a resume without the help of another person:

• Look at the most current resumes for people in your field who are working the kinds of jobs you want. Study these resumes and copy their approach.
• Do some homework on the most current hiring practices and resume screening procedures.
• Look up your old colleagues and see who has transitioned into a civilian career. What do their resumes say? What do your contacts say about how to get hired on the outside?
• Pare down your resume to the most relevant work experience related to the job you want. Don’t bother listing the fast food jobs, the non-technical jobs (when applying for tech jobs), or other unrelated work experience unless it is somehow directly relevant. For example, if you worked in management in an unrelated field, that management experience is important to show.
• Create a professional e-mail address to use in your job search.
• When translating military experience to civilian job markets, put yourself in the shoes of the hiring manager and ask yourself how you can describe your skills in a way that people with absolutely zero military experience can understand.
• Remember that all your leadership training, on-the-job training, management training, and field training are all valuable professional education and that education should be reflected on your resume where your management skills and training are showcased.

Employment And Social Media

Military members are used to having good discipline with the use of social media, but it may be tempting to become less so once you transition out of a life in uniform.

But don’t give in to the temptation to be too casual with your social media use. Many employers will look at your profiles and if you are interested in working in a sector that requires a security clearance, it’s best to assume that your military social media discipline should never be given a rest.

But social media isn’t just a liability in your job hunt – it can also become PART of your job hunt thanks to regionalized social media pages on Facebook and elsewhere.

Facebook job posts may appear in forums relevant to the careers you seek. Some are specifically dedicated to posting jobs, others may be networking sites that include job posts as a benefit of participation.

In any case, don’t underestimate the power of social media to help–or hurt–a job hunt. The ever-shifting landscape of online platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook mean what was useful (or useless) yesterday may be quite different tomorrow. Use social media at your own risk, but definitely use it to get an advantage on your job search.

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Joe Wallace is a 13-year veteran of the United States Air Force and a former reporter for Air Force Television News

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Soft Skills are skills or qualities that can be classified as personality traits or habits and include communication skills, personal relations, even integrity.

There are many soft skills you learn or enhance while serving. Starting in Basic Training, through technical school, on-the-job training, or AIT, and into the service member’s chosen career field, soft skills are required but can be hard to quantify…at first.

Examples Of Important Soft Skills

Any training environment will either require or help you learn the use of soft skills. It’s important to recognize that skills require practice to develop. No one is born knowing how to communicate, compromise, or adapt. These must be learned, and the learning process is a lifetime one.

Highly sought-after soft skills in any workplace, military or not, include:

• Communication
• Teamwork
• Dependability
• Adaptability
• Conflict resolution
• Flexibility
• Leadership
• Problem-solving
• Conflict resolution
• Research
• Creativity
• Work ethic
• Integrity

When you enlist, you put yourself in a position to quickly develop some soft skills in the training environment. It does not matter whether you enter basic training as a new Soldier, Sailor, Airman, Marine, Coast Guard member, Reservist, or as a member of the National Guard. Basic Training requires you to learn to adapt, communicate, and work as a team.

Many of these soft skills are not things that can be broken down into formal training. Others can be taught but require experience with the skills to truly learn.

You can teach someone to be a better communicator by showing them the need to be clear, direct, and to the point. You may not experience developing a work ethic in the same way.

Translating Soft Skills To Your Civilian Career

The difficulty some transitioning service members have when leaving military life involves how to bring the soft skills learned in uniform into a differently-structured work environment.

In the military, your mission is determined “above your pay grade”, and your marching orders come down from your major command, your theater commander, your base commander, unit commander, etc.

Feedback may be solicited the same as in the private sector, but that feedback is understood to be supplementary and not necessarily a deciding factor in how to structure a mission or task.

On the outside, however, there may be much discussion, disagreement, contention, or excessive time spent on details those used to military life might find…more inconsequential (at least at first). This is one area where your soft skills learned in the military will face a major challenge.

It can be difficult to translate the skills you gain in the military environment if you expect your new workplace to operate under the same chain of command procedures you were used to in your old job. It will take more patience than some realize to learn how to use soft skills in these very different working conditions.

Those who are not used to the rigors of military life may disregard core competencies and best practices you took for granted in uniform.

Veterans often experience frustration in adapting their skills (soft or otherwise) in environments where being on-time, on budget, and on mission don’t carry the same priority or level of urgency.

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How To Develop Soft Skills

Some of the advice you’ll find on developing soft skills includes taking online courses, and there are some good examples of training that focuses on soft skills. One agency called edX (founded by Harvard and MIT) includes an actual professional certification program in soft skills.

Getting feedback in the workplace is a good way to evaluate and develop your soft skills. In your next employee feedback session you can always mention that you want to improve a set of skills in this area. Showing your supervisor you are interested in learning more than the specific technical aspects of your job can go a long way toward both your learning experience and your career.

One area sometimes overlooked by those who want to improve communication, empathy, and personal integrity? The wealth of online information about Human Resources (HR) issues. Believe it or not, studying topics relevant to HR can help you get a better understanding of interpersonal issues in the workplace.

The same skills needed to navigate a sexual harassment complaint or a workplace accessibility issue can be very helpful in other areas in the office.

Some things are best learned in a safe environment with a friend. Do you need to learn how to negotiate? Practicing with a trusted friend or room mate is one way to overcome the fear of haggling with another person.

Those who fear negotiations likely have little first-hand experience with them. Practice does indeed make perfect.

Advice On Using Soft Skills You Learn In The Military: Communication

Communicating in the workplace means finding a way to navigate a diverse group of attitudes, opinions, sensitivities, and needs. It’s not enough in today’s workplace to effectively communicate your ideas, plans, or goals.

What SHOULD happen? Considering how your communication may affect any number of other areas including how others perceive your attitudes toward them based on the substance of your words.

In the military, the phrase “embrace the suck” and terms similar to it indicate a corporate culture that asks its members to minimize complaints and work on how the team can overcome obstacles.

But try saying “embrace the suck” to a brand new co-worker who is used to an office culture where elevated levels of complaining are the norm. It won’t take long to learn that things can work very differently outside the Army, Navy, Air Force, etc.

All the newcomer hears is the type of discussions actively discouraged in the old work environment. All the experienced employee is likely to hear from the newbie saying “embrace the suck” is a kind of inflexibility or rules-based orientation that may be unwelcome from a stranger.

Context is very important, and porting over aspects of your past office culture may not be suitable on the outside.

Flexibility

If you are reporting to a new job (even if you are still serving in the military) it’s best to approach your new job with an attitude of flexibility–you may not be given a choice when it comes to dealing with certain types of workplace instability.

It may be best to survey your environment and figure out areas where you may be asked to broaden your horizons, try new things, work with people with backgrounds or cultures you are unfamiliar with, work on jobs other than your own assigned work, etc.

Learning how to be flexible has a lot to do with empathy in some cases. How does it make others feel if you can’t compromise or meet someone in the middle to achieve common goals? Learning both flexibility and empathy can be quite valuable in any career field.

Teamwork

Teamwork is one soft skill quickly learned in the military. Remember what it took to help you understand what it means to function as the member of a team? Do you remember feeling lost and clueless before sorting all that out?

Those with more teamwork experience bring a valuable skill indeed to any workplace, but your teamwork skills don’t mean much if you can’t put yourself in another person’s situation and see the work through their eyes.

Remember that the least experienced person can greatly benefit from your teamwork skills, while contemplating that it’s also good to remember that all team members have something to bring to the job. You can learn just as much from the least experienced worker as you can from the most experienced.

The key is to recognize HOW to learn from these people and what to do with that information.

Integrity

Why does integrity get mentioned in a list of soft skills? Because whether expressly stated in a job ad, interview, or hiring meeting, personal and business integrity is a valuable thing.

Ask any defense contractor how they feel about Edward Snowden or any other American accused of espionage and you’re likely to get an earful about someone’s views on personal integrity. Regardless of who you agree with in that arena it’s an important reminder that employers consider your integrity to be an important part of the hiring process.

You aren’t likely to be asked if you have high levels of integrity. But you will be asked how your personal philosophy affects your work, and many consider this to be the same thing.

What some don’t consider when thinking about personal integrity is that the military provides important signifiers. Your security clearance, for example, is a kind of testament to the integrity you bring to your job.

Those with clearances have been investigated and reviewed with the final decision on whether you get a clearance or not depending on a variety of factors–including integrity. It’s a good thing to remember when you are looking for ways to show an employer you can be trusted.

Planning And Problem Solving

In military circles, it’s generally understood that planning is subject to change. “The fog of war” is a telling favorite phrase among military planners; it acknowledges that random forces and other factors may conspire to ruin a good plan and anticipates this accordingly.

But in the civilian world you may run into people who have never truly planned anything by comparison to how military missions are conducted. In situations like these, it’s just as important to know how to manage expectations and anticipate objections as it is knowing how to assemble a plan and carry it out.

Some will resist a veteran’s seemingly genetic need to plan things out in detail. Others will value this skill for what it is. The big job of the veteran in these cases is to pick battles carefully, choose the “right hill to die on” when it comes to standing your ground on a particular planning issue, and knowing when to be more flexible and willing to meet others halfway.

Anticipating the fog of war, even where no war exists, is one of the most important parts of developing your planning and problem solving skills.

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Joe Wallace is a 13-year veteran of the United States Air Force and a former reporter for Air Force Television News

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Believe it or not, it is common for some military members to accept off-duty employment whether assigned to a stateside base or an overseas tour. Off-duty employment is regulated, and service members are required to observe these regulations regardless of where they take a second job and the nature of that employment.

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Off-Duty Employment: Regulated At Four Levels

It’s not as simple as applying for a second job and letting your supervisor know about your new commitment. There are four layers of regulations that may factor into when, how, and what kinds of off-duty employment are permitted.

Just to be clear, what follows is written assuming the reader understands they must ask permission via the chain of command before accepting any off-duty employment. We’ll cover those procedures near the end of the article.

Department of Defense-Level Regulations—The DoD has specific policies in place that address off-duty employment, second jobs for military members, etc. These guidelines can usually be found via .gov official sites.

Command-Level or Theater-Level Regulations—There may be regulations established by the major command or regional command that service members must adhere to when considering a second job. These regulations may be published and available in your unit orderly room or via your First Sergeant, Command Sergeant Major, Senior Chief, etc.

Unit-Level Policies—Individual unit commanders may implement policies that add to those mentioned above. These rules should be published and available at the local level no matter where you might be assigned.

Supervisor/Employee Policies—In the military, your supervisor may require you to request permission to apply for a second job, and in some cases you may not be permitted to have a second job or even apply for education benefits if you have not spent enough time in service yet.

These four layers make the whole off-duty employment issue seem far more complicated than it may actually be, since the four levels start by taking their cues from the federal guidelines and working down.

At the unit level you are likely to be informed of the larger off-duty job policies of the command level and how any local guidelines factor into the process.

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Why Would A Commander, Section Chief, or Supervisor Deny Off-Duty Employment?

There are many reasons why off-duty employment may be denied. Not all of them have to do with the suitability of the job. Working in a head shop or “glass water pipe shop,” for example, is not something most service members are likely to be approved to do.

Concerns over security clearances (depending on the job), and a temporary duty schedule that has the unit traveling frequently may also be factors in being denied an off-duty job.

Off-Duty Employment May Be Denied Due To Not Enough Time In Service

You read that correctly. Some new recruits want to apply for side jobs once they get out of basic training and technical training, AIT, or other career field training centers. But they soon learn that their on-the-job training requirements in the earliest days of their new military careers don’t allow for distractions like second jobs.

Some units, commands, or even major commands have policies that cover when it’s appropriate to let a new soldier or sailor apply for off-duty education, second jobs, etc.

These rules usually center around the training requirements which must be met by someone at their very first military base assignment and how long it takes to bring the newcomer on board.

Off-Duty Employment May Be Denied Due To Local Sensitivities

Stateside, you might be surprised to learn that a military member is denied a side job working in a bar, in a high tech facility, or even at a college campus.

But overseas, the rules are a LOT different. In some parts of the world, bars are used as recruiting zones by foreign agents, would-be terrorists, and those with political motivations that include closing U.S. bases overseas.

A base commander would likely put such establishments (the ones deemed to be a high security risk in such cases) off-limits, which effectively ends any employment possibilities at such an establishment.

There are other concerns. In some parts of the world, student protests against American military interests are common.

An American military member trying to get a job on a college campus in such an environment may find that the base commander won’t authorize such employment due to the risks of such protests and what the presence of an American military member working on campus might do to complicate things.

Off-Duty Employment May Be Denied Due To Conflict Of Interest Or The Appearance Of One

Federal regulations state that federal employees such as members of the United States military “cannot endorse a product or company in connection with their military service.” That’s a quote from the Air Force official site, AF.mil and its publication, Ethics 101 – Off-Duty Employment.

But product endorsement isn’t the only kind of conflict of interest. Suppose a military member decides to pursue off-duty work that involves a multi-level marketing program such as Shaklee, Nu Skin, etc.

These programs encourage participants to market to their friends, family, and co-workers. But higher-ranking soldiers, sailors, and airmen are not permitted to solicit to their lower-ranking co-workers in the workplace or off-duty.

The appearance of impropriety in such cases includes the possibility of favoritism (giving better reviews or treatment to subordinates who have done business with the higher-ranking member) or pressure from the senior military member to buy, participate, etc.

The bottom line here is that off-duty employment can’t violate federal rules that keep the supervisor/supervisee relationship from becoming compromised.

Conflicts Of Interest: “One Hand Washes The Other”

Another area of conflict of interest? Getting hired in a side-job that turns into you being asked to be an ambassador of that company to the federal government.

For example, imagine getting hired at Boeing to do part-time database work when your supervisor at the part-time job asks you to “put in a good word” with your base’s contracting department for an upcoming bid.

This is an area that can create huge headaches for all involved, and it may not become an issue until you’ve been working at a side job for a while. But if such a scenario did arise, that would be an indication that the military member needs to terminate such employment for the good of their own military career.

Conflicts Of Interest, Part Two

Some (not all) side job considerations are dependent on whether or not the off-duty employment is too similar to the military member’s duties in uniform. Some commands restrict the number of hours certain personnel can work off-duty.

One good example? Certain Air Force medical personnel are allowed no more than 16 hours of off-duty employment in the medical field.

The Army official site (Army.mil) gives an example from Anniston Army Depot’s guidelines for outside employment:

“Employees cannot accept an outside job that creates a conflict of interest with their position at Anniston Army Depot. In general terms, this means employees may not work for an outside employer on a matter they work on here.”

This is not always the case. Military public affairs specialists have moonlighted as radio announcers, newspaper photographers, or voice talent even when they spend time in uniform doing the same things. In those cases, much depends on the guidance at the unit level or command level.

Still another tricky area for military members looking for a side hustle? The federal rules prohibiting non-official use of government resources including data for non-official business. You cannot use government computers, cell phones, email lists, or other resources to work a side job.

You also cannot perform off-duty employment at the same time you perform your military duties. The federal government, in general. considers your time in uniform on the job as a federal resource and that time is regulated as such where off-duty employment is concerned.

No Double-Dipping Allowed 

Federal guidelines prohibit a military member from accepting a second job as a federal employee. This is due to the 24/7 on-call nature of military service, and there IS an exception for those who are on their final leave (terminal leave) before their final out processing date or their estimated time to separation.

Furthermore, military members cannot be paid (above their basic military pay and allowances processed as usual) for performing official business.

That means you cannot accept pay from a third party for doing something you were required to do as part of your military duty. Federal law states that no federal employee can receive “any salary or contribution to or supplementation of salary from any source other than the United States as compensation for services as a government employee.”

Some Pastimes And Hobbies May Be Considered Employment

Some hobbies may require approval from your chain of command, especially if they involve social media, blogging, etc. The bottom line here is that depending on whether or not you are paid or compensated in some form for the activities, and whether said activities have the potential to run contrary to the military member’s duties as a government employee.

No off-duty employment is allowed if it is deemed to conflict with military duty.

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How To Apply For Off-Duty Employment

Because there are several branches of military service, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for applying for an off-duty job. But thanks to the chain of command, there’s an easy way to get started. Simply discuss your needs with your immediate supervisor and ask what paperwork is required to start the approval process.

It’s recommended to come to your supervisor without having made any commitments to a side job. If you are trying to beat the clock on an anticipated hire date you may be very disappointed depending on how long it takes your chain of command to act on your request.

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Joe Wallace is a 13-year veteran of the United States Air Force and a former reporter for Air Force Television News

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