Transitioning from military to civilian life can be a challenging journey, often filled with fear and anxiety due to the unknowns and the daunting statistics about veteran unemployment and underemployment. However, it's essential to remember that this new chapter also presents opportunities, unexpected helping hands and fulfilling surprises. Here's a rewritten version of your text, breaking down the key points and providing crucial tips for veterans navigating the civilian job market:
Challenges and Statistics:
- Unemployment: As of October 2024, the veteran unemployment rate was 3.0%, compared to 4.1% for non-veterans (U.S. Department of Labor).
- Underemployment: Veterans tend to leave their initial post-service jobs faster than non-veterans, with 57% staying longer than two and a half years, compared to 42.5% of non-veterans (Zip Recruiter and Call of Duty Endowment study).
- Job Search Skills: Many veterans struggle with translating their military skills into meaningful resumes and navigating civilian job interviews.
Key Tips for Veterans' Job Search Strategy:
- Manage Fear: Acknowledge and accept fear as a natural human response, but don't let it consume you. Remember the challenges you've overcome in your military career, and approach this transition with the same resilience.
- Take Control: Shift from taking orders to driving your career. Be proactive in shaping your new chapter, as this might feel counterintuitive after military service.
- Seek Help: Leverage military benefits for job training, career coaching, networking, and therapy. Utilize available resources to support your transition and increase self-awareness.
- Check Your Ego: Understand that civilian jobs may differ from military roles in purpose and camaraderie. Recalibrate your sense of purpose and be open to new experiences.
- Start Now: Regardless of where you are in your transition timeline, begin applying a strategy to your job search efforts. Build good habits, foster connections, and cultivate self-awareness.
Proactive Steps for Transition:
- Self-Awareness: Continuously develop a strong sense of self to form and voice your opinions, shaping your vision for your career and life.
- Skill Development: Build transferable skills such as navigating conflict, collaborating, presenting, working with AI, and understanding civilian sector business savvy.
- Networking: Join private-sector clubs, sports teams, or hobbies to connect with non-military individuals authentically. Maintain connections with those you served within the military.
- Emotional Health: Address emotional well-being and practice positivity during your transition. Embrace the different workplace cultures and collaborative environments in the civilian sector.
- Balance Formality: Adapt to the less formal communication and leadership styles in civilian workplaces, embracing collaboration and respectful pushback.
Embrace the Journey:
Approach this transition as an exciting adventure, despite the challenges and mental toughness required. Remember that you've navigated the military experience and will successfully navigate this new chapter as well. Stay open to the opportunities, helping hands, and surprises that come your way.
Thank you for your service, sacrifice, and continued ingenuity. With the right mindset and proactive strategies, you can successfully transition into a fulfilling civilian career.
Many veterans who’ve started small businesses tell a similar story: Their military service prepared them mentally for the task, but they were at a disadvantage when it came to the financial part.
“Vetrepreneurs” – veterans that start small businesses or startups -- own nearly 2 million small businesses that employ 5.5 million people in the U.S., according to the Small Business Administration. They take in about $1.3 trillion in revenue annually. Their numbers have shrunk, however, as the veteran population has aged. In a 2023 report, the SBA found veteran ownership declined from 11% of businesses in 2014 to 8.1% in 2020.
Veterans enter the business world prepared with skills they gain in the field like leadership and problem-solving. But they haven’t had a chance to build up credit or savings that civilians have had more time to do. That can cause problems because banks use that information to approve loans. Not to mention the mental toll it takes to transition from military life to civilian life.
According to data from business coaching nonprofit SCORE, about a third of veteran businesses have limited access to capital or lack of financing. That compares to a quarter of non-veteran-owned firms.
SCORE CEO Bridget Weston says the good news is that veterans have plenty of places to turn to for help. Those include nonprofit organizations aimed at getting them on their feet and building up financial literacy, veteran-only loans and grants, and contracts earmarked for veteran-owned and disabled veteran-owned small businesses.
The place that many start is the Small Business Administration, which offers a program to get certified as a veteran-owned or disabled veteran-owned small business, which can make it easier to get certain loans and federal contracts.
That’s the route Jackson Dalton decided to take when he started Black Box Safety, a maker of personal protective equipment, in 2017. Dalton enlisted in the U.S. Marines in 2000 and was selected for the prestigious Marine Corps Special Operations. But a badly broken leg, suffered during training, eventually forced him medically retire after two years of active duty.
Although the transition back to civilian life was difficult, Dalton went on to get a master’s degree in public health and spent 10 years working in the health and safety industry. When he ventured out on his own, he decided to focus on federal contracts and got certified by the SBA. He thought prisons would be a good place to start since 3% of their contracts go to disabled veteran businesses. His first contract was selling gloves to a prison in Minnesota. Today, he serves major clients like the Department of Veterans Affairs and the State of California.
Dalton credits his military training with his success.
“The skills and attributes that I picked up in the military were resilience and grit and the ability to adapt, improvise, overcome when you know when encountering resistance or obstacles and barriers,” he said.
Veteran-focused nonprofits can be another key place to look for help.
Adam Isch, a Marine Corp. veteran who served two tours in Iraq, worked with the nonprofit Warrior Rising in Salt Lake City, to find a mentor to help him start his business, Isch Body Works in Fort Worth, Texas, which sells men’s hygiene products. The business donates part of its revenue to charities supporting Texas children in foster care and awaiting adoption. Similar nonprofits include Bunker Labs, Tactical Launch, and others around the country.
“Anybody who wants to start a business, especially a veteran, go find a group like Warrior Rising, there are all kinds of different groups like that getting mentorship,” he said. “There are people who are doing what you do. They’re doing what I do, and they love it and they want to talk about it.”
For some, a veteran-earmarked loan can be what makes or breaks a business. Elizabeth Gore, the co-founder and President of Hello Alice, a financial technology firm that works with small businesses on getting funding, including 117,000 military small business owners. “They have to really struggle more than other groups and demographics on access to capital,” she said.
John Griveas in Buffalo, N.Y. spent two years as a Navy Seal in the mid-1990s and his remaining four years in New York in the active reserves, ending his tenure in 2002. After that, he “bounced around” different jobs and spent 10 years in the local collections industry.
But in 2014 he met his current partner, Jackie, and decided her hobby of making all-natural dog treats could be a real business. They formed Fetch! Dog Treats as an LLC in 2015 and today they sell their treats at about 300 independently owned mom-and-pop brick-and-mortar stores, news shops, banks, and even the Venetian Hotel on the Las Vegas strip.
For himself and other veterans, he’s talked to, one of the biggest challenges they face is getting funds. He found a $10,000 grant via the FedEx Entrepreneur Fund, which partners with Hello Alice to give grants to small businesses owned by military veterans. It came at a pivotal time when his landlord decided to redevelop his space and gave him only a few months to find a new location.
“It was something that quite literally was going to end us,” he said. “And when that grant came through, it was literally a lifesaver for us.”
He advised other veterans to take advantage of veteran resources.
“There’s tons of resources out there,” he said. “Whatever it might be that you know, just helps you get through the day-to-day, because there’s a lot involved with running a business.”
@ziprecruiter Getting out of the military can be intimidating, but getting a great job doesn’t have to be. Your work ethic and skills will help you excel, so think about getting a job you enjoy! Follow us for more job ideas, search ‘UAV Drone Pilot’ for salary, career info, and sign up for ZipRecruiter to get invited to apply for jobs! Good luck to you! #ziprecruiterxdegreefree #veteranjobs #jobsforgets #jobtransition #careerchange #careerpivot #newjob ♬ original sound - ZipRecruiter