Military Employment Transition in the News!

Two great articles hit major publications today. Both the New York Times and Wall Street Journal feature articles about the military employment transition process.

From the Wall Street Journal...

For U.S. troops returning from overseas, personal-finance issues can be a sobering part of homecoming.

Nearly 150,000 service members returned from Iraq and Afghanistan last year, and 35,000 more came home from Afghanistan in the first two months of 2012, according to the Defense Department

"It's a feel-good moment, but it's also a time of adjustment," says Brenda Linnington, director of the Better Business Bureau's Military Line, a program covering consumer issues for service members. For reunited families, and young couples especially, desires to celebrate or make a big purchase can collide with realities such as reduced income and increased expenses.

Recognizing the challenges its personnel face, the military provides financial counseling for troops both before and after deployment in combat, though it doesn't say how many service members seek such assistance.

The article in the New York Times focuses on retired military officers recreating themselves as university professors. It's a really fascinating look at a unique career path.

Click to read more ...

Holiday Mail for Heroes

The Red Cross is working with Pitney Bowes, a mail stream technology company, to collect and distribute holiday cards to American service members, veterans and their families in the United States and around the world.

The process is very simple and takes no time at all - All you need is a pen and piece of paper to share your appreciation for the sacrifices members of the U.S. Armed Forces make to protect our freedoms The Holiday Mail for Heroes mail box is open and ready to receive for your cards. Please send all mail to:

Holiday Mail For Heroes
P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456

Sending a “touch of home” to American men and women who serve our country is the perfect way to express your appreciation and support during the holiday season.

Understanding Your Military Spouse’s Career Transition

To help make sense of their career transition, we teach individuals to think of their process as planting a garden. Tending a garden is no easy task, but can reap great rewards and personal satisfaction. But before the would-be gardener can think about the harvest, he or she has to decide. “Am I going to do this, or am I not?” A “yes” answer to this question means that the person has taken the first step in the transition process, and begun to change his or her mindset. In many ways the earlier a person answers this question, the better. That’s because when people come to us early, they have more of an opportunity to really take the whole process in small steps. Taking small, purposeful steps enables them to wrap their heads around each little piece of the process to make the transition a smooth one.

It’s also important to note that just because your spouse has only recently decided to begin his or her transition process doesn’t mean that he or she can’t make a successful transition. It simply means that, because they will leave the military in a short period of time, they may have a few more stumbles along the way because they haven’t been able to really think through and get their heads wrapped around each little piece of his or her transition.

What to Expect in the Beginning
Now, returning to our garden metaphor, if your spouse has decided to transition out of the military you have to start making the next decisions: where to put the garden and what to plant. In other words, “Where do I want to put down my roots?” The answers to these questions - and the ones that follow - will help your spouse move forward comfortably and confidently by breaking the process into manageable steps.

Making it Through the Sometimes-Difficult Middle
Of course, choosing where to put down roots, and knowing skills and talents that your spouse can utilize are essential to the start of a successful transition, but now your spouse will have to “turn up the dirt.” What we mean by that is the networking and the informational interviewing part of the process. Next, comes the “planting of the seeds.” Essentially, this means your spouse will need to get out there and talk to people - network. Any good garden needs water and fertilizer, so your spouse should expect to talk to a lot of people, often. This is the part that can become discouraging. Your spouse will have some doors closed on him or her. It’s nearly unavoidable. But over time, as he or she talks to more potential employers and continues to network - more water for the garden – he or she will suddenly start to get feedback. And feedback is exactly what you want.

Key Take-Aways

• More time often means greater success for career change transitions
• Break the transition process into smaller pieces and work on them individually
• Network, network, network. You never know how you’ll find the next opportunity
• Be prepared for setbacks, and turn them into useful events by gathering feedback to apply to later interviews or meetings
• Take the time to find the right opportunity, which isn’t always the first one to come your way

Personal and Professional Resources for Military Spouses

In addition to providing coaching and consulting services to members of the military, we also proudly support military spouses in their personal and professional endeavors, as well! For many spouses, the skills they learn and talents that they develop during their time as a military spouse makes them an extremely great "catch" for employers. As such, we've developed whitepapers specifically with the military spouse in mind.

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Understanding Your Military Spouse's Career Transition: A Big-Picture Review of the Military to Civilian Transition Process

When a member of the military – in particular someone who has served for quite some time and has made the military a focal point of their life in so many ways – begins to contemplate a life away from the military, that person goes through a very real change of mindset.

And that change of mindset often means the person is now beginning to make decisions about what he or she wants to do and where they would like to take their life. This whitepaper is designed to help military spouses know what to expect as their partner makes the leap from a military to civilian career.

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In addition to our resources, another FANTASTIC source of information, inspiration and guidance is the Military Spouse Blogging Community. Created by Ann Marie of Household 6 Diva, the community is a fabulous resource and you are guaranteed to find a military spouse blog on a topic of your interest.

Jumpstart Your Career Transition! The Jumpstart Session is designed to give you the feedback, advice, guidance and confidence that you need to succeed in your career transition. What’s more, the Jumpstart Session is priced at an affordable $149. A limited number of Jumpstart Sessions are available. BOOK YOUR SESSION TODAY!