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Veterans……Do You Know the Significance of Your Traditional Military Skills?

Military to Civilian Transition

Fellow Veterans and Transitioning Service Members! If you are ready to embark on your military transition, you may be unaware of the significance of your traditional military skills such as professionalism, leadership, confidence, positive attitude, communications and organizational skills. These are all highly desired by commercial companies. Know that many of these characteristics are crucial attributes for managers in the commercial settings.

The following skills are ingrained in service members and are highly "resumeable".

You are performance oriented – As a service member; lives depend on you. The outcomes are unwavering. You understand the challenge, therefore you get the job done.

You have been in the combat zone, you have learned how to stay calm and function under extreme pressures. Grace under fire is second nature to you – This skill will make some personnel and management calamities look trivial.

Effective communicators build teams. Teams accomplish goals and you know how to lead a team. You understanding team dynamics and its importance, enabling you to communicate and motivate.

Your experiential leadership lessons as a NCOIC, platoon leader, team leader, enable you to work in a hierarchical team-oriented environment. You know how to take orders. You also know how and when to give them.

You are self-aware and practice self-sacrifice. As a military leader, you watch out for your team first, often sacrificing and denying yourself. Servant-leadership is a popular term in the commercial world today. However, it is not always encountered in the Fortune 500.

You need to know how to describe and apply these skills to your resume. Further, you will want to discuss how your personal skills and capabilities will provide value to the interviewing organization. Take time to practice interviewing, so that you can relay and finesse the appropriate personal response to the questions that your future employers will ask.

Jay Hicks


If you are a veteran, service member preparing to transition from the service, employer or recruiter and found this article helpful, please 'Like' and ‘Share’ this post. Additionally, please leave your comments and questions below. If you would like to know more or help transitioning veterans, then email Jay@Gr8MilitaryPM.com or follow. Wishing you a Fast and Lucrative Transition. - Jay


Jay Hicks is an author, instructor and consultant with over 30 years of business and government planning and leadership. He advises commercial and federal organizations on the planning, development, and leadership of Project Management Organizations, delivering viability and value. With a special kinship for military personnel, Jay provides guidance on successful civilian career transition. He is the co-founder of Gr8Transition4U, where advocating the value of hiring military personnel is the key focus.

If you have comments or feedback about any article, please email your thoughts to info@acp-advisornet.org.

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