Alicia Shevetone ⋅ San Diego, CA Miller Heiman Group ⋅ 20 years experience

Major Roberts,

The other advisors have given great advice.

I'd think about identifying some companies where you'd like to work - perhaps government contractors who would sincerely prize your years of service and insider's view. Maybe consider Kratos, General Atomics, SAIC, or Northrop Grumman. Once you have some companies in mind, perform detailed queries in LinkedIn, by company, and begin sending invitations to connect to executives in the specific departments that interest you.

When you receive confirmation that someone has accepted your invitation, access their LinkedIn profile, and see if you can retrieve their email address (under Contact Information). If so, email them with a short, succinct message that you are a veteran seeking information about their role, in hopes of competing for a position in their department. Attach your resume to the email. If you are unable to obtain their email address, use the Message functionality within LinkedIn and send a comparable message as to reason for your outreach.
The executive will likely point you to the company's Careers page, telling you to check the website for openings. Be firm. Respond with genuine thanks, but indicate that you hope to have a conversation to learn more about the company's culture, values, and strategic objectives, to better equip you for future interviews. If they still refuse to meet, seek a referral - if they are not the right person, whom would they suggest you contact next, if your roles were reversed?

If you do land a conversation, request 30 minutes, but do not make any immediate plans thereafter. If your conversation is going well, the executive may stay on the phone and keep talking beyond the allotted time. Do your homework before the call. Look at the executive's profile on LinkedIn. What do you have in common? Have at least 5 questions prepared in advance. They should be strategic questions, with the goal of identifying the executive's level of influence and hiring authority, as well as their suggestions for next steps. If your opportunity seems fruitless at their company, keep in touch monthly to see if anything has changed on their end.

I followed this exact method when seeking a new career last summer. It was a significant time investment, typically 15-20 hours per week. By the time I ended up with the position I’d be searching for, I had contacted nearly 200 people over a 4-month period. Leverage the same tenacity that shepherded you through your military career, and you can achieve great results.

With honor and respect,
Alicia Shevetone

Kit Lancaster ⋅ Chicago, IL GCG Financial ⋅ 5 years experience

Great question. You need connectors. Most people are not interested in listening to you and making introductions to further your understanding and gather perspective. What do you want to accomplish? What makes you happy? I have a play book I’m happy to share. It will help you ask the right questions and build a network to create opportunities.

Let’s find time to connect by phone in the next week or two. 312-344-0999

Carlos Castillo ⋅ Fort Drum, NY U.S. Army, Private First Class ⋅ 6 years served

Hi Scott, could you elaborate more about what is most important to you in return from networking? What are some groups in which you may be interested? Career path?

Focusing in the group will help magnify where to seek the best available resources to network.

Stephanie Arnold ⋅ Lake Odessa, MI Cargill ⋅ 10 years experience

Hi Scott,

Thank you for your service and congratulations on your recent retirement!

You have some great questions and from the looks of it, some great responses already. One thing I would add to this conversation is the suggestion of locating and attending some local SHRM-chapter meetings (http://shrm.org/communities/shrmchapters/pages/default.aspx). The topics may be a little more "HR-y" than you might personally be interested in, however, you'll be sitting amongst many local-to-you HR professionals and hiring managers. These are the people who are keenly aware of job openings and definitely the people with whom you will want to network! It's a resource many people don't usually thing of when they consider networking opportunities.

Best of luck and please let me know if you would like help locating a SHRM chapter!

Stephanie Arnold

Joe Paschall ⋅ Madison, AL nLogic, LLC ⋅ 26 years experience

Scott,

This makes for a good discussion. Like many transitioners, you appear to have found a "good enough" job to keep the family income stable but you are not at a level of technical/managerial challenge that will keep you stimulated long-term and at your relative youthful age still have another 20 years to contribute to the workforce so have a desire to grow into new challenges. Now that you have the immediate stressor taken care of you have a stable platform to more methodically plot your next move. Honestly, I have always said the Transition should be considered a multiphase event for those aspiring to a new career because most of us are able to grow into new opportunities once we adjust to the new environment. Here is what I would advise, under the assumption that your best avenue of growth is toward the business management side of Defense Contracting:

1. As mentioned above, join a few select LI Groups that you can actively participate in. Choose groups associated with actual local professional orgs if possible to provide the best segue to F2F networking. Try the PMI, ISSA, AFCEA, and AFA Chapters for your local area.

2. Join the actual local professional group chapters (PMI, etc). Attend meetings & luncheons and network. Volunteer when there are open positions (I eventually found myself as PMI Chapter Pres and found that level of interaction very useful for networking at a different level).

3. Pursue relevant certifications (PMI's PMP for starters). The process of pursuing a cert thru a local org will put you in natural networking scenario with many similarly-aspiring PM Candidates.

4. Join a local org like Toastmasters, Rotary or Chamber of Commerce to put yourself into networks of other folks outside the Defense Industry. These contacts can be mutually-beneficial in the long run.

5. Give Back. Volunteer with a local veterans' org, church, TAP Class and/or assist as a mentor with a Veterans Transitioner Group on LI (I recommend both VMN and MC4). Engage and help as you can.

You may see a theme in that real networking is what you do to assist others when you are not trying to get something yourself. However, efforts like the above are precisely what I have done myself of the past 6 years since taking off the uniform and moving to a new area where I knew no one. It works.

Joe

David Walker ⋅ Bella Vista, AR ISG ⋅ 14 years experience

Scott,
I would start simple. I think Linkedin is a great resource when used correctly. I would suggest veterans look for mentors and advisers from pages like this and send them a connection on LinkedIn. This will give them access to a larger group of professionals. It will also create another avenue for them to speak to advisers about specific job functions and career choices. I would also suggest becoming part of the “Groups” on Linkedin. For example, I am part of many retail groups as that is what I am interested in. I use them to keep up to date with what is going on in the industry and also to connect with other professionals in my chosen career.
David.