Michael Del Vecchio ⋅ Killingworth, CT U.S. Army, Staff Sergeant ⋅ 3 years served

Hi

I would start by contacting retained search job placement firms in a position area that interests you, and see where those conversations lead. Contact the reference librarian at your local library for assistance or look here for some ideas http://www.heidrick.com/.

Take care, best of luck.

Michael Sirmon ⋅ Springfield, MO MD-Kinney ⋅ 30 years experience

Michael, let me start by saying “Thank you for your service”. I’ve been right where you are and found the transition of my military experience into an equivalent civilian occupation to be extremely challenging. As has been pointed out in a previous response most of the employers you will meet have no concept of what your duties entailed, even after you break it out in great detail like you have done.

For me the question isn’t about communicating your direct experience as much as it is about detailing and showing your leadership abilities and ability to manage details without a formal SOP. Every corporation needs quality leadership which is readily available in the military. However, I have worked with many veterans to help them transition into the civilian environment and have found all of them have struggled with adjusting to a world where individuals won’t necessarily blindly follow orders. This has been especially true for officers. Enlisted seem to struggle more where they perceive a lack of hard and fast rules,

If interviewing you, I would look for a fit in operations management possibly in a logistics area OR project management but would look specifically for the details of how you handled the military operations and ability to lead by influence rather than simply relying on authority.

Neil Serafin ⋅ Easthampton, MA Telecommunications ⋅ 40 years experience

Hi Michael. Managing people and hardware is what Corporate America does, sometimes not well. 2015 America: The obvious- You cannot give your warehouse person an Article 15 for showing up late four days in a row. Employees do not take orders well. They will just quit or try to sue if you do give them orders. The directors and executives that will hire you have virtually no connection with the military. The do not understand what you have been doing well for years. To them, the military is something they see in the movies. I have managed people and hardware in many countries for years. The hardware, when used correctly manages itself. People are hard to manage when they have interests that can damage your bottom line profitability. The DOD has no concept of bottom line profitability. That is not their mission statement. Profitability is the big difference between your world now and what you will manage later in the corporate world.

Just a side comment: Your military experience would make you a natural for the position of site acquisition of cell telephone sites.

Heather Gillbanks ⋅ Houston, TX General Electric ⋅ 26 years experience

Hi Michael - I probably see more confusion about the term "Operations" than any other, on both sides of this discussion. Logistics is not the same as supply, etc. I would say, given the wonderfully clear explanation of your actual duties, above, you would categorize yourself into 2 possible "buckets" in the Civilian world:
1) Facilities management (this would cover the "housing for the troops, equipment needed, training areas. make sure the landholders know we are coming. I brief my commander on what is going on operationally")
2) Training Program coordinator (covers all the rest). Such a role typically resides within the Human Resources function, but some companies have a separate Training function, so you will need to ask. :)

Thanks for your service, and good luck. Training is a fun field!