I've conceptualized and have founded Civilian Ready as the first civilian reboot camp transformation process for veterans that accelerates their new civilian identity and new civilian destiny by addressing three core areas:
1. Cultural Assimilation
2. Emotional Intelligence
3. Vocational Alignment
We're strategically moving to the left of the existing transition process to specifically address the pre-employment condition of "re-entry." We believe helping transitioning military, military spouses and veterans gain a baseline knowledge of the above - Civilian Ready On Day One is the long term employment and retention solution all veterans and employers have been looking for to close the gap.
I could use the community thought leadership on the following:
1. Fundraising as a new non-profit - connections and opportunities
2. Scalability and differentiating ourselves in a crowded market
3. Strategic insights on how to best leverage, both a non-profit and for profit approach
Thank you!
Answers
Deb...thank you for the very thoughtful response here. Great advice. Many of your insights and suggestions are spot on and have been actioned or in the process of being actioned in our early stage development.
We are focused on building a nucleus of core partners to help us complete the design and get to the "proof of concept" stage through a series of micro-pilots. We think addressing these 3 core issues in a blended learning approach as a bolt on to the left of the existing transition process is the long term employment and retention solution.
As in any pioneering effort, especially being the first to market, we have a lot to learn and believe we have the right strategy to help accelerate a veterans new civilian identity and new civilian destiny.
Thanks again for your contribution!
Eddie
Hi Eddie-
This is a great idea and much needed in terms of the “cultural assimilation” and “emotional intelligence” factors for transitioning successfully. Many vendors are offering “vocational alignment” services/products so I’d focus on differentiating yourself in the first two areas. Some other key differentiators to use in promoting your program:
- What are the quantifiable benefits to Veterans? Have you piloted the program and evaluated the results in terms of time to transition (i.e., land a civilian job), entry level (by position title or salary) for first civilian job, on-the-job performance (i.e., time to earn first promotion, performance evaluation ratings), etc.?
- What are the quantifiable benefits to employers? Will it improve retention rates of Veteran employees?
- Is your program tailored for maximum effectiveness across all Generational / Age Group Demographics of transitioning Veterans? I would think that various generations would have varying degrees of ease and/or difficulty in the cultural and emotional aspects of the transition.
- What methods of payment will you accept? Will your program accept VA benefits or grants (for companies)?
As far as market research, here are some thoughts:
- Have you identified targeted Veterans’ communities and training programs at the national and local levels of your targeted markets? (e.g., SBA’s Boots to Business, VA's Education and Career Counseling Program, USO Pathfinder, local installation TAP programs)
- Have you identified targeted “Veteran-friendly” Employers?
http://militaryfriendly.com/employers/
https://www.job-hunt.org/veterans-job-search/veteran-friendly-employers.shtml
https://www.militarytimes.com/education-transition/2017/05/15/best-for-vets-employers-2017/
- Have you done a competitive analysis? (e.g., Vets2PM.com – Extra TAP Class Mondays 1900 – translating military experience to obtain PMP certification, shift.org, DoD SkillBridge, etc.)
I hope this helps provide some ideas to move your program forward.
Good luck and keep me posted!
Thanks again-
Deb
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