Learn more about best practices in
recruiting veteran and military job seekers by joining a Talent
Circles sponsored webinar on 2/13/14 at 9:00 PM PST. Click here to
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This post is part of a series that already
includes conversations with:
Chris Norton: Veterans are social and connected
Caleb Fullhart: An army recruiter changed my life forever
Arron Daniels: I
Can Knock It Out of the Park!
Rhonda Stickley started her second term as President of the DirectEmployers
Association (DE) in October 2013
and although focusing on technology, her heart is very close to an area where DE
is extremely active: Military/Veterans-related initiatives. These initiatives are designed to help the
Association’s members understand the importance of employing America’s veterans
and provide them with the information and resources they need.
The extent of training
and real-world experience of America’s Veterans is foreign to the vast majority
of employers. By meeting and
talking to Veterans, or simply reading about their experiences you will better
understand why Veterans' skills are often far easier to translate into civilian
jobs than commonly assumed.
Companies over the
years have learned to embrace diversity. Building up your Military Circle could
be part of your efforts. You will realize the value of hiring Veterans by
taking full measure of the level of responsibility that the Military ends up
giving to its recruits. Sometimes, it's astounding — as is demonstrated
profoundly in Rhonda's case.
Why
did you join the Military?
I volunteered during a time when there were
not a lot of women entering the military. I had started college and was not
enamored with working at minimum wage jobs to pay for College, so I went down
to the recruiter's office. I explored several opportunities in order to take
advantage of a program offered at that time called VEAP
(Veteran Educational Assistance Program) that would allow for both dollar
matching and up to full payment for your education based on the number of years
you committed. I had to take a number of exams and I tested very high, which
provided me with the opportunity to have the pick of which career field(s) I
would enter, and I chose to join the Military Police Corps (MP). I had some
requirements however: I wanted a “guarantee” for education dollars, my chosen
Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) – MP, and I also wanted to see the
world. They agreed, in writing, that
I would be stationed somewhere in Europe, that I would be a Military Police
Officer, and that my education would be paid for. They met all my requirements
and I joined. When I graduated from Basic Training and my Advanced Individual
Training (AIT) course (that is Military Police School), I became an active-duty
MP. I did my One Station Unit Training (OSUT) at Fort McClellan, Alabama.
What did you do?
In 1982 I was assigned to the 7th Army NATO
and I spent 3 years in Central Europe, based in Miesau,
Germany. I flew all over Europe as part of NATO and the initial deployment of
the Pershing II missiles
throughout Europe. While I was
there our unit was repeatedly on alert for the high amount of terrorism at the time
and we toggled between responding to those alerts and ensuring the safety of
our NATO sites. I flew on hundreds of missions with NATO using Boeing equipment
and though it did not seem like a big deal to me at the time, it was a lot of
responsibility for a 20 year old.
During my off hours I focused my attention on
taking classes at the local base through the University of Maryland. My
education gave me points towards promotion, which combined with my weapons
skills, being very active physically, and being very goal-oriented, allowed me
to be identified as someone with leadership potential early in my career. As a result, I moved quickly through the
ranks and a Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) or Sergeant/E-5 at the age of
21. With that promotion to
Sergeant, my responsibilities also increased and as a result, I was managing a platoon of 30 men and 3 women. While
stationed in Europe, I competed for and won the US Army, Europe and 7th
Army Battalion Soldier of the Quarter and a Schutzenhaus Medal for a M-60
machine gun competition between the US and German military. I attended advanced training in NATO Nuclear
Surety Management and when I was reassigned to the United States at Fort Lewis,
WA, I worked at the Battalion S-2 and Brigade G-2. My responsibilities centered on managing a team responsible
for the classified documents which directed the military operations of our unit.
While stationed at Ft Lewis, I was awarded an Army Achievement Medal for
meritorious service and selection as the 1986 Ft Lewis Non-Divisional, NCO of
the Year. This was the first time
the award had ever been presented to a female NCO. Because of my prior assignments with 7th Army and
NATO, I also had a Top Secret/Special Background Investigation (TS/SBI)
clearance. I was assigned to the
role in S-2/G-2 for approximate 18 months, then transferred within the
Battalion to plain clothes investigator, investigating crimes on base while
also performing the additional duty of Battalion Ethics Officer. I held this last role for a little more
than a year until I transitioned off active duty. I needed to make a decision to
stay in or get out and ultimately chose to leave active service and finish my
time in the reserves and Officer Candidate School.
How easy was it to get a civilian job?
For me, it ended up being quite easy. At the
time Boeing was hiring and I applied for a position they were unable to tell me
details about due to its classified nature, but I was ultimately hired. I
worked on a program that was called Project WILO. Part of the reason I was
hired was because I possessed the degree, skills and TS/SBI clearance level
required to work there. These clearances often take six months to a year to
obtain and they needed help immediately.
At the time it was a classified program and it was widely unknown to the
world what we were working on. Ultimately the project I was working on became
more commonly known as the B2 bomber program. Project WILO (What’s It Like
Outside) was named so because you had to go through several levels of security
to get in the building, and there were no windows. They were looking for someone
with my background, skills and security credentials, so I was fortunate to have
a level of responsibility in the workplace that aligned with what I had
experienced in the military. They
say luck is merely preparation and timing coming together, and I felt very
lucky to transition so quickly when many others did not.
Why do you think recruiters are so skittish
about hiring veterans? Are they afraid that Veterans, especially young Veterans
might be too difficult to manage because they had experienced a lot at a young
age? Is it ignorance?
I think it may be more just ignorance of what
veterans bring to the table because often times people don't have any
experience working directly with the military. They do not necessarily
understand the translation of skills. Products like the Military Crosswalk may help,
but it is truly a foreign experience for many recruiters. When you do not have and
understanding, context or shared experience to draw on, it's hard to imagine how
even the core skills that are learned in the military translate to a civilian
role. So when you don't know, it may be easier to stick to stereotypes drawn
from one bad experience or one story, or to the cliché that if you are in the
military, you are inflexible, a rule follower or unable to think independently. The truth is that the drills you go
through in the military are not the same as the drills you go through in the
work place. Soldier often have multiple responsibilities and many complex situations
simply become autonomic. Based on my firsthand experience I think, of course,
that a young military person has more ability to be flexible and adapt to
changing situations than someone who hasn't been in the military.
Corporations place a large value on what you've
learned. The reality is that it's not what you know; it's what you need to
know, which is always changing. It's about the ability to acquire knowledge
fast enough to move business forward and that's a different skill set than
checking a box saying "I went to ‘x’ university and got my 4-year degree in
‘y’." In the military everyone has to continue to learn and adapt. You may
not know something today, but you can and will learn it for whatever assignment
is next and continuous learning is key.
Many of our countries most prestigious
university and executive training programs come straight from the
military. Think of GE and their
leadership development program. Much of it was based on some of the learning
and development techniques used by the Military. For example, the GE Work-out
is a form of the military’s After-Action Review (AAR) process! Don't get
frozen! Adapt and grow!
Thanks, Rhonda, and as we spoke about the GE Work-out, I recommend
that you read a great book that was published over 10 years ago: The GE Work-out: How to Implement GE's
Revolutionary Method for Busting Bureaucracy and Attacking Organizational
Problems-Fast!
