Each year a significant number of veterans make the transition from the U.S. military to the civilian world.  A majority of the soldiers are not aware of the resources available to them to help ease that transition.

 

Career counselors do not need to be experts on the military in order to be effective with this population. They possess a wealth of resources available to them and to enlisted service members.

 

Counselors will encourage you to share your stories, describe your skills, and discuss your experiences in the military.  Career counselors can effectively help you further develop your self and occupational knowledge. Career counselors can then help you to consolidate what they know and help you to make career decisions in the civilian world.

 

Transitional Challenges:

Many of the developmental challenges civilian employees and civilian family’s factor into career choices including childcare, social networks, financial gains, and transportation, also apply to enlisted soldiers.

 

Another challenge not often considered is how frequent relocation while serving in the military might make it difficult to establish or to maintain civilian professional and social networks. Research has indicated that military personnel and their families move nearly twice as often as other Americans move. They also make international moves at 4 times the rate of civilian families. This somewhat nomadic tendency can sometimes make it hard to obtain the help necessary to establish a healthy and successful life once your time in the military has ended. Professional and social networks are often developed simply over the time spent in one location and are frequently used as a method of locating jobs. Therefore the frequent moves associated with military service might decrease the likelihood of an individual learning about specific career opportunities.

Things to consider:

 

·    Many enlisted service members are not participating in transition assistance workshops and, therefore, are not receiving task-based information on resume writing and job search strategies. It is important to keep in mind that many enlisted service members entered the military following high school graduation and have never experienced post graduation civilian work. Without previous civilian work experience, some enlisted service members re-enter the military without giving civilian life a chance. 

 

·      Many soldiers do not fully realize the psychological effects of service in wartime until they are out of the army. Often they feel fine until later when they begin to experience flashbacks and nightmares.  Many soldiers have confided that being alone was particularly difficult, and after making the transition would go to places like malls and diners just to be around people. Sudden noises or sharp movements, however, produced significant anxiety in many soldiers who left the military and entered civilian life. Few people can understand what it was like to transition from being with other soldiers 24 hours a day for 6 months to living alone and dealing with the memories of a war experience.

 

·      Many soldiers also experienced anger management problems in as little as 6 months after leaving the military. These uncontrollable emotions caused untold amounts of frustration and led to the end of many military marriages. 

 

Soldiers making the transition want a career that is stable, intellectual, and honorable.  They are not just looking for a paycheck today, but rather stability down the road. 

 

So with these obstacles preventing soldiers from moving forward, what can they do to overcome these obstacles and succeed in the civilian world?

 

The first step is to seek counsel that can help make the transition in the civilian world easier by tackling any emotional issues that may have developed.

 

 

Next, you need to:

·    Explore your interests and values and relate them to your career options.

 

·    Understand how your military training can translate into civilian jobs.

 

·    Know what you need financially in order to be comfortable, such as sufficient income and benefits to prepare for a stable future.

 

A counselor can help you create goals to ease the transition. They can help you outline activities, organize the time needed for each activity, and prioritize each activity.

 

Career counselors can assist enlisted service members in translating their experience into language that is attractive to civilian employers. Career counselors create activities so you are able to achieve your goals. 

 

 Activities you should consider:

·      Make a list of your interests and highlight leadership experience or management of people, data, or equipment, and use that experience to find a career that you will enjoy.

 

·    Explore and clarify your values and beliefs.  This will help you to see who you are, what you want and what you are capable of doing.

 

·    Explore your military skills to understand how they can be applied to civilian work.

 

·    Go over government job requirements to see if the skills, values and interests you obtained in the military might work best in a government position.

 

·    Next, you might consider meeting with a financial adviser either in the private sector or through your local VA Office. Increase your understanding of what you need in terms of salary and benefits to meet your lifestyle goals.

 

Remember:

A variety of resources is available for enlisted service members in transition. Visit www.jobbankinfo.org, this web site is associated with the U.S. Department of Labor America’s Job Bank and is designed for service members making the transition into the civilian world.