What I remember the most about transitioning from active duty in the military back to the civilian was all the fear. Fear of the unknown and fear of all the ‘hardships’ everyone warned me about nonstop. It created anxiety and didn’t help with solving anything. Just like in life, yes, there are real challenges; yes, there are unexpected speed bumps and roadblocks and heart-wrenching disappointments possible. But just as possible are completely unplanned and unexpected opportunities, helping hands from people you’ve yet to meet and heart-fulfilling surprises.
I left active duty many years ago but there are still some tough statistics out there. According the the U.S. Department of Labor, in October 2024, the veteran unemployment rate was 3.0%, up from 2.8% the previous month and up from 2.9% the prior year. Also in October 2024, the comparable non-veteran unemployment rate was 4.1%, up from 3.9% the previous month and up from 3.7% the prior year. That can feel like a pretty daunting endeavor for the many individuals leaving the military careers they’ve grown accustomed to for carving out a relatively unknown path for themselves.
Many military veterans can struggle with having enough savings to hold them over to find their ideal job, as well as how to translate their many transferrable skills from military jargon into a meaningful resume. According to a study, “Challenges on the Homefront: Underemployment Hits Veterans Hard,” conducted by Zip Recruiter and the Call of Duty Endowment, although veteran turnover is lower than civilian turnover throughout the course of their careers, veterans tend to leave their initial post-service roles faster than non-veterans. The study suggested that immediately following military service, veterans may take the first job available, as opposed to finding their ‘best fit.’ Roughly 57% of veterans remain at their jobs longer than two and a half years, compared to 42.5% of non-veterans.
Transitioning as a veteran is unique and a different challenge than those carving out a new chapter after being laid off or looking for their next new role. Many military veterans didn’t get civilian work experience before joining the service. Most will have never had a job interview to obtain a role. There may have been interviews where the individual had to answer questions regarding the role but that’s not the same as interviewing in a completely different workplace culture and without job security behind you every step of the way.
But veterans have so many skills to bring to the table, whether it’s the technical training the military invested in them, the discipline, the team mentality, the resilience or commitment to the bigger mission. It is a travesty that the thing that may be keeping them from employment in a role that will fully leverage those capabilities are civilian job search skills.
Below are some critical tips that can support veterans in putting together their job search strategy:
1. Don’t let the fear consume you. You may have faced some of the scariest and challenging moments than anyone can even fathom. Or maybe you were like me and had more of a desk job. Either way, finding a job without any guarantees can be unsettling. Feel the fear but know that it’s a human response and you will make it through this just like you’ve made it through all the other impossible challenges you’ve taken on up to this point.
2. Don’t assume someone else will take care of it. This is where the conditioning we may have received in the military can work against us. We’ve been groomed to take orders. But now, you’ll need to get back into the driver’s seat of your career and get out in front of what this next chapter looks like for you. This can feel counterintuitive, depending on your role while serving.
3. Don’t be afraid to ask for or receive help. Fully leverage your military benefits to get job training, career coaching, contacts and even therapy. Even if you weren’t traumatized in any particular way during your tenure in the military, going through therapy can help stimulate and foster increased self-awareness. This is invaluable when carving out your life path. Therapy can also help you build tools to increase your resilience, which you’re going to need for your job search. Regardless of which services you take advantage, understand that you’re not alone on this journey. There are resources set up to support your new chapter.
4. Be prepared to check your ‘hero ego.’ There’s an ego check that happens to us when we leave the military. Chances that you’ll be thanked in the hallways for your service in for your new job are slim. Many veterans will leave jobs that may have literally saved lives to work in jobs that are far removed from that level of risk and heroism. It can be tough to feel a sense of purpose and camaraderie when everyone goes home at night and may have nothing to do with life and death situations. Your purpose will most likely need to be recalibrated.
5. Start where you are but start now. Whether you’ve got a year before separation or you’ve been out for over a year, it’s the right time to start applying a strategy to your job search efforts. A couple things you can do proactively, no matter where you are in your transition timeline, are building good habits and fostering connections. What follow are some tips that can be leveraged early or much later in your career journey:
- Build your self-awareness. As I said earlier, this is a lifelong journey. But I’m finding that fewer and fewer people in the workforce have a strong sense of who they are as individuals, and therefore have difficulty tuning in to their own voice. What this means is they find it difficult to form and voice their own opinions. Even executives struggle with cultivating their own vision for their department or company. The more you’ve been rewarded for being obedient and following orders—as an adolescent and as an adult—the more you will struggle with this.
- Stock up on supplies and skills. There are certain things you should have and be familiar with using by the time you transition out of the military. Some of these may be issued to you by the military, but that depends on your job, so you’ll want to make sure you have them as your own by the time you separate. That includes building your skills around transferrable skills such as navigating conflict, collaborating, presenting, working with AI and civilian sector business savvy.
- Build a network through giving and receiving help. An easy way to find such situations is to join private-sector clubs or sports teams, or participate in hobbies outside the military. Mingling with the nonmilitary public lets you be authentic without needing something from anyone. People can get to know you for you. Another key part of networking is keeping in touch with those you already know. For veterans, this means staying connected to those you served with in the military.
- Tend to your emotional health. Emotional well-being has become an everyday topic of discussion, and no wonder. It’s essential for succeeding in life and in your career. However, it often seems to be more of an expectation for those in the private sector than those in the military. Depending on your upbringing, you may also have varying degrees of comfort with focusing on this side of your health. Coming out of the military, you may be struggling with disappointment or working through a sense of loss. This is all the more reason to address this issue and practice positivity while you’re still in. Because it’s not like you can just walk into the private sector with a smile and all of a sudden have a positive way of viewing things. It takes practice. And like I said, there’s no better place to start than where you are.
- Learn to balance out your level of formality. Every workplace has a different culture. If you end up moving into a government job, as many veterans do, it may be less of a dramatic shift. But if you’re moving into a fully private sector work environment it can be dramatically different. You’ll need to embrace that a leader telling you what to do is not a direct order anymore. They are expecting you to collaborate, share your perspective and respectfully push back if their direction isn’t where you think it should be.
This journey can feel difficult but it can also be an exciting adventure if you choose to engage in it that way. I’m not downplaying the mental toughness and survival skills needed when it comes to finding job opportunities and waiting to hear back after an interview. But you’ve navigated all that the military experience threw at you, you will navigate this as well. Thank you for your service, sacrifice and continued ingenuity.