Transitioning out of the military? Education can help!
This article was updated on聽January 18, 2024.
Written by Elizabeth Exline
When Antonio Dates joined the Army National Guard in 2008, it was on the heels of an unsuccessful college experience. He鈥檇 earned a music scholarship but failed to attend classes regularly.
Inevitably, he began to fail the classes themselves.
Dates was casting about for some discipline, and he found it in the military. To this day, he counts his joining up as one of the best decisions he鈥檚 ever made. But it wasn鈥檛 easy, and it certainly wasn鈥檛 always fun. His first military job while in active duty, in fact, was decidedly boring: He was responsible for pumping gas into ground vehicles.
鈥淎nd that鈥檚 as glamorous as it sounds,鈥 Dates deadpans.
Dates鈥 military career would progress well beyond that first job, though. He eventually became a supply specialist, and then he worked in finance before finding his niche in contracting.
By 2020, he had a bachelor鈥檚 degree in聽business administration聽from another university, a聽master鈥檚 degree聽from聽七色视频聽(UOPX) and a move into the Army Reserve under his belt. He planned to stay in the military part time, but he was ready to start focusing on his civilian career and transition out of the military and into civilian life.
That鈥檚 when things got a little challenging.
鈥淎t first, it was incredibly difficult [to find a job],鈥 Dates says. 鈥淚 had the education, but not the experience to back it up.鈥澛
Military outlook, by the numbers
Dates鈥 experience is in some ways the exception and in some ways the rule. According to The Harris Poll鈥檚 鈥2023 Military Transition Survey,鈥 78% of active-duty service members say the military has provided them with all the skills they need to be successful in the workplace.听
Even more notably, four out of five of military members think a successful transition out of military service and adapting to civilian life and workforce culture means learning a new set of skills.
These numbers 鈥渉it the nail on the head,鈥 observes Eric Ryan, senior director of military operations at 七色视频.
鈥淵our view of your military experience and how that鈥檚 going to help you in civilian life when you鈥檙e still in versus how you feel about it five minutes after you鈥檝e made the transition and left the military is very different,鈥 Ryan explains. 鈥淵ou really are smacked in the face with reality when you get out of the military.鈥
Click the image above to view the full infographic.
Why is it difficult to adjust to civilian life and work?
The challenge most personnel face when making the transition out of the military to civilian life is twofold. On the one hand, the military teaches you a lot of transferable skills that need to be parlayed into a civilian context. On the other hand, extra education is vital for filling in any gaps from a military career after making the transition.
To be sure, the military is good at training its service members. Dates, remember, learned everything from finance to contracts during his military career. Ryan, meanwhile, recalls being a sergeant in the Marine Corps and responsible for supervising some 40 people and 12 multimillion-dollar aircraft all by the tender age of 24.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not uncommon in the armed forces to have an enormous amount of responsibility and an extremely high level of competence so you can handle that,鈥 Ryan says.
As a result, military veterans often bring a聽repertoire of skills to the table, not the least of which are leadership, teamwork and the ability to think on one鈥檚 feet. One challenge, however, is translating skills learned in the military to skills a civilian workforce will recognize.
鈥淎fter you make the transition to civilian life, you come out into the civilian workforce, and it really is a different landscape. A lot of the structure that you鈥檙e used to is immediately removed,鈥 Ryan explains.
Where military veterans may have once had a clear path to promotion and a clear hierarchy for giving orders, the civilian workforce offers fewer absolutes. Suddenly, veterans who have made the transition to civilian life have to figure out how to communicate, how to advance and how to manage others within a whole new set of parameters. And those聽soft skills聽don鈥檛 come naturally to everyone.
For Dates, just the process of finding a job in聽 his civilian life was frustrating at first. He would get offers that were either below his desired salary or in a location too far away from his children 鈥 or both.
He reached out to UOPX鈥檚聽Career Services聽for help. Within a month of working with a career advisor to review his resum茅 and discuss interviewing techniques and job search strategies, Dates鈥 transition into a more compelling civilian career yielded real results.
鈥淚 have started a dream job that allows me to meet and greatly exceed my salary requirement and be there for my young children,鈥 Dates says. 鈥淚 am in a good place!鈥
The threat of underemployment
Dates鈥 success is specific to him, but there are common threads in his story. Ryan, for example, encountered a similar situation when he left the Marines. While he鈥檇 been supervising teams, training people and overseeing the maintenance of sophisticated aircraft in the armed forces, he didn鈥檛 know how to turn that into a civilian role. So, he took a job installing luxury closets.
鈥淚t was tough,鈥 he says. 鈥淵ou have to make money. You can鈥檛 just sit around and look for the perfect thing, because your paychecks are over. You know where you鈥檙e at in terms of your skills and level of responsibility and leadership capability 鈥 but how do you communicate all of that military jargon into civilian terms? That is a skill in and of itself.鈥
Underemployment, in fact, is one of the biggest challenges military veterans encounter, according to UOPX career advisor Greg Lewis. He explains that , despite their extensive experience and skills.
The 鈥2021 Military Transition Survey Results鈥 report paints an even darker picture: 51% of respondents felt like they were underemployed.
鈥淯nderemployment for transitioning military is real,鈥 Lewis says. 鈥淗owever, it can be avoided with proper planning, an evaluation of your transferable skills and a proactive approach to networking.鈥澛
How do you transition from military to civilian life and work?
Lewis says the first step in a successful transition is asking yourself one key question: Do you want to do something similar to your MOS (there鈥檚 that jargon again!), which is a military occupational specialty?
If yes, then it鈥檚 a matter of translating your skills into a readable format, both in terms of a resum茅 and interviewing skills.
If no, then you may need to explore which skills are necessary for the role you do want. According to the 鈥2023 Military Transition Survey,鈥 military personnel consider computer software skills to be the most vital for transitioning to a civilian career. 聽聽
In fact, 76% of respondents in that same survey said they were interested in continuing their education, with 83% of those interested in earning a college degree.
鈥淚 think you can probably get into a pretty good situation with the skills you have coming out of the military,鈥 Ryan says. 鈥淵ou could probably begin a career, but I think the education piece has to be brought in. It would be a rare circumstance where somebody would be able to really advance and fulfill their potential without [getting an education].鈥
Explore your resources
Veterans looking to transition to civilian life and work have a number of resources available to them.
To begin, Lewis recommends some self-reflection and checking out聽, which helps military-to-civilian populations figure out a pathway to the right career.
From there, he advises contemplating the following questions:
1.听聽聽 What type of income do I need to offset my new expenses?
2.听聽聽 What type of work will provide meaning and purpose?
3.听聽聽 What type of work matches my skills?
4.听聽聽 Where do I want to live?
5.听聽聽 What type of organization do I want to work for?
While each university is different in its approach to military students, UOPX strives to remove as many barriers to higher education as possible. In addition to waiving certain fees and offering reduced tuition for those currently serving, as well as offering聽extensive veteran resources聽for those who have completed their time in service, UOPX has developed alliances with the following organizations:
- : This mentorship program matches military service members and veterans with mentors from Fortune 500 companies.
- CCAF General Education Mobile program: UOPX offers general education courses approved by the Community College of the Air Force (CCAF), which can be applied toward earning an Associate in Applied Science degree.
- : This nonprofit organization offers complimentary mental health care for eligible populations.
Market yourself
As you acquire more experience and education, it鈥檚 important to communicate your wins clearly and effectively. Whether you need to figure out simple or collaborate with a career advisor the way Dates did to revamp your marketing collateral, the investment of time is important.
Network
鈥淲hen we ask service members about their existing network, a common response is they don鈥檛 know too many people outside other military members and their families,鈥 Lewis says. 鈥淭rue or not, that is a good place to start!鈥
Networking is almost as important as education. Mentorship programs like American Corporate Partners and professional networking sites can make a significant impact on your job search. They provide insight to career trends, Lewis notes, and reveal job opportunities you might not otherwise learn about.
Start now
Knowing you have skill gaps is half the battle. But perhaps just as pivotal is taking the first step to remediate those gaps.
鈥淒on鈥檛 wait for later,鈥 Ryan advises. He regrets not having started his education while still in the military, pointing to the 鈥渕oney left on the table鈥 he lost by waiting. 鈥淭here鈥檚 never going to be a good time. It鈥檚 always inconvenient. Education is hard. Just do it while you鈥檙e in the military.鈥
At the end of the day, finding the sort of success you trained for in the military may require some adjustment. It may take a degree and a new resum茅. It may take a certain degree of discomfort. But the payoff makes it worth it.听
Helping veterans and active-duty service members become a civilian goes beyond finding a good job. Learn what UOPX alumnus Jake Clark is doing through Save A Warrior鈩 to mitigate the trauma faced by military personnel.听
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Elizabeth Exline has been telling stories ever since she won a writing contest in third grade. She's covered design and architecture, travel, lifestyle content and a host of other topics for national, regional, local and brand publications. Additionally, she's worked in content development for Marriott International and manuscript development for a variety of authors.
This article has been vetted by 七色视频's editorial advisory committee.听
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