Soldiers are not as other men – that is the lesson that I have learned from a life cast among warriors. They are those of a world apart… which exists in parallel with the everyday world but does not belong to it.
John Keegan, British military historian
The big day has finally arrived. You’ve got your first interview and you are all set. You’re mind is racing with ways to position yourself and your experience for the role. As you begin the conversation you dive into how your last position has prepared you for this role before you. But you have probably made one mistake most veterans make – they assume the person are interviewing with understands the military. Here is how you can avoid that mistake – sell the military first before you sell yourself.
Ideal interview situation
The ideal interivew for a military veteran is sitting across the table from a fellow veteran or someone from a military family. You can ease into the interview by discussing where you served, your branch/MOS, explain your last deployment and maybe even identify some common veterans in your network.
If this applies to you, great. If you are interviewing with military defense contractors, the federal government or a company with a formal military program this may be your situation.
But for the rest of us we need to accept the hard reality – most business people have no real clue about the military. Harsh but true.
The reality: your hiring manager has (probably) not served in the military
Today fewer then 1 percent of the American population has ever served in the military. That means it’s most likely that the hiring manager across the table from you has not served in the military. And since civilians haven’t served their impression of the military will be based on the following factors and influences: the news media, Hollywood and political beliefs.
Check out this recent video, and the accompanying comments, for a good illustration of what I mean. The organization TED posted a video from their March event called “Stanley McChrystal: Listen, learn … then lead.’’ It’s a presentation from General McChrystal about leadership. It’s an entertaining, short introduction to some leadership lessons General McChrystal learned during his service.
Stanley McChrystal: Listen, learn…then lead
I really like TED and their videos. The organization is a non-profit “devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading.” TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design, representing their original focus. Their conferences have become much broader addressing speakers from a broad cross section of backgrounds. I was excited that a military leader of General McChrystal’s caliber was invited to speak. And the short presentation was very good (TED puts a 18 or 19 minute limit on the length of all presentations).
But check out the first online comment about the video:
“I am deeply saddened to see a talk by a military general on this site. The military is opposed to everything that TED is working for. It is not about culture, invention, or learning; it is a factory of death. A general is a man trained in organizing mass murder. The only thing we need to know about the military establishment is how to reduce its mind-boggling appropriations so that those funds can go toward humanitarian causes. Shame on TED for legitimizing military culture.’’
Ouch! Now I am not judging here. Everyone is entitled to their opinions. Unfortuanately, you will find the subsequent reader comments turns into a rant, for and against the military instead of the substance of the presentation.
My point is that the same people who read and comment on these videos may be your future managers and colleagues – so prepare to sell yourself to them.
Sell the Military first and address potential objections
How do you deal with a business population with no real understanding of your professional background in the military? Sell the military and address potential objections before you discuss your skills and experience. Let’s look at this process in more detail:
As a transitioning veteran you need to think counter intuitively and sell the military before discussing anything else. As my opening quote from John Keegan states, the military world exists parallel to the everyday civilian and business world. You need to be prepared to address the following information:
- Simply explain what the military is all about
- Be prepared to translate the acronyms and expressions from the military to concepts understandable to business people. This requires an understanding of the language of business.
- Highlight the amount of training the military provides for their members
- Illustrate the variety of types of positions and functions in the military and how many of them are directly applicable to the business world. Think engineering, electronics, IT, medical, logistics/supply, transportation and Communications to name but a few.
- Refinforce hands-on management and leadership traits acquired leading small and large teams (if that applies to you).
- Finish it up with character and work style traits such as integrity, accountability, work ethic, sense of duty and team work.
- As you sell the military keep in mind the following acronym: KISS – Keep It Seriously Simple
As you go through your explanation you will achieve two important points:
- Genuinely explaining the military to those who have only a superficial understaning of our institution.
- Pre-empt and address potential objections to you as a military veteran. This is a crucial sales tactic that all professionals have mastered. Instead of shying away from objections the best strategy is to proactively identify them and address them head on. During your military sell you will get push back. Learn to deal with it head on.
Further reading – Why reinvent the wheel?
Need more help preparing your interview? Look no further then these other blog articles:
To be clear, selling the military is not your only objective for a successful interivew. You also need to explain how your skills and experience help the company solve it’s problems. But for the military veteran interviewing with business person with no military background, this is a great place to start.
Begin Your Heroic Journey!
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