Last week my younger brother, Cam, sent me an article posted on MSNBC titled, To get a post-military job, drop the jargon, GI, written by Eve Tahmincioglu. The article gives military personnel advice in transitioning to the civilian world. Aside from the article’s condescending and stereotypical attitude (which Cam responded to in his blog) that advises, “Remember, ex-Marines: No more yelling,” the article misses the point. After both of my brothers, my father, my wife, and I have all transitioned out of the military, I have to say that the challenges associated with the transition into the civilian world are not a matter of resume polishing, they are a matter of creating substance in it.
There are two and only two ways to transition into the civilian job market successfully, and both relate to expertise:
1.) When a civilian, do the same thing you did as a service member. In my dad’s case, he used his military training as an intelligence officer to get a job on the civilian side of the house. His expertise is needed in a post 9/11 world, and because his expertise translated directly, he was able to get a good position in the government where he can continue to make valuable contributions. If your military expertise translates directly into jobs civilian organizations offer, and you still want to do that job, you will be more likely to have an easy transition.
2.) Retrain. To do this you have to build expertise from the ground up. It is time consuming so the earlier you start the better. This means using your benefits, and developing strategies for adaptation like making studying a way of life. If retraining is your only option, or your preferred option, you should not wait until your one week of separations classes to figure out what you plan to do once you leave the military. Likewise, you shouldn’t wait until your troops are ready to get out to make them think about what they want to do with the rest of their lives. Don’t be like me; don’t wait until you’re applying for jobs bagging groceries, and seriously mulling over the ad in the paper to be the Chucky Cheese mouse to realize the hard truth of what needs to be done. Start working your way to expertise in a field you can be employable in, and do so now. After all, no one stays in the military forever. Most organizations willing to pay new employees for good jobs aren’t willing to pay to train them to do those jobs. They expect employees to do that on their own.
Why Expertise Matters so Much
In 1959, social psychologists John R. P. French and Bertram Raven proposed five bases of social power. In a job, three of the five bases of power are given to the person by the organization: 1.) Reward power (the power to reward), 2.) coercive power (the power to punish), and 3.) legitimate power (power derived from a groups hierarchal structure, like rank in the military). The other two bases of social power, the psychologists suggest, come from the individual-4.) referent power (the power to persuade or motivate), and 5.) expert power (domains specific knowledge). The idea that referent power comes from the individual is challenged by Jim Collins in his book Good to Great. Collins points out in his study that great organizations do not find people to motivate-they instead find motivated people. In other words, organizations recruit people already motivated to do their mission. From this view, referent power is not a social power base flowing entirely from the individual, but instead, is at least partially (or even mainly) a manifestation of the compatibility of the social group’s values and goals and the values and goals of new members. Expert power then, is the only true social power that resides completely in the individual.
Stated another way, expert power is the only power base completely in your control that can attract opportunity. A college degree opens doors in a variety of fields because it is evidence of budding expertise. Where the law does not require a college degree for entry into a field (like that of a lawyer or doctor) then mere evidence of expertise will do. In the art field for instance, the portfolio is the evidence of expertise that is most important to companies seeking illustrators and designers. The first challenge then, is to develop expertise, and the second is to demonstrate evidence of it.
The quality of opportunities one gets are directly proportional to the expertise one develops. The closer one is to true expertise, the better the opportunities one will attract. However, building expertise is laborious and opportunities available before expertise is developed are less than desirous.
In the Tahmincioglu’s article she cites the progress of Stephen Andersen, a recently discharged Marine sergeant who was part of a helicopter flying crew. She claims that the “combat and managerial experience he got in the military was meaningless when it came to finding a job.” Of Andersen’s progress, the article concludes:
- Andersen, the Marine who was a helicopter crewman in Iraq, took a low-paying job for a home-improvement retailer in San Diego even though it wasn’t what he wanted. He ended up leaving after only a brief period because he felt his direct boss was anti-military and figured his chances of moving up the ladder were slim.
He now is a financial service specialist for a bank in Atlanta, and even though it’s not the exact job title he hoped for he sees room for advancement.
“I’m going to prove myself to my employer,” he says, “and see how high I can go.”
Tahmincioglu misdiagnosed Sergeant Andersen’s problem. Andersen’s managerial experience, important due to its relationship to referent power, will be very useful to him when he adds to it some expert power. The problem isn’t his military jargon, and as stated, he does not lack management experience; however, his expertise is in aviation and he is applying for jobs in home-improvement retail and in banking. In order to advance in banking he is going to have to become an expert at something his current employer or a future one values highly. I wish there were an easy way to do this but there is not. There is, however, a sure way to do it and it is the subject of an ongoing series I’m writing called Unchain Your Brain.
Tahmincioglu’s article and others like it tend to be misleading. Even separations classes, I think, give too much bad advice. When I went to my separations class prior to getting out of the service in 1995 the advice seemed to be, “stop thinking like a Marine.” We were told to grow our hair out, and stop using military terms. While the advice is well meaning I would advise the opposite: Never stop thinking like a Marine. The pack never comes off, and an ongoing commitment to the mental, physical, and character disciplines will see you through your transition and beyond. It will put you in position to make your communities, and thus America, better. And if you want to keep a high and tight, and refer to a bathroom as a “head,” go right ahead; it’s irrelevant. It is not going to prevent you from finding opportunities — lack of expertise, however, will.
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