Writing the Resume
A military background might seem to lend itself to the functional resume format, but I advise you to prepare a historical resume and carefully describe your duties in a way that would make sense to a civilian reader. If you are inexperienced in writing a resume, speak to the human resources officer, follow the guidelines in my book, and show it to friends who work in high level jobs in the private sector. Ask them to be blunt; after all, you want your resume to be as professional as possible. During your job search, cultivate an appearance of sophistication concerning your career development. Be aware that you must always maintain the competitive edge.
Incorporating Your Fitness Reports
Fortunately for you, military record keeping gives you a built in data base for listing your skills and accomplishments the fitness reports. Before you leave, obtain copies of your fitness reports and read them carefully, highlighting those comments that would favorably impress an employer. Unlike your civilian competitor, you can literally back up your claims that you managed to improve a specific aspect of your job performance in a six month period because your commanding officer noted it. More importantly, these reports jog your memory and provide a supply of meaningful accomplishments to list on your resume and discuss during the interview.
Preparing for the Interview
Do your homework. Be current on career literature and consult the directory of the American College of Healthcare Executives. Find out about the individuals with whom you will be interviewing. You can go to any library and conduct a literature search on anyone who is an affiliate of the American College of Healthcare Executives. Read their publications. I have a colleague with 23 years in the military who made flash cards of the interviewing committee members. During his interview, he dazzled everyone with the ease with which he remembered names, professional backgrounds, and hometowns. Find out all you can about the organization for which you would be working. In addition to reading this book, read a general management book that has received strong reviews so that you can discuss topical issues. You want to convey the impression of a person who is sophisticated and well read in general business and career development.
Focusing on Your Appearance
In terms of appearance, I have some very direct remarks about appearance that may or may not apply to you. Some of the dead giveaways of a military person in civilian clothes in the job market are the military haircut, military eyeglasses, the sports watch, and the blended fabric suit. Perhaps because military people are so accustomed to looking crisp and professional in their uniforms, they are overly lax when it comes to dressing for civilian life. Don't kid yourself we are judged on our appearance. As Pubilius Syrus said in the first century B.C., "A good exterior is a silent recommendation." Hospitals and health care organizations have unwritten dress codes, which you must be aware of and follow. Think of this way of dressing as a uniform. The money and time you invest in acquiring the uniform is worth the effort.
Starting at the top, you need to go to a hair stylist off the base. Health care is conservative, so you don't want to allow your hair to be overly long if you are a man, or extravagantly styled if you are a woman. You do want to have professionally cut hair that does not reinforce the civilian's preconception of the military haircut.
If you wear eyeglasses, you may have a favorite pair with military frames. Keep those for working around the house; order a new, more stylish pair for your job search. You may consider buying contact lenses, but all you really need is a classy, flattering set of eyeglasses. This out of pocket expense is worth every dime besides ophthalmologists recommend having prescriptions checked on a regular basis.
You may own a very serviceable sports watch that is accurate to the nanosecond. However, before you begin your job search, you need to spring for a new watch. Purchase a gold tone watch with a leather band. You need not spend a fortune an elegant understated watch can cost as little as $100. That subtle detail indicates that you know how to dress.
Finally, you need to buy a few new suits or well tailored dresses, as the case may be. The focus here is on 100 percent natural fibers and expert tailoring. These new clothes will become your new professional uniform, so research what that uniform is. Spend a morning in the most prestigious clothiers in town, and walk through the business district. Notice what people are wearing. If you can find a shop that discounts top quality professional clothing, buy your clothes there. If not, head back to the tony, stuffy shop and invest what may seem like a small fortune. The money spent on good clothes is actually a necessary expense. The overall impression you want to project is that of a quality individual, with conservative and impeccable taste.
A final point about shoes: Fellows, buy yourself a pair of leather wing tips. Ladies, buy a pair of high quality leather dress shoes. Draw on your military training and shine those shoes. This job search is a different kind of boot camp, but the drill sergeant is no less exacting.
All these details matter: knowing the benefits of a military background, using the available transition and retraining services, maintaining and capitalizing on civilian contacts, writing the resume, incorporating fitness reports, preparing for the interview, and focusing on your appearance. Finding a new job is a full scale operation and requires the attention to detail and single mindedness that served you well in your military training. Now it's time to translate these skills to civilian work.
Survey of Former Members of the Military
Our firm recently surveyed people who left the military in the past five years and now work in civilian health care to find out about their successful job searches. They represented the branches of the armed services as follows: 43 percent Army, 38 percent Air Force, and 19 percent Navy. The average length of service was 22 years in the military, and 40 percent of the respondents currently hold CEO, COO, or VP level positions in civilian health care. When we asked them to rank the most beneficial techniques in finding out about jobs, the top two responses were networking with civilians that you already knew (63 percent) and networking with former military that you already knew (62 percent).
And what was the least beneficial technique? Well, 64 percent identified waiting for employers to call as the least beneficial to them in finding out about jobs. This survey reinforces what I have already said about the importance of networking and should motivate you to work the contacts you have made during your military career.
Another significant finding was that 72 percent secured their first job before leaving the military; the remaining 28 percent, after leaving the military. However, the average length of the job search was seven months for those who found jobs while still in the military, and two months for those who found jobs after having already left. These statistics suggest that people can work harder at finding a job once they are no longer employed, but I still recommend starting your job search before you leave, to minimize the gap in your employment history and to maintain your momentum for the job search.
Our survey confirms that military personnel can successfully compete for jobs in civilian health care over one third of the respondents have already been promoted. These men and women positioned themselves while still in the military and effectively used their contacts, both civilian and military, to find good jobs in health care administration.
