Part 1
I have a bunch of quotes that I think are applicable to the transition process. Just about all of them require attributing them to someone, but that will hopefully have to happen at a later date. The most important one is not attributable, as I think most transitioning service members likely say it at some point. That quote starts something like this:
“If a company would just give me the chance…”
Or
“If a company would can train me, I know I can do the job.”
This thought process will betray you. It’s understandable why many service members think like this though. It’s the way things have been while you were in the military. You got orders somewhere (ie: a new job), you showed up, and you went through some training or qualification pipeline so that you could do that job. Unfortunately , that is not how the private sector works. The earlier you realize that, the better you will be.
The private sector model is different than the military model. The private sector may up-skill you, but doing so costs money, so they’d prefer to hire someone that they didn’t need to up-skill. So the closer you are to hitting the ground running and contributing from day one, the more appealing you are as a candidate.
Keep in mind, the private sector does not exist to benefit you. The whole system works based on the concept of a mutually beneficial arrangement. You can make the argument that if a company trains you, you can benefit the company, but that is a longer road and therefore a harder case to make. You need to be able to provide value to the company (most generically in the form of production), and then company will provide value to you in the form of a salary.
Lastly, the premise of this article is ‘largely’ true. There are always exceptions, but be aware of when those exceptions might occur. If companies are having a hard time hiring people, there is a better chance of a company spending the time and money to train you from the start. If the economy is slow and companies are not hiring as much, then the premise of this article is amplified.