I’m a sucker for The Pirates of the Caribbean movies. There is a quote in the first movie, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, that I think is particularly applicable for leaving the military:
“First, your return to shore was not part of our negotiations nor our agreement so I must do nothing. And secondly, you must be a pirate for the pirate’s code to apply and you’re not. And thirdly, the code is more what you’d call ‘guidelines’ than actual rules. Welcome aboard the Black Pearl, Miss Turner.”
For those that don’t know, this is the beginning of the film when Elizabeth Swan is brought onto the The Black Pearl, and she attempts to negotiate her release. She thinks she is successful in her negotiation, but learns that she leaves some large loopholes in her agreement.
There are four different parts of the quote that I think are diving into:
“…so I must do nothing”
There is no agreement that promises you a job when you get out of the military. The private sector owes you nothing. That can be difficult to wrap your head around. Not that I think many veterans think they are owed something, but I think there is a guarantee that you won’t fail, but that is not the case. If you don’t do the work and you don’t provide value, no one will be interested in working with you. I think this is compounded by the fact that you have likely heard about all the companies that are ‘vet friendly’ , and ‘love to hire vets.’ You may think this means that there is a large pool of people that are just waiting for you, a veteran to apply to their company. That is not the case. It’s probably better to not pay any attention to those statements by company’s. I’m sure different people have different experiences, but if nothing else I think it’s best to err on the side of caution.
“…you must be a pure for the pirate’s code to apply and you’re not.”
There is a different culture in the private sector. There are different expectations and what’s allowed for behavior is different. And what is different between different sub-sectors of the private sector differ as well. A start up has different culture than a Fortune 500 company, and different industries have different cultures as well. The point here is that much like Elizabeth Swan, there are rules, expectations, and guidelines that you don’t understand because you are not in that world. Your different experience from the military may be value add – and I think likely will be. But that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t adapt quickly to this new world.
“…the code is more what you’d call ‘guidelines’ than actual rules.”
This applies mostly to resume writing, but also to interviewing. There is a lot of gray area here, but that does not mean lying or being unethical. Something that you may struggle with is relating your military experience to the private sector, and you’ll find that should likely revolve around 1) increasing profit (directly or indirectly), or decreasing expenses (either directly or indirectly). The military doesn’t prioritize those two items, so if you use your military evals as the basis for your resume, you could find it difficult to add anything that is specific enough. What I mean by that is something like “Did X to decrease expenses” sounds great, but “Did X to decrease expenses by 20% resulting in Y” sounds much better. But depending on where you are in your military career (ie: rank), having that information can be difficult. So what I am suggesting is to make an honest best effort to present some solid numbers. Another example, and something that I did was regarding certifications. There was one certification where I took the test and passed, but wasn’t technically certified because I didn’t submit the application at that point. I still said that I had the certification. Another example is that I put down that I expected to get a certification by a certain date.
This gray area also comes in handy during the interview process. When I screened for my last command, I got a lot of questions such as “Give me a time when…”. I was not expecting these, and I am awful at them. The result was a lot of awkward silence while I tried to recall an instance that applied, and on more than one occasion I came up with “I can’t think of anything.” Not the best answer, but it was honest. I would argue that a better approach would be to 1) look up some common questions ahead of time so that you have some of these stories ready to go, but if that fails you, 2) don’t be afraid to string different events together, or change some details to fit the prompt. I for example, am not a confrontational person. So I got a question such as “Give me a time when you had a strong disagreement with your boss”, I likely wouldn’t be able to provide one. I may be able to provide an example of a disagreement with a subordinate, peer, or someone on the side of the road. Not everyone is going to agree with this, and to each their own. But unless you find yourself in a position where you are tripping over options, I wouldn’t discount it just yet. Not to mention, when the HR person says that the company culture is “like a close knit family”, what are the odds that description is 100% accurate?
“Welcome aboard…”
You’re in a new world now. Whether you wanted to or not, you are here now or soon will be. Hopefully this new chapter isn’t the equivalent of you being on a haunted pirate ship, because that would suck. Your best bet is to enjoy the ride.