If your spouse is anything like mine, they love a good spreadsheet and would plan for the future even in the midst of an apocalypse. My husband had been planning for his retirement from the military for a good two years before the actual retirement date.
I’m sure he was planning in his head even well before that, but two years out is when I got to see his spreadsheets.
There was obviously some stress during the last year of his active-duty time.
Mostly on his end and rightfully so. How was what he did for the last twenty years in the military going to translate to a civilian career?
There would no longer be that sense of job security one often finds with being in the military. What would happen if he wasn’t able to get a job by the time he needed?
Those were just SOME of the questions we had.
My husband had started applying for jobs about 6 months before we were scheduled to move.
It was sort of like casting out your line with great bait, but no one was hungry. He applied for several positions over the next few months with little success- an interview here or there but not much else.
We were in the beginning stages of discussing what our Plan B plan really looked like when he found a position with a company that is known for its military friendly hiring.
He went on to accept their offer a few weeks later and this past spring, celebrated his one-year anniversary with them.
Employment Resources we used to prepare for retirement.
I’ll talk a little about my own back-to-civilian-life-for-good job searching experience but there are so many military retirement resources out there, I thought I’d cover a few first that I’ve used or heard of.
Personally, the ones I have used were Hiring Our Heroes, ACP, Pride and Grit, Blue Star Families, and Four Block/Prepare to Launch U.
Most of these programs have both AD and spouse components, but I can only speak to the spouse part, and there are still probably a lot of similar programs out there that I’ve never heard of.
I used their resume assistance program a long time ago. So long ago, I don’t remember when.
At the time, I didn’t even know a resume could look like that! Resume writing has since changed a great deal, but I was thoroughly impressed with the work HOH did with assisting me.
I had a point of contact who kept in touch with me to follow up on my progress. For whatever reason, I didn’t reach out to them this time around so I can’t speak to what they currently offer but still would recommend checking them out.
2. ACP
I started with ACP after my husband signed up for their mentor program. It was a little tricker for me since ACP was mostly a corporate program (Corporate is literally in their name.) and I have had more of a non-corporate track (i.e. non-profit) of paid and unpaid work.
ACP was able to pair me up with a mentor nonetheless who worked for a long time with a larger bank but had since retired and went to work for a small non-profit.
We met once a month via video chat for a year, talking about my history of work, things I liked, education, what I saw myself wanting to do, not wanting to do, and even discussing some of the other spouse career programs I was participating in at the same time as the ACP one.
She helped me with my resume, elevator pitch, LinkedIn, cover letters. Pretty much any question I had when it came to actually applying for the jobs,
I asked for her thoughts. It was helpful beyond words because while I had applied for jobs in the past (obviously), this was a little different because the jobs had the potential to be more long term.
I came across this group when we moved to Virginia for the last time. I scheduled a military spouse coffee meet up to meet some of my new neighbors and met Jen, the founder of this much needed group.
Very simply put, Pride and Grit is a group for seasoned military spouses.
A place for those who have been around to find transitioning to civilian life resources such as Strengths Coaching, retreats- basically offering pathways to help you figure out who you are or what you want to be after this military life is complete.
They also offer other tips and resources for how to navigate the transition to civilian life- how to plan for new financial situations, changing education benefits, new employment issues, etc.
I mentioned the Pride and Grit personality assessment I took in a previous blog post of mine and how my Strength Finders assessment was spot on for me.
For BSF, I follow quite a bit of what they do on a regular basis but for the career transition, I joined their BSF Spouseforce Facebook group.
This group mostly posted jobs that were hiring around the country. Sometimes, there were webinars on resume writing and the like.
If I’m being honest, this is a group that certainly offers a lot in the way of different resources and information, but I was already too involved in the other retirement resources to utilize what BSF Spouseforce had to offer.
5. Four Block/Prepare to Launch U:
This group was recommended to me by a military spouse friend of mine when we were in Florida. Her husband was closer to retirement than mine, so she was a few steps ahead of me.
She took the Prepare to Launch U and told me about it. (We were still a little far out from retirement then for me to take it, so I waited until we were about a year out and signed up.) It involved a 6-month time commitment of meeting on a weekly basis via video chat, watching the lessons and taking notes, as well as meeting up with your group once you were assigned to one.
The two women who lead the class were excellent in their advice and experience. They helped with resume edits, LinkedIn bios, cover letters- if it involved a job application process, they covered it.
They helped with what your LinkedIn photo should look like, which sounds like a small thing but if you’re new to that platform, having someone tell you almost exactly what it should look like was one less thing to stress about.
When it came time to start applying for possible jobs, it was stressful with a capital “S”.
I applied for so many that I was perfect for. I KNEW I was perfect for them. I had a few interviews where I felt I really did well- why didn’t they offer me the job right then and there for crying out loud?
Then there were jobs that I never heard from. I didn’t then (and am not sure I ever will understand that), but then I did apply for a job in a field that I have been working and volunteering in for a nonprofit that I am very familiar with and has a mission/vision that is very important to me.
I have been working in this position for a year now and love what I do and the people that I work with.
I feel as though the interviews that I had prior to the one that led me to this job were practice ones so that I could say the right things and be more comfortable in that last interview.
My advice is to start early.
Maybe not as soon as the enlistment papers are dry but 2-3 years out from when you think you’ll be done.
There was a lot that went into getting ready for being a civilian again and it took time. Use the tools offered. Don’t try to navigate it alone.
“If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go with others.” – African Proverb
*For more from Erin, check out her M:M Author Page
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