Lessons Learned for Vets
Lessons Learned for Vets
Empowering Veterans with New Career Opportunities with Mark Adams
Mark Adams, a former active duty and reserve Air Force service member, shares his journey from military service to finding his place and an operational excellence leader in the private sector.
Mark thought about retiring in 2012, but after recognizing gaps in his experience and education, he reenlisted and focused on closing those gaps. After completing his bachelor's degree and learning to better translate and market his military skills, he was much better prepared for post-military success. Mark's story focuses on the importance of strategic planning, networking, mentorship and self-advocacy. All of these are important for you as you take on a career shift.
Navigating the civilian workforce without a clear map can be daunting, but Mark emphasizes the power of finding what you want to do, not just where you want to work. By utilizing platforms like LinkedIn and Indeed, you can uncover hidden opportunities based on job functions rather than titles. With the right preparation, starting 18 to 24 months ahead and leveraging military experience, Mark illustrates how to climb the career ladder through practical strategies focused on planning, networking, and self-advocacy.
Self-advocacy takes center stage as Mark discusses the importance of prioritizing key tasks and communicating effectively with leadership. By focusing on the vital few projects, one can create opportunities for growth and advancement.
Alongside personal anecdotes, we explore how sponsors within organizations can play a crucial role in career development, helping turn professional relationships into valuable support systems.
Finally, discover Mark's current employer, Seek Now, asked him to create and launch Drive Academy, a SkillBridge and training initiative dedicated to supporting veterans by offering hands-on training and career opportunities in the property inspection, roofing and insurance adjusting industry.
SeekNow and Drive Academy have chosen to sponsor this entire season of the Lessons Learned for Vets Podcast in order to increase awareness of the opportunities their company offers. You can learn more and apply at www.internwithdrive.com.
You can connect with Mark Adams at www.linkedin.com/in/mrmarkadamsmba/
Subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://tinyurl.com/llforvets22
Subscribe to the podcast and leave us a 5-star review. Please share this with other veterans who might need help as they transition from the military!
The Lessons Learned for Vets Podcast is sponsored by Seek Now and their Drive Academy. Seek Now is the property inspection industry's leading business and they created Drive Academy DoD SkillBridge and CSP internships to teach transitioning military service members and veterans skills that prepare them for lucrative and rewarding careers in the property inspection and insurance industries. You can learn more and apply today at www.internwithdrive.com.
Welcome to the Lessons Learned for Vets podcast, your military transition debrief. I'm your host, lori Norris, and I've helped thousands of military service members successfully transition out of the military since 2005. Thanks for tuning in to hear the after action reports and real stories of your fellow veterans, who are here to help guide, educate and inform you as you navigate your own military transition. By the way, if you find value from today's episode, please share it with others, leave us a review and post about us on social media. Well, welcome back to the Lessons Learned for Vets podcast. I am excited to be back in the studio and back in your ear today. So I am excited to launch this podcast with someone I've known for several years, and my guest today is Mark Adams. Mark explored transitioning from active duty Air Force in 2012, and then officially separated and went into the Air Force Reserve in 2015. He transitioned into an operational excellence role in the energy sector and has steadily continued his career growth since then. Today, he has led the launch of a brand new company and their program that is dedicated to preparing transitioning service members for new career opportunities, and I can't wait to share this exciting new opportunity with you all today, and I hope you'll give it a listen. So well, welcome to the show, mark. I am so excited to have you here. We just saw each other in Atlanta last year and we've known each other for a while, so I'm excited to finally have you in the studio.
Lori Norris:So I talked about it in the bio, and so I want to start a little bit with the story of your military transition. I know we met back in 2012 when I was teaching TAP at Luke Air Force Base, and you told me that you learned in my TAP class that you were not ready for transition. So, as I said, you started thinking about it in 2012,. You actually did it in 2014, 15. What changed from you know? What did you know? What did you find out you weren't ready for? What'd you do different? Tell me about that.
Mark Adams:Yeah, it was a journey. I mean, if you think about it. So when you were talking and sharing things, that for me was the first time hearing things. I mean I went back and thought about how resumes were written when I was in high school. But not, it was very different and you know no more objective statements at the top, but now you know professional summaries and and so, from starting from there, realized, okay, I've got a lot to learn. And so I went to every career fair that you were volunteering for and I would give you a new revision of the resume and you would bleed all over it and I would draft a new one and then I would put them out there and I started getting some interviews. And then, when another career fair came by, I would give you it and you would bleed all over it and I would apply and I'd get some interviews.
Mark Adams:And it was during all those that sometimes I actually got an offer and which meant that it was working fine. It's just, the offer wasn't where I needed to be in order to successfully transition to where I could still continue to be comfortable and put food in the family's bellies and everything. So I decided that I was going to reenlist and close the gaps, and what those gaps were is I needed a little bit more time in the positions that I was going after, so I had a little bit of experience in those managing teams and leadership, but also I didn't have the bachelor's degree, which really is that kind of entryway into a lot. So I was almost done. I was about a year away from being done with that and I was like, okay, let me re-enlist, let me close these gaps and then, once the gaps are closed, I'll try again.
Lori Norris:And that's where we realigned in 2014. Okay, and so when you, when you started thinking about it in 2012, did you know what you wanted to do and you just weren't prepared for it from an experience and education standpoint, is that was that really? Did you, or did you change your mind about what you wanted to do between those two times?
Mark Adams:yeah, I absolutely knew what I wanted to do, so the air Force was awesome enough to give me Lean Six Sigma training. So I got my Green Belt certification and I got my Black Belt certification. And there's a lot of enthusiasm within the Air Force when you have that Black Belt certification and they're like, wow, you can almost do anything, and it kind of pumps you up and you get really excited about yourself. I'm like, all right, well, now I'm ready to go do more things and try something different, and so that's what I try to do. But lacking that degree within this industry was the difference in about $40,000 to $60,000 a year.
Lori Norris:That's a big difference and that probably that two years was worth it in terms of where you've gone from then. So you know, since in the 10 years you've been out of the active duty part of the of the military, you have worked for some pretty big companies, multi-million dollar, multi-billion dollar companies, um, probably organizations that I would bet most people listening have never heard of. I'm gonna guess you hadn't heard of them either. So how did you find out about those opportunities at those? You know for lack of a better word obscure companies that most people don't see it as like oh, that's my easy button, I'm going to go to the Lockheeds, the Boeings of the world. So how did you find out about them?
Mark Adams:Funny enough, both of them happened in almost the exact same way. It was a supervisor who told me about the opportunities, which is really shocking. You don't hear too many times of a supervisor saying, hey, I just found this great opportunity at another company. And so both of them happened that way. The first one was I was leaving the Air Force and it was the colonel that I was working for. He had a friend and they were at a barbecue and his friend was talking to him like I have this problem that no one's been able to solve, and he's like I think I have somebody who can help you. And that led to the interviews and the onboarding and it was an awesome experience. And so we always talk about networking as a big key to being able to successfully transition. In that case, networking certainly started the ball moving, and then being able to just approach it with my readiness and my background and experience, I think is what helps secure the job.
Mark Adams:The second time we were in that organization, it was at this multi-billion dollar organization, and now people were starting to go their different ways and it was my supervisor who wanted to make sure that I was going to land good, not that my job was on the line, but he just was like, hey look, you know, here's an opportunity I see out there. Maybe you want to go look at it. And so I was like, okay, I really respected him and I tried and applied for it and, sure enough, started getting interviews and you know it was great. He didn't know anybody there, so it wasn't like I networked into the job, it was just he recommended it to me and I applied. My background was a great fit and we really worked well during the interview process and I happened to get the job and I've now been here for a little over three years.
Lori Norris:So one of the themes of this show like we've you know, we've been on hiatus now for almost seven months and, and you know, wasn't sure we were going to make it back and I but it was something I love, it's really close to my heart and one of the things I wanted to make sure is that I was continuing to bring value to the people that are listening.
Lori Norris:And so one of the themes for me this year is like let's open up people's eyes to new opportunities. You know, we all know of those defense contractors that you know you can make a very smooth transition, but some people don't want to do the same thing they've done, or they want to use the skills like you, the skills you came out of the military with, in a new way or in a new environment, and so I really want to start looking at ways to open people's eyes up to the organizations that are out there, and so I think that that's really important and any advice you have for people that, just to you know, keep your eyes open, looking for new opportunities, new organizations, new industries.
Mark Adams:I don't know how long the podcast this is, so I've got a lot to talk about on that. But let me start with the fact that you're right. When I was trying to separate, I remember talking to people and saying hey, what are you going to do when you get out? Because it's scary, you don't know what you don't know. And a lot of times the answer is given to me was I'm going to go work at Amazon, or I'm going to go work at Lockheed, or I'm going to work at American Airlines. And I was like, okay. And now, looking back on it, I was like they were all just naming companies that they've heard of, right? But there's so many companies out there.
Mark Adams:When I transitioned out, I worked at a company called Flextronics. That's now called Flex, but I bet you the technology we're talking on was probably manufactured by them. They are a behind the scenes manufacturer for other companies, right? So then I'm now at a company called SeekNow, which I'm sure no one's heard of, but they go out and do roof and property inspection. So if you've had a storm happen and you needed that inspection done for your insurance company, the insurance company most likely sent us out there to do it. So you've interacted with all the companies that I've worked with you just don't know it, you don't know the name.
Mark Adams:So my recommendation when trying to look at that transition is think about what it is you want to do, not where you want to go. So if you start looking at things like LinkedIn, jobs or even any others like Indeed whatever tool you're using look at some of the do searches by the function that you want to do. And I don't mean the title, I just mean, like you know, maybe I want to see a product through, right, so maybe I'm going to look at product development or something right. Maybe I'm going to any kind of keywords. I know a lot of times in military we use things like team leadership. So put in leadership, see what comes up and then start reading those and if you say, hey, you know what, this sounds a lot like me. Now look at the title. Now that's the title that you can start doing searches for, and then you can start seeing all these companies that you've probably never heard of but have jobs very closely aligned to your background and what it is you want to do. And now you've got a roadmap.
Lori Norris:And I think that you know we're also nervous. There's so many things on the internet that aren't legitimate, that aren't real right, and so I think it is going to take some research and some due diligence on your part. But now you've got the job title, you've got a new company that you didn't know about. You go out, research them, look into their website, read about them. Now you can do a LinkedIn search of other veterans that work for that organization. You can do a targeted LinkedIn search and put all the filters in, and then you can start asking people questions internally and that's you know.
Lori Norris:I talk a lot on the show about preparation and like the time that you need to put in. You know, to 18 to 24 months in advance, and most people are like why do I need to do it that far out? I'm not going to look for a job for two years, and this is really part of it. Right, is that research? And like identifying other opportunities, because I think that when we find ourselves in a rush, under pressure, we go with what we know, right? You know, if you think about like we're in the new year, now everyone's like I want to eat better and more healthy. Well, if I haven't planned out healthy food in my refrigerator, I'm going to go eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and so you've got to plan. That's the planning part of the transition, isn't it? And I think that I just want everyone to know that there are so many different opportunities out there and there is nothing wrong with taking the skills that you have and going with the defense contractor doing the same thing if you really like it.
Lori Norris:But sometimes we get voluntold what to do in the military and we don't necessarily like it, and so if you find yourself in that position where you're like you know I wanna do something different or I wanna do what I do in a new environment, just take a beat and do some research and look around and I think LinkedIn is a great tool, and I love that yours was. You know networking as well and just start putting feelers out to people and telling them what you're looking for, and I think that it's it's really important thing to step back and take that time to do, and that's why I want you to start preparing so far out in advance. So, yeah, I like that a lot. So so, since you left the military, you have moved into director level roles, like you're now pursuing executive level roles with your organization. That's kind of your next evolution in your organization.
Lori Norris:You know a lot of people don't think oh well, in order to pursue those types of roles you need to be an officer, an O4 and above, and that's not the path that you were on, and so let's talk about how you got there. So you didn't start as a director, you moved your way up. But let's talk about your advice on just other people who are starting their private sector career and they want to move forward. They have those aspirations and ambitions. Like what are some advice that you would give to people that want to do the same thing as you?
Mark Adams:I would say lean on the experience that we've gotten from service. We spent a lot of time in service being able to articulate the accomplishments that we've had over the year, and those are great skill sets to continue. Within industry, You've got to continue to be able to advocate for yourself. So when I first started, I started as a manager, but because I had an amazing accomplishment within my first quarter that immediately led to me becoming senior manager, that was the kind of recognition and reward of that and that was awesome and that was just given. I didn't ask, I wasn't expecting I'd only been there for a few months but immediately was promoted, and so I thought that was pretty awesome.
Mark Adams:Then, as I continued to work and my roles and responsibilities got heavier, then I just asked the question hey, what's next right In industry? What I've learned is there's not a roadmap In service. It was like, hey, after two years you're going to become E3, then, after this, right, and you know everything that you're going to do and you know the checkboxes that you need to do in order to get there. And this is not that way. You really have to be able to advocate for yourself.
Mark Adams:So when we would do annual reviews, I would provide all of my accomplishments up front and say here's everything that I did, and so that would help that now supervisor to go in and support in a promotion that I was aiming for. But of course I had that conversation with my supervisors up front hey, I want to become a director, what is it I need to do? Right. And so we would work together and have that plan and work towards it. And it was never a promise to me that I would get it, but I would work towards those things. So then I could say what's next? And so that was really exciting to have leadership who took me under their wing, provided me not only that mentorship, but also you hear this term a lot more these days but sponsorship and so having somebody who's going to say hey, look, you're the person who I want to make sure grows and becomes successful, and so it's really having those relationships of networking within the organization so you can find those both mentors and sponsors.
Lori Norris:And then after and it's been an exciting journey and I really have enjoyed what I've both learned and done in industry- Okay, so there was a lot in that answer and I want to break down each of those because I think there were some really important points that you made. The first thing you talked about is there is no roadmap to success in the private sector, right, it's not linear, it's not laid out for you, and so that can be terrifying, but it can also be exhilarating and freeing, can it? And I think sometimes it's about the viewpoint that we put on it, and so let's talk about that. Like you know, I and I've seen your work history right, and sometimes you were, you were doing two things at once you still are and sometimes you took a different approach and you went into a different department, took a different approach and you went into a different department. And so talk me through that.
Mark Adams:How did you navigate that path without a map in front of you? So I had. I had this guy. He was my boss's boss, awesome person. I still respect and love this guy to this day and the lessons that he's taught me. And he pulled me aside one day at his staff meeting and he said, mark, you need to learn how to handle just the vital few things, the big rocks. And he's like you still have that mission mindset.
Mark Adams:When you come to something, we as leaders say, hey, it would be great if we could do this.
Mark Adams:And he's like got it, boss, and you go and run and tackle it and sometimes that's letting these other big priorities fall off a little bit.
Mark Adams:And he's like you've got to learn how to tell us that it's not going to happen and go do the big things. And that took me about four years to learn how to do. And so now you know I will be in these positions where sometimes I'm wearing two hats and it's like I'm not going to do this, I'm going to do this, and I'm telling that to the CEOs of the world or the CEOs, and I'm saying this isn't going to happen. I'm going to do this Now. If you want this to happen. Here's the things that we've got to stop doing. And when you can have those conversations, it becomes so much easier for us to be able to prioritize and go out and do. But having that mission mindset took a long time to be able to unlearn that you know everything is important and everything must be done and if the boss wants it then the boss will have it. And that that was tough. That was a four year lesson to learn.
Lori Norris:Can you imagine the wing commander coming to you and saying, all right, sergeant Adams, we need you to do this. And you're like I'm sorry, boss, I can't. Can you imagine what a different culture? Right, and that is the biggest. I think that's a huge change and I love that you pointed that out, because I think that you do have that ability to have open conversations in the private sector, but it's a big change in your mindset, isn't it?
Mark Adams:It is. And if I would add, there is a second piece to that that the same guy taught me, but he taught me later. He said the best job you'll ever have is the one that you create yourself. And so he challenged me. He said if we could be doing anything different in this company, what would we be doing?
Mark Adams:And I sat and I spent four days just kind of brainstorming on that and I came to him with the proposal. I said I said this is what we're doing now, but if we could do this, I think we could be so much better and pitched it. And he said I love it. And we took it all the way up the chain of command and and then all of a sudden I got my own organization and and that was amazing and I loved that experience having my own team that you know I recruited and put into this based off an idea that I had. And that wasn't the first time what I'm doing right now same exact thing, an organization that we built from. You know, hey, if we could do this, this would be awesome.
Lori Norris:So twice now I've had the opportunity to kind of create my own role, and they're the best roles I've ever had ahead, and and so that kind of leads me to the second thing I wanted to pull out of that earlier answer is the ability to advocate for yourself, and you mentioned that and I think it's so important. It's something that that I think people often forget. They think I'm just going to put my nose down. I'm going to put my head down and put my nose to the grindstone and I'm just going to work and I'll get recognized. Someone, someone will see what I've done work and I'll get recognized. Someone will see what I've done.
Lori Norris:And you know, and I know even for myself, long ago and before I became self-employed, I remember getting promoted from you know the you know kind of a common level to more working in the corporate office. And people ask me like how did you do it? What's your secret? And I'm like you know what I just told everybody. I saw that I wanted to move forward, that I wanted to make an impact on a bigger level, and I'm a really big believer in advocating for yourself. I teach my children that you never know what you can get until you ask for it, unless you ask for it right, and so I think that's really important. Can you talk to me a little bit about. You know just the advice you would give for people on how to advocate for yourself out there in the private sector, in the working world. You know just in ways that even if you're in the job search process, I think advocating for yourself can be really important.
Mark Adams:Yeah, and now being able to lead people in this new position that I'm in and all my other ones you know that's a conversation that comes up and I'm trying to help facilitate with them right Is the ability to just say what it is that you want. So sometimes we as leaders, if we don't hear that, that own advocation from you, then sometimes we think is this something that they even want, if we even think about it at all. So, having that conversation, be able to come and be able to advocate for yourself, let's let them know. One you're ready and you want this and you're hungry and we love hungry, right. And so then two is being able to say okay, now what do we need to do? And we can start having real conversations.
Mark Adams:And I'm always very transparent. I say, hey, look, I love where you're coming from. Let's see what we can do. I can't make promises, but if we were to have you in this next kind of higher level role, here's some things that you would need to accomplish that I'm not seeing right now. That would help me to be able to say this person's ready, look at this accomplishment, look at this accomplishment. So then I can go advocate for you.
Mark Adams:And so those conversations I find people really enjoy and unfortunately what I find is they're not used to having those conversations. But what's funny is, as us, as service members, we have these conversations all the time because there was a roadmap to you know, graduating essentially into that next rank or in that next role. So to us it came as super easy and it seems like it's just second half. But I found that those conversations don't really happen. So that's why I say lean on those experiences that you had from service, those things that you've done, the things that you've learned, and just be able to apply that, but be able to do it respectfully. If you go to the boss and it's like where's my promotion? I've been here for three years and nothing's happened You're not going to get anywhere.
Lori Norris:You have to have those respectful conversations and that advocacy, okay, and I like that. I think that's something I talk about a lot is that you know these are new experiences, but you have previous experience, just in a different environment, that you can leverage, that you can fall back on. And I think you're right. You do have to advocate for yourself, to get promoted, to win awards, to have good evals, because so many of us, so many of you, have to write your own right and when you're in the military, and so you do know how to do that. It's just doing it in a different environment, and so I think, just seeing it as I'm just going to leverage the skills that I already have, I think that's really important.
Lori Norris:And the last thing I want to talk about the, the three really key words that I pulled on. We talked about, you know, um, advocating for yourself. We talked about, you know, not following a road map, and the last thing you talked about is having a sponsor, right and and someone who and we talk about mentorship a lot, but a sponsor is a little bit of a different concept, isn't it? So talk to me about how you kind of found your sponsor and what that relationship did for your career.
Mark Adams:Yeah, so finding the sponsor for me was a little bit accidental because I didn't know the term, I didn't know what it was. It just happened by accident where it was again my boss's boss, who was a prior service veteran, and so I think he looked out after me, wanted to make sure I had a successful transition and was really bought in, and he loved the work that I did. I mean, I really solved some very significant problems for them that weren't able to be solved before, and so I think that was like hey look, I'm going to take care of this guy In my new company now. Certainly, I feel like I've got some relationships with the senior people who want to make sure that I'm still successful. But I think what those come in is they're not friendships, they're not going out and drinking kind of thing, they're just really a mutual respect. I see the vision that you have, I'm attached to the vision. Here's how I'm going to support that vision.
Mark Adams:And when that mutual respect happens, then people want to take care of you and it's not like the good old boys club either any of those other terms that we've heard. It really is somebody who says I see potential and I want to support that potential, and so they. It may come in the form of mentorship, where they're going to be like, hey, let me talk to you about things. Or coaching, right, hey, what would you do in this situation? And they're trying to grow you. Or it may very well come behind closed doors that you're not a part of, where there's a rework happening Like you know who could lead that mark. Let's get Mark involved in this. And so now you've got that opportunity to have people advocating for you where it matters. So sponsorship is a big thing, but how to find it? I'm just kind of either found it you know, not knowing because I didn't know or just by having those professional relationships, by being able to advocate for myself and then being able to show value.
Lori Norris:And I think that's really the biggest thing is that you, number one, went out and added value and put in the effort and to some extent, you know, you did put your head down and work right, but you also were communicating and advocating for yourself that you wanted more, that you wanted to move forward, and I think that those two things have to come together right. You have to be kind of a shining star that stands out, but you also have to be willing to go out and ask for and communicate, as you said, in a professional way, what you want. So I really like that. So that kind of serendipitously leads me into the next thing I want to ask you is that you know we're kind of announcing this today that your employer, seeknow, has decided to sponsor this entire season of the Lessons Learned from Bud's podcast, which I'm very grateful for. So like, what led you to that decision?
Mark Adams:Yeah, so obviously, laurie, we've known each other for a long time, fan of your work, and when you launched this podcast, you know I was really excited to see what you were doing. And I think when you and I spoke, both in Atlanta and then during the show, you know we've talked about the point that there's this gap where, again, people go after what they know. They go after either the defense contractors or they go after the big names that we've heard of those Fortune 50 companies, and so there's an opportunity that SeekNow has to help transition service members into our industry, into this property inspection and insurance industry that people would miss because they haven't heard of us before. And so I love that mission that you're on to help be able to enlighten people that there's more out there, and so we wanted to kind of partner together in this by being that sponsor to say, hey, the message you're giving is the same message we're trying to give Now. Let's just do it together, okay.
Lori Norris:And so part of that is what you alluded to it earlier. You recently started Drive Academy for your organization, seeknow, and I want to let you tell us about it. Like this is a new kind of division branch, however you want to refer to it, tell me what this company is all about.
Mark Adams:Yeah. So Drive Academy is this new company that we launched last year under the SeekNow umbrella, to where we do two kind of missions under it. One is we help provide learning for insurance adjusters. They all need their continuing education credit so they can renew their licenses, and so, with the years of experience that we have inspecting properties, we felt that we could take our competency and put that into learning courses and give another opportunity for adjusters to be able to earn their certifications.
Mark Adams:The other piece, though, is still could come in, do their internship, that final internship. They get in a career and then they could learn from us on that property inspections. They would get a certification on being a property inspector, and then they would have a guaranteed role with us after they're done. However, at the very end, we also give them academics on being a roofing contractor as well as being an insurance adjuster. So now they have an overview of the entire industry and they could say hey, you know what I think? I want to go and be my own boss and go try and sell roofs and make as much money as I can owning my own company. I think that's awesome. Well, now they have that experience from the internship and the certification that they can now go do that and we are going to celebrate them as they do.
Mark Adams:Or they could say, hey, I'm going to be an insurance adjuster. I like the negotiation, I like the investigation, I like those aspects that I learned about and because I have this certification, I now have a leg up against anyone else just coming off the streets, and so we can help introduce them to any of the number of insurance companies that we work with and hopefully they can get a job. We can't promise, but hopefully they do and this experience should help. Or, again, we can promise that they can stay with us, they can continue to inspect properties with us and they make really good money and they don't need any background, like in terms of education or prior experience. That's what the internship is about. So Drive Academy is this learning organization for those two fronts, but in terms of what we're working on together, you and I, lori is really helping to get service members to realize that there's this opportunity that they may not have heard of, not even just Seek Now, but even just roof and property inspections. So that's what we're doing today.
Lori Norris:Can you give me a little bit of an insight into what they'll learn in the internship and just tell me about a couple of veterans that have been through the program that are having great success now?
Mark Adams:Yeah, so before we started this program, we had been focused on veteran recruiting since 2023, when we had known that this is something that we wanted to do for a while, and 33% of our inspectors are prior service veterans. So our organization is already pretty much made up of a good number of people that have that kind of service experience. And then, with our role of going out and inspecting properties, we're really in the communities and it keeps that kind of mission focus going on. So what they're coming in and learning is a lot of culture in terms of how we are as a culture, and they're getting that experience. But then they're also again learning material types so what's the difference between a shingle and a tiled roof or brick walls, and then how to be able to look at the windows and different types they are. So they're able to put all of this into an app that we've created which generates a report to the customer, so they know how to go adjudicate a claim. So they're getting all of that experience. They get this certification from Hague Engineering, which is the certified residential inspector certification.
Mark Adams:Hague has been around for a hundred years, so although, again, another company that you may not have heard of, but they've been around for a hundred years in 2024. So now they're on their 101st year this year and all of our contracts require our people to have that certification. So they're getting the hands-on experience of being able to inspect properties and understand if there's damage or not from like a storm or something else. They're getting the certification from Hague and they're also getting that immersion into Seek Now to really learn about our culture and how we operate as an organization and help with that transition. Because they have people like me. I've got an ambassador who works in my organization. His name is Ricky, who helps kind of coordinate everything. I've got a director of military operations also prior service His name is Rich and he helps them out in the field almost like kind of a big brother type. Anytime that there's a problem or concern he's really right there to help and support them. So they are just surrounded by people who care about their success and journey in this transition process.
Lori Norris:And give me an example of someone who's been through your program came through the skill bridge, now working for, say they're working for, Seek. Now Tell me a little bit about some success stories.
Mark Adams:Yeah, honestly, we find that everyone who's come through and finished the program is a success story because all of them have onboarded with us and that was not the number we were expecting. We really thought people were going to say, oh, I want to be a roofing contractor, I want to be an insurance adjuster. We really thought we were introducing them to an industry that they could go pursue. We were shocked and really thrilled that 100% have chose to stay with us after they finished their internship. We actually had a great opportunity to celebrate one of the ones who recently finished. His name is Aaron Smith. He was recognized on the Montel Williams hosted show, military Makeover Operation Career. If you haven't heard of it, it's a great TV show that talks about companies that are veteran friendly and what they're doing in order to help service members as they transition from service to industry. And they saw what we were doing and they highlighted Seek Now and our Drive Academy, but not only that. They highlighted Aaron, and Aaron came on board. He was a prior Marine. This was really a new experience for him but he had heard about the industry a little bit from his brother. But this was a new industry forum and he came in, learned it, did awesome at it and then immediately onboarded. And he'll tell you the money he's making is so much better than what he was making in service and so he's thrilled about his transition journey experience.
Mark Adams:And I got another guy who just finished recently. He was a first sergeant. He's worked at two different branches. He came on and his name is James Spivey and he was like wow, mark, this was an awesome experience. I didn't really know that this existed and now that I've seen it, I want to be a part of this. I want to be advocating this from shouting about this from the rooftops and tell me how I can help. And he's volunteered to come to career fairs with us and other things. And honestly, I found that every single person who's finished the program has had those same conversations with me that James had you know where. He pulled me aside and said how do I support this? I'll do it on my own time. And so people are really excited and they love him, the success that they've had and are really excited and they love the success that they've had.
Lori Norris:And I love your 100% placement and I think that's amazing because unfortunately, that doesn't always happen with the Skill Bridge program and so I know it's undergoing some changes and some revisions, but I love that you've gotten on board and said no, we have 100% placement of our candidates, so I really like that. So we're going to hear a lot from SeekNow this year for the season, but if someone listening is interested in learning more, maybe applying for a SkillBridge internship with SeekNow working through Drive Academy, like, how can they get in touch with you?
Mark Adams:Yeah, let's try and make this as easy as we can. I would just go to the website internwithdrivecom so you know again if we're talking internships, that's internwithdrivecom. I think that would be the easiest way. It would take you right to our landing page and in there is, of course, a contact us or an apply now button in many ways. And then, of course, you can always find me on LinkedIn.
Mark Adams:I know there's tons of Mark Adams, but if you're connected with Lori, you should easily find me within shared connections and then I believe that Lori will also share you know, part of the link, you know how to connect with us and so forth on her own website. But yeah, internwithdrivecom, I think, is probably the easiest way to find us. And then what will happen is it'll shoot out an email to me once you connect with us. It'll shoot out an email to me and I immediately connect you with one of the recruiters that we have to make sure that your questions get answered and tell you about the program and then, if you like it, we help facilitate your application.
Lori Norris:Excellent. So if you're listening in an app, this will be in the show notes. All of these links will be in the show notes, so you just have to go to your app and scroll through for this episode, or you go to the website ll4vetscom for this episode, or you go to the website ll4vetscom. There's show notes for every episode there and I will share them all and or reach out to me If we're. If you're listening, you're connected to me and we are. I'm happy to connect you with Mark, but absolutely and Mark's I'll put Mark's LinkedIn connection link in the show notes as well, so you know how to do it.
Lori Norris:Well, mark, I am excited to talk to you. You and I have looked so. We've had lots of conversations over the years. We finally got to sit down and see each other in Atlanta last year at the MIC, but I'm really excited to partner with you because this is something really important to me. I want to expand people's opportunities and I want to open their eyes to all the things that are out there, and I love what you're doing with your Skill Bridge program and I'm excited to highlight you today. So thank you for joining me.
Mark Adams:Thank you so much, Lori. This is awesome experience and I really appreciate you giving me the opportunity to talk about us, but also just for us to connect. Every time I get to connect with you, it's just a blast.
Lori Norris:I love it and I have. I think it's an exciting like full circle moment and I love when we're able to do those. And and it was. I can't believe it's been 12 years since he first sat in a tap class and I didn't bleed on his resume. I and I try not to even use red pen. I like try to use purple or something pretty like that so it doesn't look so bad.
Mark Adams:But I promise I'm very nice when I review resumes, so absolutely, otherwise I wouldn't came back thanks, mark.
Lori Norris:Thanks for listening to today's episode. My goal is to give you actionable strategies to help you learn to market your military skills and smooth your transition to the next phase of your career. If you learned something valuable today, share it. Subscribe to our podcast and our YouTube channel, leave us a review and write a post on social media about the lessons that helped you today from this episode.