Lessons Learned for Vets
Lessons Learned for Vets
Exceeding Your Own Expectations with Christopher Coffey
What happens when your therapist asks you to practice rejection by applying for jobs you think are out of reach? For Air Force Tech Sergeant Christopher Coffey, it led to three six-figure job offers and a complete rethinking of his value in the civilian workforce.
This eye-opening conversation challenges the most persistent myths about military transition, especially for non-senior enlisted personnel. Chris shares how he landed a management position with a six-figure salary without using LinkedIn or networking – simply by having a professional resume and thorough interview preparation. His story directly contradicts what many hear in Transition Assistance Programs about "starting at the bottom" after military service.
The journey wasn't without challenges. Chris candidly describes his process of "demilitarizing" himself – adjusting to civilian workplace culture where not everyone follows regulations to the letter, learning to call his boss by first name instead of "sir," and adapting to a workplace that values gradual improvement over immediate action. These adjustments, while sometimes frustrating, were key to his successful integration into his new role.
Perhaps the most valuable takeaway from Chris's experience is his mantra: "Don't tell yourself no." By refusing to disqualify himself from opportunities and letting employers make the decision instead, he opened doors that many veterans assume are closed to them. His advice to fellow transitioning service members is refreshingly straightforward – get help with your resume, prepare thoroughly for interviews, and most importantly, recognize the true value of your military experience in the civilian marketplace.
Whether you're years away from transition or actively job hunting, this conversation offers practical insights that could dramatically change your approach to finding meaningful civilian employment. What opportunities might be waiting if you stop telling yourself no?
Connect with Chris Coffey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopher-m-coffey/
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 to the Lessons Learned from Vets podcast.
Speaker 1:After much technical troubles, I am excited to welcome Christopher Coffey to the show. Chris retired from the Air Force as a tech sergeant. He and his wife now live in Las Vegas, nevada, with their four kids and two dogs, and, after retiring in July of 2023, he landed a role which, as he told me, was far better than he really expected, and he had already started working at his current employer four months before he finished up and retired from the Air Force. So he's here today to talk to us about just the struggles, I'm sorry the strategies that he used there were no struggles, I'm sure there were a few and the lessons he learned along the way. So, chris, I'm excited that we are finally getting to do this.
Speaker 2:I am too Nice to be here.
Speaker 1:Welcome, welcome. So I'm very familiar with your story because you and I talked a lot during your transition a couple years ago. As I said in the intro, you landed a great position, you told me, and your message is far more than you expected to be making and more than you made in the military. So, and you've already been promoted once since you retired in the two years. So, um, I know that, contrary to what all the experts say, you didn't use linkedin. You barely even have a linkedin profile. You have one, but it's not something you use. You didn't network, you just cold applied on using, I think indeed, right, yes, yep, so you didn't have anybody on the inside, you just applied and got the job. That goes against like what all the so-called experts, including me, oftentimes say you should do. So tell us the story of your process. How did that all go for you?
Speaker 2:All right, thank you for having me here. Obviously and this starts actually back when I was in the military it starts back one of my great chiefs, chief V. He told me about getresultsresumecom. So he told me that's what he used and he landed a really good job with it too. And I'm like okay, I'll look into it. Like I don't have a resume. I don't know the first thing about writing a resume. So I got in touch with you and we had our meeting and we got, we got my resume started.
Speaker 2:Once I had my resume started, I was still a wreck, like I still hadn't gone through taps, I hadn't. I joined the military two weeks after high school, so I had no clue of what an adult job was like, what, what I needed to do. I was 39 years old and had no clue. So at the time, luckily, Chi B and some of my co-workers had also like pushed me and kind of prodded me and got me into therapy. So I was actually seeing a therapist, which was good, and my therapist was like all right, you're really scared about all this stuff, you need to learn rejection. So she looked at my resume and she's like all right, cool, your resume is nice, it's going to get you an interview anywhere and I'm like all right, awesome. So she's like pick three jobs, three jobs. You don't think you can land three jobs that are above your pay grade, above your expertise level, and apply for them.
Speaker 2:She's like the resume will get you in there, then you can go do your interview so that you can get those butterflies gone and then you can get rejected and then we'll worry about it later, because this was like four or five months before it's about five months before I was getting out and I applied for a couple of jobs and, uh, I got interviews with all three of them and I was able to, uh, go to all three of my interviews and after going through all three of my interviews I ended up with three job offers and I was like, how did this even work out? So obviously that was a little bit of a through, a wrench in my therapist plan. I went back and told her for the next week and she was like, well, that messes up my plan, we'll deal with rejection later. I'm like, all right, that's fine, but that's how I, that's how I did it. I did it, uh, kind of based on pure dumb luck. I just I put myself out there for jobs that I didn't think I could get.
Speaker 2:And that goes completely against one of the things that I talked about in my own retirement ceremony. Because in my retirement ceremony I talked about a story where I told everybody never take no from somebody who can't tell you yes. And I told him a story about when I was deploying somebody and this person was going to go to his go to Germany to visit family and all deploying flights go through Germany. So we're like he's going to be on the Air Force base anyway, can't he just pick up the deploying flight and go from there? And everybody at the base level told me no. So I went to the next level and they told me no. And I was like, all right, cool, who's your boss? And they were like well, I'm not gonna give you that number, so through outlook I'm able to find their number. Now they would go up and up and up, until I'm talking to a colonel and he's like you're not even supposed to talk to me. I'm like all right, cool, we're talking. So like, can you tell me yes on this? And he was like well, yes, if it can be done, I can do it. All right, cool, then you're the guy. So like, let's get it done.
Speaker 2:And we, we made it happen. So we had to go back down the line of everybody. They all had to say yes, yes, yes. So I sold myself short and I told myself I couldn't get those three jobs. It's not my job to tell myself I can get those jobs. I can't say, yes, you can have that job. So why can't I tell myself no? So I I wouldn't use my own advice. That one, and that's just the easiest thing for me to tell everybody is put yourself out there. Let somebody else tell you no. If they also have the ability to tell you yes, don't tell yourself no.
Speaker 1:I love it. You know, I think that's really interesting because, well, first of all, you graduated from therapy so early. No, but I think that we do sell ourselves short right, and I think that's something that is common among many people is that we don't see the value of what we can do and what we've done in the past. And you know, I didn't bring you on here to be a commercial for me, but let's talk about it because I remember you telling me like I didn't bring you on here to be a commercial for me, but let's talk about it Because I remember you telling me like I didn't really even realize I had all these accomplishments until we started talking about it. Was that helpful to you for you and I to work together and me to draw that out of you?
Speaker 2:It was very helpful. When I actually put my, when I gave you all my EPRs and gave you all my decorations and all my awards and everything I've gotten, and you actually put that into like my resume form and you actually put that into, I guess, civilian speak, I was like, wow, I actually have work experience, because I didn't think I did. I'm like I've been in the military, I've had my handheld for the last 21 years I don't have work experience, but I actually realized, like last 21 years I don't have work experience, uh, but I actually realized, like I have leadership experience, I have, uh management experience. I have uh all sorts of experience with logistics and ordering stuff and working on stuff and maintenance and everything else. Like I, I have experience, actually usable experience. That's something I just didn't, I didn't think I had yeah, so it's very helpful to learn all that.
Speaker 1:I think we, we just ourselves right. Like we, I just did my job, or I just did what my chief told me, and I think that we, we do that to ourselves right. A lot is like I I just put words on a paper. But you know, I think we, we go beyond that and I think sometimes it takes having somebody outside of our brain and outside of our every day to help us see the value of that. You know, um, I love that you're like I'm just gonna try for these three and see what happens. I'm gonna practice getting rejected. And you got offers from all three jobs, right?
Speaker 1:right all three very different jobs. Like you took, took the one. I think it's an aviation quality right.
Speaker 2:Yes, it is.
Speaker 1:And I think you said there was one working for like one of the major hotel casinos and facilities and I can't remember the third one, but like they were all really different, and did you change your resume at all to apply to those three jobs?
Speaker 2:No, I didn't change my resume at all, I just changed my cover letter.
Speaker 1:That was it All my advice? Okay, and so I mean, I think you do have a really good, diverse background in um, in quality and production management. You had some really solid accomplishments that we integrated into your resume, um, and I think that there are times where we just sell ourselves short and, um, you know what, the only thing that's holding you back is trying right like you're not going to land anything if you don't just put it out there and try. And you know we are in a very different market today than we were two years ago when you retired. Obviously our economy is very different, our job market's very different.
Speaker 1:So you know, and and I always say, like what works for one person doesn't necessarily going to work for another. But I want one of the reasons I wanted you to come and tell your story, chris, is because it does kind of buck the trend right. It does go against some of the things we talked about and you call it dumb luck, but obviously that's not really all there was to it. Like you also had to go in and close the deal well enough in those three interviews to get offers, very lucrative offers, from all three of them, and so again, I think you're selling yourself short one more time here, right, but I just wanted people to hear like sometimes, yeah, there, there is some luck involved in the process, but it's also following up, putting yourself out there, taking a chance and really believing in what you do, right.
Speaker 2:Right. The other thing I did for that is I watched like literally hundreds of hours of interview on YouTube. I think I've probably been through at least half of them. That are on YouTube like literally hundreds of hours. My wife would always constantly be like are you watching another video about that? Are you watching another video about that? I'm like yes. And she's like don't they all say the same thing? I'm like pretty much, but they say slightly different.
Speaker 2:It's just something I had to do to make myself comfortable. So then I was able to go into every interview and I was able to talk and just be myself and answer the questions and in all three I didn't get surprised by a single question. Every single question they told me or asked me or anything like that. I knew I was like all right, I already pre-planned how I'm going to answer this. I know what I'm talking about, so let's just talk about it. And it was easy for me because with the obviously the quality assurance job, which is the one I took, I was doing that most recently in the military, so that was easy for me to talk about.
Speaker 2:With the maintenance management job, uh, through my previous time in the military I did maintenance, so I did maintenance management so that for me the grounds maintenance management for the bellagio hotel in las vegas, that wasn't going to be that hard. The only reason I didn't choose that one is just because that's where all the c-suite people, or mgm grand, are, like all the the CFOs, ceo, all that. So I know that there was going to be no holidays, there's going to be no work, family life balance. I was going to be tied to a cell phone or tied to the building like my entire rest of my life, and I'm like I don't want that. So I decided not to go on that one. And then the other one was it was a warehouse manager for Penske and one um that that one didn't work out timing wise. It would have been a great job, I think, but it didn't work out timing wise. So kind of glad I ended up at, uh, certified aviation because that that worked for me yeah and you don't.
Speaker 1:you weren't really you weren't focusing on a career in aviation and we, honestly, if I remember correctly, we didn't even write your resume focused toward aviation and quality.
Speaker 2:No, not at all.
Speaker 1:So, like you know, you kind of walked us through the job offers you received and like the role that you ended up taking and the why, and you know, as I listened to you talk about all the prep work you did, it's so much more than dumb luck again like selling yourself short right, like you really prepped for it a lot and you worked hard for each one. And I think you know again, it's all about the resume gets you in the door. That's what it does. Right, it's your resume, is your marketing document, it's your proof of what you can do and it tells the story of the value you're going to add. But then you got to seal the deal once you get in the interview and you work just as hard at that as as you did anything else. And so I want you to stop saying dumb luck because you are so okay.
Speaker 1:So we tell a lot of stories. We hear a lot of stories about senior NCOs going into post-military six-figure jobs. You retired as an E6 and you landed a six-figure job and have since been promoted. So what do you think was the key to your success in landing that high-paying role?
Speaker 2:the key to your success in landing that high paying role. Um, for landing that high paying role, uh, that was actually um me just putting myself out there, that was me. Um, I didn't think I. I didn't think I was gonna do that. I thought for sure I was gonna be in the high sixties, low seventies, like that's where I thought I was gonna land. I thought I'd be super lucky if I landed like an $80,000 job. I was like that's going to be coming out as a tech sergeant. That's going to be amazing if I can land $80,000. And being able to land all three jobs, all three six-figure offers, that to me was it was mind-blowing.
Speaker 2:But since I got into the job, the thing that has been my key to success for that is just getting things done. I'll take what I learned in the, the military, what I've been doing for 21 years in the military, and I just get it done. When my boss comes to me which I have two bosses now but when they come to me and they're like hey, chris, can you do x, y or z, I say yes and I figure it out and I get it done. Um, I don't do the well, I don't know if I can do that, or it's not my swim lane or whatever. I don't do any of that stuff. I just I get things done, I figure them out and I get them done.
Speaker 2:The other thing I do is I actually a lot of people in my work, especially the CEO of our company. He likes talking to me because he knows I'm gonna. I'm a straight shooter. Anytime he comes and he asks me something, I'm gonna give him the truth. I'm not gonna be yes man, I'm a straight shooter. Anytime he comes and he asks me something, I'm going to give him the truth. I'm not going to be a yes man, I'm not going to try to save face. I'm not going to do anything, I'm just 100% telling the truth. And that's a military thing, I think. But that's one of the things that has helped me get pretty far in my career so far, because he appreciates it and then the other leaders in the organization also appreciate it. I've never actually had somebody seriously tell me. So tell me what you really think, chris.
Speaker 2:They say that joking all the time but they never say that actually seriously, because I'm always telling them the truth and people actually appreciate. If you tell them the truth, you get your job done, you do what you need to do, they don't have to worry about you.
Speaker 1:So okay, so, um, did you get any feedback on when you were in the interviews? Did you get feedback on the resume, like some of the things that they liked about the way that it was presented, some of the things that drew them to you to that caused you to them to call you, and did you get any feedback there?
Speaker 2:I actually did From my the station manager that I worked with when I first started on the job. He showed my resume to one of the other military guys just because he wanted them to look at the resume and kind of, I guess, interpret it into more civilian speak because he didn't know exactly some of the military stuff. And when they were looking at it, some of the military stuff, and when they were looking at it, uh, gary looked at the uh resume and then he told, uh, my station manager this time he's like if you don't hire this guy, you're an idiot. And I'm like, okay, and that was prior to the interview, so I'm like that's cool, like that's nice to know. He told me that a couple weeks after I got hired that, uh, he was told by, based on my resume, that I had to be hired. And I'm like that's cool okay, yeah, that's great, okay.
Speaker 1:So again, it's like telling that compelling story, right of. That's really what your resume needs to do is it needs to explain to people how can you add value in their organization, right? So you weren't going to work for the military, so if we'd written it in military language, that wouldn't have helped you, but you've got to translate it into the terms that they understand, so they see that you are a kind of a key that they can put in a lock and open a door, right? So it's really important that you speak the language that they, that they, they speak and that you show them with examples and stories and accomplishments of how you can, how you have achieved results in the past, so you can keep doing it for them, right?
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:And now are you hiring people yourself.
Speaker 2:I am. I hire people. I've actually hired quite a few people and I'm also involved in a lot of the other hiring processes.
Speaker 1:Even if they're not working directly for me, I'm still involved in a lot of other hiring processes, so I see tons and tons and tons of resumes so I didn't tell you I was going to ask you this question, but I want to hear like just I want your raw opinion of some of the biggest issues that you see with resumes coming across your desk, specifically if you see military resumes, but just in general, what are some of the biggest issues that you see?
Speaker 2:The biggest issue, absolute biggest issue, is if a resume is three pages or more, I'm not going to read it. I just I set it aside and I don't care. I don't want to read a book about somebody. I like two pages or less. Most people like two pages or less and then for a lot of times, especially in some of our positions, we have older people there.
Speaker 2:I don't really care too terribly much about their work experience from like 1976. That doesn't. It doesn't impress me at all. I don't care what you're doing long before I was born. I care about what you're doing in the last decade or maybe a little bit more. You have to show more experience for certain positions, but it's, and it's also a lot of times. People will have their resume and for, like, aircraft mechanics or for, like a quality uh engineer or something like that, they'll have stuff that they didn't like. Best buy and different places like that and like that adds nothing. Like you need to tailor it and show me what you did to help our company, because certified aviation doesn't care what you did at Best Buy. We don't care what you did fixing refrigerators. That's just the way it is. It has to be relevant.
Speaker 1:Okay, relevant, targeted, focused and concise. Two pages or less. Okay, yeah, I think that's important. I mean, I do hear you know like some hiring managers will read it, or maybe they'll just read the first two pages, but why make them dig through the good stuff, through everything to find the good stuff, right, right, when you and I talked about doing this show, you told me you wanted to dispel some of the biggest myths you were told both by senior military leaders and also by people in the transition assistance program. So, like, let's go through some of those together.
Speaker 2:Okay, the first one. This one was actually told me at the transition assistance program while I was going through it. They said for junior enlisted they were talking specifically to tech sergeants below junior enlisted they said you are going to get out and it doesn't matter that you've done 20 years, 15 years doesn't matter, you're starting at the bottom. You're bottom of the totem pole. You're starting at the bottom. You're not going to get a management job. You have to start yourself like back as an airman and work your way back up. That's a complete lie. I got hired on as a manager. I got three offers as managers in three different positions. And I know other people I've talked to and other people that you've done resumes for and they've gotten out and they've started management positions. They've started tech level three positions. They've started higher. You don't have to start at the bottom. People that have done 10 years military service, 15, 20, whatever that's work experience. You don't start at the bottom, you start what's commensurate with your work experience.
Speaker 1:And I think you know if you've been a manager like an E6 is an NCO, right, you are leading people, programs, processes, and I mean, I don't even think that it doesn't matter to me if you're an E4, like. If you're, you know, overseeing people, you're still a supervisor right. Oftentimes in the military, at 20 years old, you are responsible for people, for huge dollar amounts of assets, for really important things, and I think it's all about how you tell that story, right, right, and remember, it is your job to tell that story so that the person that doesn't know anything about what you do in the military can understand where you fit in their organization.
Speaker 2:So absolutely Okay, absolutely. One of the other ones which was kind of funny for this one is they told me in TAPS again not to pay to get a resume written. That's actually advice they give you. They say there's so many free places out there, there's so many examples, plus, taps is going to teach you how to write a resume this, that and the other". They say do not pay to write a resume. I think that's completely bad advice because had I written my own resume, I guarantee you I would be making the $55,000 to $60,000 that I thought I would be making. Whatever the cost to get a resume written, it pays for itself on your first paycheck. So it's, it's good to invest in yourself and it's it's very, very, very bad advice. Like I tell everybody, uh, to go to get results resumecom, because I, I know shamelessly- commission I tell everybody, just because I don't know what people are looking for.
Speaker 2:I do, now that I've been doing it for so long. I've been hiring for a couple of years, but I still couldn't write my own resume.
Speaker 1:So you know there are free resources out there, and now we even have AI tools, right, there are ways that you can do this without paying money, and and I don't think paying money is for everybody, right, I mean, I don't have to pay to get my oil changed. I'm the daughter of mechanic. He taught me how to do it. I don't want to go climb under my car. I don't have time, quite honestly, and and so and I know that if I went out and did it, I wouldn't do as good a job as me taking it to a mechanic, right.
Speaker 1:And so I think it's valuable to get outside support, whether it's free or paid, because I really do believe it helps you see things from a different perspective, and I think that having that conversation between you and I, I think I helped you start preparing to think about yourself differently, right, to think about your skills differently, to identify like oh yeah, I do have accomplishments and I have added value to the organization. So I think it's a confidence booster to the organization. So I think it's a confidence booster. It's also a practice session for learning how to start speaking a new language, right. Like you give me military language, I'm going to give you back civilian language oftentimes, and so that I think is valuable. I don't even know that we could put a value on that. Those two areas right, but but you're right, it does often pay for itself. I I don't even think it took your first paycheck, because it's not that it's. You know, it's not inexpensive but it's not that expensive. It's not a whole project's worth, right?
Speaker 2:no, it's far less than that's why it pays for itself in the first paycheck.
Speaker 1:Because it's far less than that, yeah and you know I think it's funny we we have this conversation a lot out there. I used to wade into this conversation on LinkedIn a lot. I've just started staying away from it. But some people are very, very adamant about never pay and I wonder I think to some extent, you know, had a negative experience and that's unfortunate for my industry. And so I will just say, like I'm not the best person, my company is not the best for everybody.
Speaker 1:I'm not fast, I'm very personalized and I work one-on-one, so I'm not a fast turnaround. If you need it in two hours, I'm not your person, right? I'm not the most expensive and I'm not the least expensive. And I just think that you've got to figure out what works best for you. You've got to do your due diligence, do your research, talk to the people and just make sure you fit with them. And so I think you know I appreciate that I did not expect you to be on here giving me a commercial, but I do think you know, talk to other people Absolutely. I think that's the first step is like see what other people's experience has been. I know that you were referred to me by somebody and, honestly, like 90% of my business is referrals for that reason. Um, so you just gotta do, do your research, find the right person. And maybe you don't want to have a personal conversation, and if that's you, then I'm definitely not the right person for you, because I want to have that one-on-one conversation with you.
Speaker 1:I'm not writing a resume for me and I'm writing it in your voice for other people, so I think that's the important thing to think about. So okay, that was a good one. I didn't even know we were going to talk about that one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, that's, that's the. That's one of the main ones there. The last one is, uh, when they're talking to you about resume because unfortunately I had to sit through part of the resume writing class. I didn't have to sit through the whole day one because I did eventually get them to let me go and do the online course. Once I showed them my resume and also showed them a job offer that I got, I got that day two of TAPS. I got the job offer and signed it. So I was just like I'm not doing TAPS anymore and they're like you have to at least do the online. I'm like, okay, I will.
Speaker 2:But one of the things they're telling me in the very beginning of the resume writing portion of it is they were saying that people don't necessarily care about all your military accomplishments, like all your training and stuff you do. People don't necessarily care about all that. If you look in my company right now, in my training records for my company, there is two air force certificates in there that count for training, for equality, because I took the actual air force uh, the quality manager air force course that actually gives you college credit and everything like that, and that's that's in my company's training records now. So and I'm like they obviously cared a little bit about what I did and it's just one of those things that they just tell you. This is false.
Speaker 1:And I think that it all depends on what it is and how you present it right. If I put NCO Academy on my resume, like everybody's, like what's that?
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:So I don't know what that is, but if I said it's a six-week course in professional communication and leadership tactics, that makes a difference. Right, right, and so you know, maybe we don't need to put like what's the C or what does that one stand for when you're like yeah, yeah, that one, maybe not your survival of an evasion course out there, maybe not your survival event and evasion course out there, but you know self-aid and buddy care.
Speaker 1:Well, that's first aid, emergency first aid and CPR. So maybe we don't put it as self-aid and buddy care, but we translate it and showcase that we have been trained in this, like emergency response. So I do agree that they don't always care about all of your military training, because I mean, I've seen your training records and it's pages and pages, so we don't need to put everything in there, but pull out what's relevant and then translate it when necessary, right?
Speaker 2:Right, absolutely, that's one of the main ones. Just it for me, uh, the way it kind of came out in my resume and it also came out and job and everything else, is, if I got college credit for it, even though it's through the ccaf, if I got college credit for it, it was worth putting in there, and I think that that's probably universal for almost everybody okay, yeah, and that's good and like again, it's all about relevance to where you're going too, because obviously your quality training was really relevant to what you were doing.
Speaker 1:So, okay, good. Um, so you've been a civilian employee for about two years now. Um, what have been some of like the biggest challenges or surprises that you faced in your civilian career?
Speaker 2:uh, the biggest shock at first which was because I was I was hired as a compliance manager. Uh, now I'm quality manager. But the biggest shock at first was I did quality in the air force and in the air force we have our AFIs, we have our rules and regulations and you follow them to a T, everybody follows them, everyone's good Like, that's just the way it is. So then, having to go into the civilian world, I had to demilitarize myself because we have rules and regulations, like we have our manuals and everything like that. So I figured everybody would be following those OTE, there would be no issues, there'd be nothing else.
Speaker 2:I show up the first day to work, I'm wearing my jeans, I'm wearing my steel-toed boots, because we're supposed to wear steel-toed boots when we're out and about and I find out people are showing up in just like sneakers, like just regular old soft-toed shoes, and I'm just like, but osha, requirement this says you have to wear a stiltoe boot, blah, blah, blah, if you're like, yeah, that doesn't like no one follows that, and I'm just like, but you can't not follow regulation. So I had to realize there's certain things I can uh enforce and certain things I can't enforce, and then certain things that are just kind of like that's the way civilians do things, so that was kind of hard for me at first.
Speaker 1:You adapted, obviously right.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 2:And then one of the other main things was when I first got hired on, I worked at a station. I worked at the Las Vegas airport station. Now I work for the entire company all over all 14 stations. But at first I was working on just the one station. So my station manager, I told him all the time anywhere I was going like, hey, sir, I have a medical appointment here. I'm going to be going at this time. Or I call him after medical appointment hey, my medical appointment ran a little bit long. I'm heading back to the shop now. And I'd hey, my medical appointment ran a little bit long. I'm heading back to the shop now and I'd constantly be in communication with him. And he's like chris, you're not in the military anymore, I don't care. And I'm like okay. And then the other thing was like they had they're like stop calling me sir. And I'm like okay, it's like it's more, it's brad, it's fred. I'm like, okay, cool, I'll stop calling you sir. So I had to de-malitorizeze myself.
Speaker 1:That's the biggest part of the transition into the world, and I think some of that is really just adapting. Right, and I know you're adaptable, that's you know you're used to doing that in the military, and I think service members tend to go like kind of full steam ahead right, like jump in with both feet and like okay, we're going to start making changes. And I think probably you need to take a slow approach to your new role, not you know, not that you're not going to try hard, but just observe and learn kind of the new culture before you start taking that action. Right, what do you?
Speaker 1:think that's good advice based on what you've experienced yes, absolutely.
Speaker 2:I think it's because with military members, a lot of times we show up somewhere and we don't have six months to get affirmated and then another year to change things and then like two more years on that because we're gone in two years. So we're bouncing around so much. We have to hit the ground running. We have to change things to make things better, we have to make improvements, whereas um, with the civilian life, I got, uh, promoted to the quality manager and I started looking at our college and quality management system and I'm like x, y and z are wrong. Like I need to fix all this stuff. I need to fix it now, like I just need to start knocking all out.
Speaker 2:My boss is like slow down, you have years to do all this. And I'm like okay, and like I'd be working 60, 70 hours a week. And he's like dude, 40 hours a week. He's like that's it, just just work 40. He's like it'll be here waiting for you. He's like we're not gonna pcs you anywhere. He's like you're fine and I'm like okay. He's like you got time. Fix it slowly. I'm fix it slowly.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, so it's. It is a different pace oftentimes, isn't it so?
Speaker 2:you know um, so I'll.
Speaker 1:I'll just say my, my. I know my friend Chris listens to the episodes and he experienced this where he was working a lot and he kept taking it on and taking it on and like I can do that right, like, learn your job, learn how to acclimate and and don't feel like you have to, like you know, pedal to the metal, you got to go 70 miles an hour at all times and I think it is a very different way of life, isn't it?
Speaker 2:yes, absolutely. And that's one of the things like my boss is great and he's uh, he's told me several times I'll, I'll be talking to this, uh ceo or I'll be talking to the president of line maintenance and I'll be like oh yeah, oh yeah, I can absolutely do that, I can do that, I can do that. And then he comes back and he's like well, why are you doing this? And I'm like well, we were in a meeting. I told him I could do it. And he's like no, that's not your job, not your swim lane. They have somebody to do that, so have them do it. Base or xyz base.
Speaker 1:I was doing this and that's basically this and he's like no, that's not your job. Okay, okay, okay, yeah. I think, uh, that's great. I mean, you sounds like you've you got a great boss, which we could all hope for to have somebody that would mentor us and and slow us down as opposed to piling more on. So we can all only hope for that kind of a boss. I wish I had that kind of a boss. I wish I had that kind of a boss, but I'm not a very good boss. I'm terrible to myself. So, okay, any like last advice, last words of advice, last thoughts before we wrap up today, just about your transition out of the military, or advice that you know, maybe you've seen other friends that didn't didn't happen as smoothly for them.
Speaker 2:For people getting out. My main advice is, like I said get help with a resume. Whether it's paying or not, whatever, get help with a resume. A resume will get your foot in the door and that's what you need. Watch tons of videos, because we don't know how to do job interviews. That's not something military practices. So watch the videos. Learn how to do that. That's not something military practices. So watch the videos. Learn how to do that. And then don't sell yourself short.
Speaker 2:Like I said before, don't tell yourself no because you can't give yourself a job. I can't go give myself a job at MGM Grand. Only the hiring official at MGM Grand can, so let him tell me no. Don't tell yourself no. If you're looking at a job on ladders or any of the other site and it looks good and you're like I, I think I can do that. But I'm missing this one piece. If you're like I don't have this exact years of experience, I don't have this exact degree, and you're like I don't know if they'll count this work experience, go for it, apply for the job. Let them tell you know. Worst case scenario you get told no. Best case scenario you get the job you really want. And a lot of times people look at your resume and they'll. They don't really care too much, too terrible much about the requirements. As long as you have the certifications you need, you're fine yeah, and you've told good stories that help them understand.
Speaker 1:Oh, I know exactly how I can put this person to work. I think that's the important thing is like make sure you paint a clear picture of how you're gonna add value to their team, because your resume is not about you. It's about them and their needs and what they want to do with you as an employee. So all great advice. I'm so glad we were finally able to get our tech gremlins figured out and get this recorded. Thank you so much for sharing your story. I appreciate the endorsement. Again, wasn't intended to be a commercial for me, but I appreciate that you came on and shared the success that you had with it and thank you for having me thanks for listening to today's episode.
Speaker 1: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.