Lessons Learned for Vets
Lessons Learned for Vets
What's The Catch? Exploring a Too-Good-To-Be-True Career with Mark Ardecki
Mark Ardecki's military transition story will resonate with anyone who's faced the uncertainty of post-service life. After nine years as a Marine with a special forces background, Mark found himself asking the same question most veterans do: "What's next?"
Following brief stints as a lineman and arborist, Mark discovered an unexpected career path with Seek Now as a field inspector. What makes his story remarkable isn't just the career change itself, but the dramatic improvement in his work-life balance and compensation. He went from grueling 14-hour workdays to earning comparable pay in just a couple of hours of inspection work.
The skills that propelled Mark's success aren't technical construction knowledge, which he freely admits he lacked. However, the core competencies most veterans already possess such as punctuality, accountability, integrity and human connection, were the key to his success. As a field inspector documenting property damage for insurance claims, Mark found himself uniquely positioned to help people during difficult times while maintaining the objectivity his role requires.
Now serving as the East Coast Lead Inspector, Mark has mentored over 20 transitioning service members through Seek Now's Drive Academy SkillBridge program. His pride in watching these veterans succeed mirrors the satisfaction he feels in his own career journey. Even more impressive, every one of his mentees has successfully placed into permanent roles with the company, with some now crossing the six-figure income threshold.
The comprehensive training program that combines classroom instruction, hands-on mentorship and certification provides veterans with everything they need to succeed, regardless of prior experience. In fact, Mark prefers training those with no construction background so they can "start with a clean slate."
For veterans considering their next move, Mark offers this perspective: "Everybody asks me what the catch is. I have yet to find it." With opportunities in 47 states and flexible work arrangements, Seek Now represents the kind of opportunity many transitioning service members are searching for but don't know exists.
Curious about starting your own post-military success story? Visit internwithdrive.com to explore how your military skills might translate into an unexpected and rewarding new career path.
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. On today's episode of the Lessons Learned for Vets podcast, I am welcoming Mark Ardecki.
Speaker 1:Mark served nine years in the United States Marine Corps. He went through a SkillBridge program to be a lineman, but when that career required him to be away from home and his family every week, he started looking for other options. One thing he knew is that he wanted to be outdoors and not sit behind a desk every day. So in 2023, he started working for Seek Now as a field inspector. As you know, Seek Now is sponsoring this season of the Lessons Learned for Vets podcast and their goal is to become known for their veteran hiring programs that offer exceptional post-military career opportunities for veterans. I know we heard from Mark Adams earlier in the season, but I wanted you to hear directly from a veteran who is working in this program. So welcome to the show, Mark.
Speaker 2:Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1:So not everybody that works for SEEK now is named Mark, right, that's, we gotta get that. No, okay, that's not a requirement. All right, good, we just wanted to make sure. So well, I am so excited to have you here, so I wanted to talk to you first about transition, because that's what the show is all about. Right is the military transition process. So tell me a little bit about your transition from the Marine Corps, kind of what worked for you, what didn't, and how you started your career in the private sector.
Speaker 2:Yes. So transitioning out of the military is one of the most daunting processes for a military member. We really have no idea where we're going. There's a select few. They know exactly where they're going. Right afterwards their occupation leads them into a civilian occupation.
Speaker 2:My occupation that I got out with didn't so much with special forces, command and everything, so I knew that I didn't want to be behind a desk, like you said, 24-7. I enjoy being outside. I enjoy getting my hands dirty and doing something that gets me tired during the day. Really, I do enjoy that. Just knowing that I had a skill set that the military provided me was fantastic.
Speaker 2:Now, not having the skill set to get into any type of construction field or any field such as seek now, I didn't have the knowledge. The amount of we'll go with knowledge again the amount of knowledge that they push onto you and allow you to understand in such a layman's terms, is amazing. I mean I could have sat there and looked at a house and told you that it had a roof on it, but I had no idea what that roof was made out of. I didn't know anything underneath of the outside elements. But getting onto here, I mean.
Speaker 2:So the way I did it, since I didn't do the skill bridge program was I just started on the job, training directly. I never went to our headquarters in Kentucky and did the training in that aspect, so I was a little different and I was pushed right into it. And after that mentorship I felt like I could tell little different and I was pushed right into it and after that mentorship I felt like I could tell you anything and everything. So, for transitional purposes out of the military, like I said it was, it was a shock wave, it. It scared me to death. I had no idea where to go, how to navigate everything, and finding this company ultimately just it gave me a peace of mind that there's something out there, that one is going to support my family and pays really well and two, I have job security. I'm not sitting here worried about how long I could do this for.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's funny, you say how scary. It is. Right, you're a, you're a Marine special forces commander and you know it's like this process is so daunting and fear inducing. Because is it? Do you think it's because of the unknown Cause? You just you don't know what you don't know and I think it's once that it's.
Speaker 2:It's the fear of the unknown, not knowing where you're going. A lot of the military members they try to keep you in the military for as long as possible. They want you to retire. So the way that military members tend to do that is scare tactics You're going to get out, you're not going to have opportunities. The grass isn't greener on the other side. So you tend to build that fear up inside of yourself. So you tend to build that fear up inside of yourself. And when something like this falls into your lap, the number one question I get from guys when they come and they train with me is what's the catch? I tell every single one the same exact thing I'm told by my boss. My boss has been working here for over 12 years and he says the day I find out, I'll let you know. So it really is too good to be true.
Speaker 1:So that that what's the catch is really, like you said, one of the most common questions Are there other fears that people have, like when they're trying, when they're coming into the organization out of the military.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So the fear of not being knowledgeable, not having enough knowledge, is definitely one of them. A lot of guys get on and they're like, look, I don't know anything about this, and we have an on-the-job training process for anywhere from two to four weeks where they're riding right alongside of me dealing with everything that I'm dealing with, and we try to put them in a position that they're going to be able to see as many things as possible so they're not running into surprises once they get on their own. So allowing them to do that right next to you questions on the spot, physically learning and touching everything at that point in time, that's a lot of military guys learn that way. Reading a book, reading, watching videos, doesn't stick with them so much.
Speaker 1:So getting out in the field and actually experiencing those firsthand, that is, it creates a comfortability in their mind, like hey, I got this, I can do this okay, so, um, it's, you know you don't necessarily like, it's not like only navy cbs are qualified to come and work in the roofing inspection and contracting division of Seek. Now right.
Speaker 2:Not at all. We have guys coming from the Coast Guard, air Force, army, navy, marines, and then we also have them coming from the civilian side. We always welcome the civilian side just as much as we do the military side. But getting these guys from the military, they come with that edge up on what we're looking for.
Speaker 1:And, by the way, we're using guys as the universal team term. Right, we have women that come into this as well.
Speaker 2:It's all inclusive when it comes to me. Even the women that were in my command. They were my guys.
Speaker 1:So I'm really bad about that. Hey guys, I'm talking to everybody, but I just want to clarify you've got it is a very, a very diverse organization, right? So okay.
Speaker 2:I you've got. It is a very diverse organization, right? So OK, so this is not in any way more men than women type of job. We have women out here that exceed a lot of the men that we have, so the girls are kicking butt out here also.
Speaker 1:Excellent. Well, of course, they are. Well come on. That's what we do. Are well come on, that's what we do. Um, what? What are some of like the skills or the experience that you have found that someone needs to be successful at? Seek? Now, like, what are some of the commonalities, the common traits that people bring over? We know they don't need construction knowledge right, so what else do they need?
Speaker 2:so the main skill set that we look for one, we're looking for somebody that's going to show up on time. We want huge accountability. Now, coming from the military, we had a set schedule Every day, every time, every objective that we had to hit was on a timeline. But we get jobs. They're put on a timeline. We have to complete that objective, make our next time and I mean it's it's really that easy.
Speaker 2:We need you to show up on time. We need you to be punctual. We need you to humanize. You're working with people that have just gone through loss tragedy, so our job isn't to get out there and deny or approve or anything like that. We have the easiest job we go out and we're documenting. So I have no quarrel with anybody on any side, whether it's being the adjusting side, the homeowner, the contractor that's trying to build a new roof there. All I'm there to do is documentation. So what we're looking for is somebody that's very thorough. We want you to pay attention to the work that you're doing. We want you to care about the work that you're doing because, like I said, it's a tough time for a lot of homeowners and that's a skill set that I think a lot of military members obtain throughout the process One, to humanize with people understand.
Speaker 2:Two, that being on time aspect. And then integrity is a big thing with us. Our job is to call it as we see it. So whatever is there, if it's there, it's there. If it's not there, we can't make things up. We can't push towards any way. So the biggest thing is be honest with yourself. At the end of the day, the job that you do has your last name on it, so it should be the best job that you can possibly do okay, sounds like all things that most people coming out of the military have right, so that's all of those skills have kind of already been put into them.
Speaker 1:So okay, so, um, you know, we talked about it a little bit earlier like you've always wanted to work outdoors and I think you went from being a lineman, obviously outdoors, you went and worked as an arborist for a while, also outdoors, with with nature, um. But you told me that when you went to work for Seek Now you made as much as you did as an arborist with far less hours. Is that right, tell me?
Speaker 2:about that, yeah. So with that, not as much pay as I should have been, hopefully, but uh. So what had happened was is when I joined up with seek now, I started in an environment where we weren't really that prominent, so we weren't well known, Nobody was really using us as much, so I actually had to, in a way, create this market, build this market. So when I first started, the job availability that was given to me was not that much. I was doing maybe one job a day, maybe two every now and then. So each job itself entails for about anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half.
Speaker 2:Now, with that being said, that one job that I had, I worked that day for an hour and 45 minutes, compared to a 10, 12, 14 hour day doing tree work, and made a comparable rate to the same thing, which was absolutely shocking. At the end of the week, I sat there and I was like I didn't work that much this week and then my paycheck came in and I was like, okay, maybe I did work that much this week. So it was a very weird feeling to everybody always talks about. They feel like they deserve to be paid more, they feel like what they're doing matters and it should be compensated in that aspect. And getting over to this company I mean, once them paychecks started coming in, I was like, wow, this is that feeling that we've all been longing for. Give me more money for what I'm doing for this company.
Speaker 2:And when it happens, you're kind of in shock. You're like wow, that it feels good. So. So yeah, making that transition from working long, hard days to not not so long, not so hard days and still being compensated at a comparable rate. I was just absolutely excited to be a part of this. So and Seek. Now. Their main goal here is to obtain as many jobs as we can, help as many adjusters and homeowners as we can, and for what we call them seekers they're the guys in the field is to let these guys bring in as much money as they possibly can to support their families and the lives that they're hoping to live.
Speaker 1:And as you grew the market, now you're probably, you know, doing way more than one or two jobs a day. Did the company support you in growing that market?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. The company backs us in that aspect. My main focus on it was growing, not only the jobs, but growing relationships. I started to grow relationships with the adjusting firms themselves, with the contractors that worked out here. The way I look at it is if contractors aren't knocking on doors letting people know they have damage on the roofs, I have nothing to inspect. If the adjusters are getting bad reports from us, they're not going to want to use us. If they call us, they need something, I'm going above and beyond what I need to do to make that happen for them, Because they remember that two weeks from now they're going to call me back because they were like, wow, he helped me with every problem I had. That's the go-to guy. I need more help. So building those relationships out here, I mean it just set a standard on this market and the amount of claims that we have coming through now is exponential compared to when I first started.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, good, and I think you have far exceeded your work salary as an arborist and as a lineman, am I right?
Speaker 2:Oh yes.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Just within my first year bringing home what I brought home, I mean, after looking at my taxes and seeing the actual dollar amount that came in, I was still in shock. I was like wow, and it's only grown every year since then yeah, okay, well, good, okay, um.
Speaker 1:So you've kind of worked your way up the ladder at seek now over the last two years. You're now the lead inspector for the east coast and you're managing the skill bridge program for a local installation, right. So tell me about some of the success of your interns.
Speaker 2:Yes, so my interns. We can call them my interns. I mean, essentially they're just my coworkers now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:So, so yeah, I started intern. I started becoming a mentor. It was, I believe it was, June of 2024. Is that right? Yeah, so I've been doing it for just over a year now as a mentor. I've had over 20 guys under my charge. These guys are absolutely amazing.
Speaker 2:I get them out there it's weird to say it, it's kind of I got a kid myself. So watching him progress and hit certain levels, I get that same enjoyment when I see these guys come out there. They have no idea what's going on and now they're making phone calls to me and sometimes I'm asking questions. I'm like what happened when you ran into that? I haven't ran into that yet.
Speaker 2:So, seeing these guys come on their first couple of weeks, they're a little shaky. We get up on some questionable roofs, some steep ones and stuff, and we take them alongside and we teach them how to do it safely. The main thing is getting home to your family. We want you to do everything safely and if there's something you get to a predicament that you just don't feel safe and secure, we don't want you doing it. So watching, watching, watching these guys get to get to grow in that aspect and become more comfortable, become more confident and the competency level is just skyrocketing as time goes by because of the experiences that they're getting. I mean, it's it's fulfilling to me. I love it. And then a lot of these guys. I had a phone call today from one of the guys and then a lot of these guys. I had a phone call today from one of the guys the first guy I mentored. He got a phone call and he's now joining the mentor program and he's going to take on a Skill Bridge guy coming out of Delaware starting Monday.
Speaker 1:Excellent. So, yeah, I think you told me that a couple of your interns have crossed the six-figure mark right.
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and that's what depending upon the areas that you go to and what you're willing to do. One of my last mentors mentees that was with me, him and his wife. They just bought a camper and they're going to be traveling full time for the year. That guy is going to be looking at well over six figures so well, six figure being a hundred thousand, but he's he's going to push that way further than that yep, because, and now he's mobile and he can take his house with him, where he wants to go.
Speaker 2:So exactly, and that's a diamond in the rough. Here he's a guy that we can call and say hey, that market is slowing down, it's back to normal pace. This next state, this next county, over whatever it is, they're picking up would you like to go? He says, yes, there he goes, and more money to be made right there some people could do that.
Speaker 1:I need a home base, but you know like for some people that's a perfect lifestyle, isn't it?
Speaker 2:so and that's and that's what it is is we afford the opportunity to have a hybrid. So myself, I have a six-month-old kid. I took off before when my wife was pregnant. She was, like go work, the storm make some really good money, come home before we have the baby. Once we have the baby, a few months later, I took off. I went and worked. Another storm brought in a bunch of money off of that one. So I still have my home base and when the company needs me or when I choose to get up and go to make a lot more money, I can do that freely. So it's great.
Speaker 1:I think you also told me that all of your interns have placed in roles with the company right.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Yeah, that's what I thought, and everyone that I've trained has stuck with the company.
Speaker 1:Okay, and I remember Mark telling us he had a really high placement percentage as well, and so I think that's an issue sometimes is that there are these Skillbridge programs that are it's great because you get some exposure, you get to learn new things, but at the end of the day, the purpose of skill bridge is to get a position to get a job right. That try before you buy it, concept, Um, and I just don't know that all of them are offering that and I love that. That is part of that drive Academy, that where you you get the training you need to land a role with Seek Now right.
Speaker 2:And that's how it was for me when I went through my Skill Bridge program. We completed the program and we sent out applications during the program and it was kind of when it sticks, let us know you got a job. And I mean that was another scary portion of the transition. I was like there's still no job security. I have the skill set now, but with Seek, now we bring you on, we give you the skill set and then you're with the company, you're locked onto a job, so I mean it's secure. I absolutely love that about it.
Speaker 1:Yep, tell me about the program, the training program. Like, is it some classroom, some field? I know you talked a little bit about it. It was a lot of field training for you, like, what is somebody who's coming in? You know? That goes to that. Internwithdrivecom fills out the paperwork, gets into the program. What are they looking at in terms of their Skill Bridge program?
Speaker 2:Absolutely so. The way the program works once you get your Skill Bridge or whatever military equivalent that you're coming through, we start the first week. You're going to go out. They fly you out to Kentucky at our headquarters, they put you in a hotel room, get you a rental car. Everything's taken care of. What they do is they start doing the classroom training. They start introducing you to what we're looking at, what exactly we do, getting that knowledge. They're going to push a lot of knowledge onto these guys and in military terms we call it fire and forget. They're going to hear it. It's kind of going to go in one ear, out the other ear.
Speaker 2:After that first week of training they then get assigned to a mentor. So myself being the east coast mentor in the camp lagoon area, if they come out of that area they'll be with me. I take them through. On the job training. We try to set it at a two-week training schedule to get that on the job depending, depending upon the market, how many jobs we're running. If, say, this week had scattered storms throughout the week, we're not working this week, so I'm going to need another week with him.
Speaker 2:But the main thing with the mentors is I have to release them. I have to feel comfortable that they can go handle this job on their own. They're competent enough, they're making the right decisions and a lot of times these guys coming out of the military, I mean I only need two weeks with them and they're itching to go. They're ready to rock and roll so that on the job, training, like I said, it normally can last anywhere from two to four weeks. Once that's finished, they have a remainder.
Speaker 2:The skill bridges are all depending on the time of them PCS and getting out. So if they have another month before that's ending, those next three weeks they'll be on their own. They'll be running jobs on their own. Any questions concerns anything like that? Every one of my guys has my phone number. We FaceTime. They can show me what they got going on. They're getting direct answers right on the spot. So it's it's not a we're going to push you out on your own and see if you pass or fail kind of thing. It's we're pushing you out on your own to build your own confidence. You're leading the charge at this point and any questions and concerns you have, you have somebody right there that you can contact on the spot okay so once once.
Speaker 2:That concludes. So the way it works is here. I got pulled up for their last portion uh, their last week on the skill bridge program. They returned back to kentucky same thing flight rental hotel and what we do is we then prepare them for their certification, so we get what is called a Hague certification. You become a certified inspector, so they do another few days of classroom training on what they need to know for that test and then the last day of that week they're prepping and taking that exam so that they can become certified right on the spot.
Speaker 2:So all in all, it depends on the length of their skill bridge. Some people have a month long skill bridge, two month long skill bridge, whatever it is, some people have six. So the best benefit of that program is we cannot pay military members while they're still in the military, but as they're working on their own for whatever period of time they have, there is compensation being built. So once they finish this program, they consider that a sign-on bonus and a lot of times what they tell people is anywhere between two and ten thousand dollars is where the sign-on bonuses are, depending on the amount of days that you have to work that program. So it's amazing.
Speaker 1:So you, you, you sign on to the company. You get that, that money that you really have earned. It's kind of sitting in a pot waiting for you if you will, that's great. Okay, I was not aware of that program.
Speaker 2:That's, that's, that's great yeah, so what they do is is they supply every drive member with the gear that they need their safety equipment, their climbing equipment, all of that stuff while they're running them jobs on their own. That money collection goes back to pay that gear off and then, once that gear is paid off, they start making that money in that sign on bonus right after that okay, good, all right.
Speaker 1:Um, so I know there really is no such thing as a typical day, right, and that's kind of the beauty of it is like you don't know what's coming your way because we don't know what what Mother Nature is going to bring us but you tell us about a day in the life like tell, tell us what. Like what exactly are you doing for Seek Now, and what does a typical day look like for you, if there is such a thing?
Speaker 2:That's fine enough. That's an easy enough question. So normally a workday starts in the morning. For us it starts the night before, so anywhere between five and seven o'clock.
Speaker 2:I myself, as a 1099 employee, I get assigned jobs for the next day. So, as we're sitting here, my jobs came in. So what will happen is, as I look at them, we have scope sheets which we do an aerial view of the roof of the house so that we can draw diagrams of where damage is located and everything. So the night before we prep, so I'll sit in here and I'll prep my jobs for tomorrow, which normally can take anywhere from 10 minutes to 40 minutes, nothing crazy. I get on my sheets, print it out or drawn out. However, however these guys want to do it Guys or girls, we're still doing it, but however they want to do it and then I'm ready for the next day.
Speaker 2:The next day starts. Depending on how many jobs you have can depend on how fast the day goes, how slow the day goes, but normally we like to get. We find that a happy number for people is anywhere between three and six jobs a day. That's happiness in income and that's happiness without running around like a chicken with your head cut off. So, yeah, once the day gets started I mean the basis of our inspection I'll break it down kind of simple knock on the door, let the homeowners know who we are, what we're there to do Nine times out of 10, they're completely fine with that that. We come in, we take a look at everything. We start documenting. We walk around the house, document all the exterior portion of the house. Then we get up on the roof do the inspection for that. Once that inspection is fully complete, we have our scope sheets. We document all the damages.
Speaker 2:The app that we use once we finish taking the pictures and inputting the little amount of data that we have to input, it generates an already filled out report. So we're not coming home at the end of the day and writing full reports, which is absolutely amazing. That application that we use I mean the amount of time that saves me in the day. It you just can't beat it once. Once I finish filling out that sheet and I hit send to the adjuster, it sends that complete report to the adjuster and I'm done that job.
Speaker 2:So I move on to the next two, three, however many it may be. Repeat the process it's. It's a job that is ever-changing because the environments that you're going to are always different, the people you're working with are always different, and then, at the same time. You're doing the same thing over and over again, so it's a process that's easy to get through, pounded into your head, to understand exactly what you have to do, what objectives you have to meet at every single job. So that's what I find comfort in is the ease of knowing what objective I have to complete every time I go to a property.
Speaker 1:Okay. So as long as they're not afraid of ladders or heights, it's a pretty straightforward role, right.
Speaker 2:And I I mean, even if they are afraid of it. It's, it's a conditioning factor. Once you start to do it more and more. Now, if you have a complete phobia of being off of the ground, that's a little different. You're probably not gonna fit in well in this environment. But there's, there's still some roofs that I get to and I'm like, okay, cut myself, be safe, get the job done, get down safe and go home and, let's be honest, there are probably so many safety protocols in place that the company puts you in, like you said.
Speaker 1:You have gear, you have safety protocol, you have things that you learn of how to get on a roof, how to walk on a roof, how to to assess it. So we joke about the people that are afraid of heights, but it is a very safe environment.
Speaker 2:It is, and that's the one really good thing about this company. So the way that the application works is you can make it your own process of however you want to do this inspection. I teach my guys a certain way and every guy that comes on with me I let them know. I said you make this your project. You control whatever you want to control in whatever order you want to control it. However, it's more safe to you. You do it in that way as long as you're getting the, as long as you're hitting the wickets and getting what we need. It doesn't matter how you're doing it, as long as it's safe.
Speaker 1:Yep, okay, all right, sounds good. So anybody that's listened to more than one episode of this show has heard me say it at the beginning of every single episode If you want to go and learn more about the program, all you got to do is explore these opportunities at wwwinternwithdrivecom. And so I want to ask you one last question, and if somebody's been listening, they keep hearing me say this like what is this Intern With Drive? They're on the fence about checking out the program. What would you say to them?
Speaker 2:Honestly, it is a program. Once you get to looking into it, you're going to think it's too good to be true. Like I said from the beginning, everybody asks me what the catch is. I have yet to find it. This company has offered so many opportunities for so many families. There's success stories on our guys on our website and girls on our website, from going from a low-income household to now being able to financially support their family. We have people that are supporting parents, uncles, children, everybody with the opportunities that are offered, and a lot of guys they're looking for a fresh start. So this is a company that offers that. We're in 47 states. We're not in Hawaii, alaska and I believe it's South Dakota. Don't quote me on that, but those three states are the only states that we're not in and I think we're working on getting into well, south Dakota, at least. The Alaska one is a little shaky, it's a little different.
Speaker 2:one is a little shaky, but yeah, so I mean it's. It's a whole fresh start. You get on with this If. If you want to travel the world, you want to, you want to see this beautiful country that we have, we have that opportunity for you. We can send you to where, where you're looking to go, if they have that open opportunity for you travel, do whatever you need to, and then my biggest thing is is come in with an open mind. We're not looking for guys that are experienced, that have all the knowledge in the world. I honestly don't prefer that. I prefer somebody that doesn't know too much about it, so they can start with a clean slate and we can teach them the right way on how to do these things. So definitely check it out it's. It's an opportunity of a lifetime.
Speaker 1:You know, I think it's not. You know, mark Adams was great on the show. He kind of introduced us to the program, but I feel like there's just something about hearing from somebody that actually does it right, that is out there in the field, that's training new interns, you know that's working with skill bridge interns and and who's been doing it for two years, and I really appreciate you sharing your experience with me, mark, because I uh I want to make sure that, like I said, this this season is all about like exploring new opportunities, making sure that people know that, coming out of the military, they don't have to do what they've always done, that they can choose where to go next, and I think this is an amazing opportunity for them.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and that's what I've been doing. Some job fairs with the company lately, and that's my main take on things is I'm I'm not management, I'm not looking at pushing numbers in that aspect. I'm not throwing things at you. I give these guys realistic things. I didn't study for this interview today because I wanted this to be genuine. Every question that you ask, I didn't want to have a prepared answer on my screen and reading off for it. No, this, this all comes from me. So so, going to those events, I'm not getting paid to go to those events, I just want people to know like, hey, there's an opportunity out there. Because I didn't know it, this, the Skill Bridge program through drive Academy, didn't didn't exist when I went through. So I wish it did, because that would have been one of my top choices right off the bat.
Speaker 1:And I really believe that. That's why um Mark and I decided to work together and and seek now decided to sponsor the show, because that's you know, we want to be in the ear of people who are transitioning and I want to make sure you know that there are so many opportunities out there available to you that you just have no idea about. And I know you mentioned, like the fear tactics of like oh, no one's going to hire you. You know, the grass isn't greener, and I hear that extreme. And then I also hear the extreme of like it's going to be a breeze. Everybody's going to be clamoring for you and not really neither one. Is true, right? No, the truth is, you've got to get out there and make your own opportunities and find your own way, and I really like that. This is an option for transitioning service members.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I couldn't agree with you more.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you, mark, I appreciate your time today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. I appreciate you having me on the show. Thank you.
Speaker 1: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.