RE-RELEASE: Veteran Voices: Navigating the Transition from Service to Corporate Success

A special Veterans Day re-release!

When military service ends, where do veterans find their next mission? Discover how the SkillBridge program is helping service members transition to civilian careers while maintaining their sense of purpose and community. In this episode, we explore the inspiring stories of veteran Col. Patrick Schlichenmeyer who found a home at Land O’Lakes, Inc. 

Learn how Land O’Lakes is tapping into veterans' leadership skills while helping them build meaningful second careers. A must-listen for veterans considering transition, military families, and business leaders interested in veteran hiring programs. #VeteranJobs #MilitaryTransition

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Transcript

 The biggest fear for, for military members, for a lot of military members, I believe, is that fear of the unknown. You're, my whole adult life was in the military, three plus decades, and you start to go, am I gonna find that sense of purpose? Am I gonna find that community and family that I have in the military? Tomorrow. It's never a guarantee unless we take care of today. We are a cooperative, grounded in 100 years of forward thinking ever since our beginning in 1921. It's the pursuit of a reliable food supply, a sustainable future, and vibrant communities for all of us. Rooted in the promise of a brighter future.

This is rooted in Tomorrow, the podcast by Land O'Lakes, Inc. I'm your host, Kim Olson. Join us for stories of innovators. Change makers and the modern entrepreneurs who work the land.[69.71s] For many military veterans, life after service is a question mark. According to Pew research, almost half of the veterans transitioning out of military find readjusting to civilian life. Challenging when searching for employment post service. Many are looking for not just a job, but for a place where they can feel they can do meaningful work and continue to serve their country. Veterans Transitioning to Civilian Life

 It can be tough, but in a lot of cases, they're not alone in that search. In this episode, we'll meet Colonel Patrick Schlick Meyer, a 34 year Air Force veteran who faced these same questions when he retired from the military in 2023. Through a federal organization called Skill Bridge, Patrick was able to find an internship opportunity and later full-time employment at Land O'Lakes.[119.69s] We're also joined by Jim Bruno, a talent acquisition manager who has helped lead the Skill Bridge program here at Land O'Lakes. And has been an essential part of the journey for several veterans who now work here. Meet Patrick Schlichmeyer and Jim Bruno

Welcome to the podcast, to you both. Patrick, I wanna start out by saying thank you for your service. We certainly are in your debt as a country, and I wanna thank you for that. Alright, thank you so much. Now I used Patrick because we are just meeting each other, and I wanna say that you're the first pilot that we have ever had on the podcast and certainly a military pilot. So tell me, is it, do you go by Patrick Schlick and Meyer seems a lot to roll out. How would you prefer I address you? Yeah. I normally go by slick. That's my slick offline. Yeah. Yeah. Sch slick. Gotta be back in the. Probably mid eighties has been my call sign for a long time in in the military, so that's what I go by. I probably only respond to Patrick if it was in my mom's voice. Probably not, if I'll not do that. Sch slick. I love that. So when I'm watching Top Gun, I can, I can sort of think about Tom Cruise going, speak to me slick. That actually happens. Yeah, it does. Actually, most military aviators have some call sign that they talk about each other.[206.75s] They don't really talk first names or last names or ranks really. That's, that's awesome. That's interesting. I don't know much about the military. I have a nephew that actually is an Air Force pilot. He's a captain out of Charleston Air Force Base, but a very new, very young captain. So I'm going to go back and impress him with my knowledge now. Yeah, ask him what his call sign is at Thanksgiving. That'll be a good conversation. I love that. I'm for sure doing that. And you joined the military at 18, huh? You looked very young. Yes. Yes. Did, yeah, I did. And I served for 34 years, so I retired in my early fifties. Okay. And that was, was it always something you wanted to do being the military? Patrick's Military Background and Career

Yeah. It was, I grew up in the inner city of Minneapolis, just right around the corner from, you know, where Land O'Lakes headquarters is. Community was big there. Helping each other out growing up was super important. And then I found that I thrived in structure. Think sports jobs, if I had a goal to get after, I really did really good. And, and I like to serve and help people out. So the military was just a natural transition for me outta high school. A great fit, it sounds like, and a long and distinguished career. Congratulations there. Thank you. And we've also got on the podcast now, it says Jim Bruno, but I'm not sure that that's how you wanna be addressed.[292.53s] So I go by Bruno. And the reason why is because when I first started here, my cohort, Stephanie Moore would always referred to me as Bruno, Bruno this, Bruno that. So it just stuck with me, and then that's how everybody else calls me. I love that. And, and you've been with Land O'Lakes for 15 years? Yeah. Bruno's Role in Talent Acquisition

Yep. Actually is is employee as, as a contractor, as an employee. Oh, fantastic. So long time. So I've, I, this may be the coolest podcast that I have ever done. Kim. Sounding Boring with Sch Slick and Bruno. All right, well, let's, let's get into it. So, okay, Bruno, tell me. You have been working in talent acquisition the whole time with Land O'Lakes. That is correct. And supporting veterans, like Schick for how long? So I got involved in the, the veteran ERG. It's been about, probably about almost 10 years now. Okay. So I've been actively on the board since and I'm still active. Oh, fantastic. And is there any particular personal reason that you got involved or just something you've been interested in or, oh, I mean, my, my, all my uncles and my dad were all ex-military. Alright. Yeah, I never served, but I do respect what they do and how they do it. Yeah. So it was just a passion. It just, it picked, I gravitated towards it and I stuck with it. Yeah. Kim, I think you'll see that with Bruno. He, he's kind of nonchalant about that, but you'll find that the families and the friends, they do a lot of the serving. They, they, they bear a lot of that burden. Because the, this military member goes out and does what the country needs 'em to do. They're the ones at home most of the time, or supporting them. So, I mean, that's kind of nonchalant there, Bruno. But it, it is, it is a big support network that the military has. The SkillBridge Program Explained

Yeah, I've, I've heard that I actually have, a son-in-law who served in as a Marine, in the Marine Reserve. So you can imagine Thanksgiving at our house with our Air Force guy and our Marine, and, and it does really, affect the lives of, of family. So that's, a very good point, Schick. Thank you. Now tell me, Schick, you went to the Air Force Academy, right? Yes, I did. And you served until, the end of your congressionally mandated term of service. I'm saying that right? Con congressionally mandated. Yeah. Well, yeah. Congressionally mandated after 30 years as a, as a officer, you basically, the, the congressional mandate says you have to stop serving unless you become a general officer. So I served until basically the military said, thank you so much. But your, your service is not needed anymore. Okay. And, and that was 30 years, 30 years as an officer, and then four years at the Air Force Academy. So a total of 34 years, I've, I've actually been out to the Air Force Academy. Boy is that a beautiful campus. Nestled in the mountains there and just gorgeous. So at what point in the 30 year career do you start thinking about, what am I gonna do? 'cause you, like you said, you're a young man, getting out of that in your fifties, when do you start thinking about what life looks like afterwards? Yeah. I, I, I try not to think about it. I pushed it off until basically I got an email that says, in a, in a year, you're gonna have to retire. And so about a year out, about 2022, I started thinking about it. And how was that for your family? It was, do you have, I, tell me about your family a little bit. Yeah. So, I have five kids, five, pretty much, yeah, five kids. They're all out of the household. Right now. Fantastic. Congratulations there too. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, thank you so much. Few are finishing up college, but, my wife and daughters, we kind of lived, separated because of what I was doing, deployed all time and, and, and away all the time. I would be wherever I was at and they stayed here in, in Minneapolis. So that's kind of. My connection back to Minneapolis. They were here for about a decade while I was, off doing other things and finishing up, finishing up my career. So I'm sure that was hard on, on both of you. Now as you're thinking about coming back, you get the email, you've got a year to go. Was there, particular struggles or moments, that were challenging or, on the flip side, exciting or encouraging? Yeah, I think it's exciting and scary at the same time, right? The biggest fear for, for military members, for a lot of military members, I believe, is that fear of the unknown. You're, my whole adult life was in the military, three plus decades. And, and it's, and it's all I know. And you, and you start to go, am I gonna find that sense of purpose? Am I gonna find that community and family that I have in the military? Right? And am I gonna find that culture that I want to be a part of, right? How do, how do I continue to serve? And it is, it was a massive struggle for me, which my family helped me get through. And I think it's a massive struggle for a lot of military members. Bruno, you could probably, speak to that a little bit. Can you talk, tell me a little about your experience in placing veterans in the workforce and, you've, you've worked with Schick obviously, but are, are there others with challenges that you've seen or experiences you can talk to? I'll refer back to Slick for a second. It's interesting when, when Slick came to me, and I dunno if you remember that day, sch slick. You really didn't know what you wanna do and how you wanna do it. You have all this, all this talent, all this experience, you wanna vent it out somewhere, but you know how to do it. And, it's just, it's just getting to know that individual on more of a personal level. They get an idea what their motivations are, what their skills are, what do they bring to the table, what do they wanna do. And again, it was just more just doing a deep dive with him. And, what's impressive about, about the Schick is he has two master black belts and it's very un that's very uncommon to have that. Sure. And for Land O'Lakes that could be, beneficial. So we kind of capitalize on, on, on those things. Win-win, huh? Yes, it was. And, and actually we capitalized in those skill sets and, and we knew that Slick was gonna live in the Minneapolis areas, so we took advantage of going to Mels. And we introduced him to the plant manager, Tom, and, they, we put our heads together. We kinda created a role for him and, and I think he adapted well. I mean, there's, there's some learning curves. I'm not gonna lie to you. There's, there's some hurdles to, to get over. But, and, and that's, I think with just any, any military, any, anybody coming outta the military, they don't know what they wanna do and how they wanna do it. Yeah. Again, they're, they're all serving managers. They're all serving officers in the military. While translating that to land O'Lakes may not equivalate to the, to equal levels. Yeah. So it's more educating them and try trying to bring 'em more grounded to say, okay, here's where it could lead you to. Here's what the opportunities are. But you gotta prove yourself, just like any civilian does. You gotta prove what your skills are, what your experiences, and I think Schick has learned that over the time he's been here. Yeah. He's been, I think he's been promoted now. Twice or once, once, yeah. I'm Melrose and then into the new job I have, right? Yep. Right. So again, it's just all about proving who you are and how you can do it, and again, just adapting to our environment. So when you're, as you talked about Schlick experience and others, you've been dealing with, a program called Skill Bridge, and I wanna hear a little bit more of that. Placing Veterans in the Workforce

That's a Department of Defense program, I believe. For vets. And, just specifically to gain civilian work experience. Is that right? Can you tell me a little bit about that bru? So, so we were identify, we, we actually identified the, the Department of Defense, the Skill bridge program. It took us about, it's about four years ago, 2021, we got accepted. It took us about about four months to get accepted into the program. 'cause they do a deep dive and they wanna know who Land O'Lakes is. So once we got accepted, we started, building our brand out there. We posted to their site and we received resumes from individuals who are willing to do internships that wanna get civilian experience, and, and since we've been involved and they facilitate that skill, bridge us. Well, they, they own it. Okay. They own the process and behind the scenes, but we, the, the individuals, the militaries come to us direct. So their resumes are sent to me direct as the point of contact. And it's up to me now how I'm going to, work with those individuals. My cohort, my partner in crime, Kurt Meyer. We run the program together. 'cause just in the beginning was just, we literally, there was just a flood of resumes coming through. Yeah. And for and for one person, that's great news. Well, it is. I mean, I, I love that. But, for one person, for me to, to just work with those individuals plus do my full-time job, it was kind of a, it's, it's gonna be a hurdle. So, we talk to the individuals. We have at least a phone conversation with these individuals. Once, once they come to us, and then we go out and shop 'em out to different managers. And we just share their skill sets and experience of what they can do. And I, and I would say I'm proud that since we started the program, we've had, over 90, I'm sorry, over 71 completed internships. SkillBridge Program Success Metrics

We have 31 direct hire to Land O'Lakes. That's great. And we have, right now, just this year alone, we have 19 in process plus interning within our locations. That's fantastic. I really good results and, and measurable and I know, as a cooperative, we go out and, talk a lot about the oversized contribution of rural America to military. That, a lot of the military is made up of, folks from, from rural America. And, we really feel, I think as a cooperative, a, a kinship and a, a duty to kind of support our veterans. I Do you feel that way too? I do. I do. I do. And, and again, the, what what's heartening is we can't help everyone. Because, land O'Lakes has so many different, plants in the field or, roles. And we do, we do actually do a lot of virtual roles right now. But you wanna help everybody. And I, and I will tell you, Kim, since we started the program, we have close to over 600 people resumes that have been sent to us looking for internship opportunities. Fantastic. 600 plus I should say. Yeah, now that's a, that's a good problem to, to have. I'll take that as I, I'm looking at you as your, in your hiring talent acquisition role as well. That's fantastic. Well, and also, not to interrupt you, but it's interesting, some of the skill sets are coming through, like I said, with Slick, for example, two Master Black Belts. That's just not, not common. Yeah. But we're also getting individuals who are highly technical. They're doing a lot of data, a analyst, analytical, political work, cybersecurity. And these are skills and experience that Land O'Lakes does seek. Yeah, like I said, win-win. I think. Schick, talk to me about, when you were an intern with Land O'Lakes, we talked about how you kind of started there before you're officially retiring from the military, so there was a bit of a transition kind of phase. Patrick's Journey to Land O'Lakes

Was there, talk to me about that period and if there was a, something that made you really wanna come here more permanently or, work with Land O'Lakes on a long-term basis. Obviously the location attracted me to, to go on the Skill bridge side. And then Land O'Lakes was only a couple miles from where my family lived in Shoreview. But then I started to look more at the front door. I reached out to Jim to Bruno right. And had some really good conversations with him going, this is something I'm, I'm really interested in. It could be a place to serve it. It sounds like it's got great people and the mission's awesome. So I, I come onto Skill Bridge and Tammy's my manager for Skill Bridge. I meet her on day one, and she's awesome. Oh, okay. I also meet Ken Hoover the first week that I'm here, before he was in his VP role and, and Ken is amazing leader as well. Yeah. And it just, and, and the more I would do, the more people I would Jim said, Hey, I need you to meet these people. They connected me with Nick Najar. You're getting the right, you're getting the, the idea, I mean, I'm getting to know this community. And I'm like, I, this is exactly what I thought it was going to be. Then I then, month two, I'm getting into the mission. I'm, I'm starting to hopefully drive value. I'm starting to make a difference for the company, and I'm feeling that purpose. And that, and then I'm like, oh God, I have the people, I have the culture, I have the service, I have the purpose. And, and probably, what was it, middle of March month in there, Bruno, two months, I'm like, this is what I wanna do. I, I be very honest, I did not pursue a different company. I did not. Do a resume. I, I, me and me and Bruno had some really good conversations on, I'm going to, I'm gonna do all I can do to work for Land O'Lakes, and then if it doesn't work out okay, and then I'll, then I'll look at doing something else. But it is the real deal at Land O'Lakes. It is a great place to be at, and, and it's great mission, great leader. And that's what happened. And, and by the, like I said, 60 days into the program, I'm like, this is where I want to be forever until I retire my second time. Ah, fantastic. That's, that's wonderful to hear. And I, I know Ken and, the leaders are, are very, very, appreciative of that kind of commitment and, enthusiasm. I mean, you can hear it in your voice. Bruno, we've talked about this a little bit already, but, once a veteran has expressed an interest in working for Land O'Lakes, how do they get a job assignment? Can you give me, a kind of granular, if I'm a vet and I'm listening to this, how do I get involved? One of the things that we've learned throughout the process is once we have a manager that's interested in the intern, we actually put together an internship letter. They start the routing process, which takes, it could be anywhere from, 15 days. It could take up to 60 days, depending. In that meantime, we assign an ambassador to them. We've learned that we have five ambassadors throughout the country that are ex, skill Bridge interns who are now Land O'Lakes employees, and they reach out to those individuals to keep them, answering. What's, what's the first day gonna look like? What's all we've learned that, again, they're coming out of the military. It's a very structured environ. Now you're going into a civilian workforce, a little bit more looser, but a little more, it's also commanding. So, so they're there to help them through the whole process as we get this pro, our process approved. Once they get approved, we have an onboarding for them and, and I have to, I have to share with you, we've had. A lot of smooth transitions. I would say 99.9% transitions that just went well because having those ambassadors keep those individuals, at their fingertips. And, and I think sch Slick knows that, his first day he was probably sweating so bad because he didn't know what to expect. He's walking through an environment that he has nothing he knows nothing about and we wanna make sure, just like any onboarding you feel at home, you feel like you're comfortable. Yeah. The Gilbert Nebraska program is, is amazing. But you also find, and this is what the Skill Bridge ambassadors tell 'em, is you'll get in your, you get in your work area and ask everybody, right? I had people in the OPEX that in the group that I was part of, just help me, I'm like, I'm struggling with this and it doesn't have to be the manager. You can talk to the other team members and what do you think about this? And, and what about that? And, and everybody's just so helpful. But I do agree, Bruno and, and, and came with the Skill Bridge program. The Ambassador Program

And, and, and how we're going to get after it with the ambassador is very, is a very good way to go because I'm not hr, right? Yeah. I'm a person who's been through what they're, what they're, what they've done. I can look at their records and go, okay, here's how I see you in a civilian eyes. These different skill sets you have are important to this company and, and can be used, right? So we help, we help bridge that gap. In comfort. We also hit bridge that gap in where are the, where are the best skill sets that that Land O'Lakes could use. And then working in, in conjunction with Kurt and Bruno in, in order then to help them reach out to managers to try to get, find places for him to go. Got it. So, so you mentioned, I'm sorry, can I, I'll just, I go, I'm sorry. Yeah, please do. I think, I think the advantage also slick that you had, when you go by going the Mel Rose, there's a couple of veterans that actually work there now. They're probably just tagged onto you and just helped you as well. So, and I didn't mean interrupt. You're, well, let's talk about Melrose a little bit. So, sch slick, you are an operation. Excellence Project Manager, right? Yes. I'm an expert project manager at OP Excellence right now at Melrose. I was the op operations, excellent manager for the plant. Okay. So, opex, for, for the duration so far is, are there specific things, and I'm just curious, that you, used or developed in military life that are translating really well to, civilian life and your job in opex? Patrick's Role in Operations Excellence

Yeah, well, like, Bruno was saying I do have, I did serve as a master black belt in Lean Six Sigma. I also have the equivalent in business process reengineering, career field as well, so that, that. Process improvement obviously was one thing that was a good connection between my military service and the, and the company, but also like deliberate planning, just the way that military deliberately goes out to plan researches, analyzes. That helps a lot. Basically leadership. Development of people. Yeah. Coaching, mentoring, right? In the military, your number one job is to train your replacement. That's what keeps the military strong. You keep, training replacement. So that type of focus on the human capital stuff too, as well as really, bowed well for me and land O'Lakes. I bet I, and, and Bruno, you talked about the ambassadorship and how, people, I, I think your point was really good that, people just kind of reach out, to Schick when he started it. How important do you think having people, like, Schick who have done it, are for incoming vets that are, going through the program? I, I think the advantage I, I have as well as Kurt is, being in hr. We kinda know who some of the veterans are at the plants or in, in the corporate office. And again, we, we kind of, when you talk to an individual like SCH Slick or somebody else, you kinda sense they're gonna need some guidance.[1307.56s] Mm-hmm. Because again, just have, have that person there. I think it's important. I think it's very important. I think, we have to. Do our due diligence to make sure that they feel comfortable. Mm-hmm. And again, I, I will also share not all the internships are completed. Some, well rephrase that. Importance of Support and Mentorship

It, they get completed, but they're not hires. Yeah. And that's fine. We understand that some individuals wanna go back to school. Some feel that this is not an environment they wanna be in. We get that it's, it's fine. But the skill sets that they learned in that, that time they did the internship, is very marketable to their, on their resume.[1339.89s] And, and they're okay with that. They're appreciative that they got that skillset. Yeah, I, and the, at the time I'm sure, it's very helpful for, us at Land O'Lakes as well, having, learning more every time someone, goes through an internship. Well, I really wanna thank you both for the conversation. Final Thoughts and Recommendations

This has been so valuable. Is there anything that we didn't get to that you want to, make sure and mention? I defer to you first. Yeah, I, I, I would say for anybody out there listening, if, if, if they're trying to transition out of the military, just give Land O'Lakes just a look. I think, our, our brand. If you could just, if you just dig a little bit deeper or, have a five minute conversation with a person from, from Land O'Lakes. Reach out to our HR team, whatever it may be. This is a great place. This is a great place to serve. It's a great place to do your in internship, and I can't speak enough about the opportunities the company has given me, the, the community, the camaraderie, the ability to drive value and, and, and to have a place to serve. So I just really appreciative and, and thank you so much. Awesome. Thank you. And thank you Kim for, for doing the podcast or us being not having us on your podcast. Thank you. Oh, of course. It's my pleasure. What about you, Bruno? Anything else? I, I guess you'll be being here as long as I have. I think, SCUBA has done wonderful for Land O'Lakes and also it's exposed us to many. Individuals with, with hidden talents and hidden skill sets, even technical skill sets that we never thought of right now that actually manages to actually create positions for these individuals. Mm-hmm. But I also wanna give a feverish plug if I could please that we're, we're also involved in the military spouse network as well, so we also take inspiration to spouses, and these are individuals that can do internships as well, the spouses for 90 days. And they're still, they, they're actually being, they, they get a stipend from the government to do this internship, and there's no guarantee we would hire 'em afterwards. But it also allows the military spouses to work with a company. For an opportunity to, do a project or whatever. And I, and I think that we need, we need to, advocate for that as well. Yeah, I agree. I mean, it takes us full circle back to what you were both saying at the beginning, that, family is very important, to veterans and to, to those who serve. So I'm gonna end it right there. This has been so much fun. I, one of my favorites, that I've done. I really appreciate you both, Bruno and Schick joining me. And, I look forward to, further conversations. Thanks. Thank you, thank you, thank you. 

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