Transitioning from military to civilian work.

<div class="block">For veterans, transitioning from military to civilian work can be a challenge. Matt Louis, president of Purepost &amp; retired U.S. Army Lt. Col., joined &#39;Stretching Your Dollar&#39; to talk about his own experience in reacclimating to civilian work life. He also talked about programs veterans can utilize to help in their transition.</div>

Stretching Your Dollar

Stretching Your Dollar: Transitioning From Military to Civilian Work

Tomorrow is Veterans Day, a moment to honor veterans who have served our nation. And today we're looking at a veteran's life beyond the military and the sometimes difficult process of transitioning into civilian life and work. So joining me now to walk us through the process is someone who's been through it himself. Matt Lewis is the president of Pure Post and a retired US army lieutenant colonel. Uh Thank you so much for joining. He's also the author of the new book Hiring Veterans. Uh Matthew, welcome my pleasure. Thank you for having me on. Happy to have you. So let's talk briefly about your qualifications and background that served you in transitioning from the military to civilian work. Sure, Kristen. So I have a bit of a unique background in that I spent 25 years in uniform of some sort, combination of active and reserve service 25 years and counting in the corporate space uh across all sorts of boundaries. You mentioned my most recent book, uh hiring Veterans. The one prior to that was mission transition that addresses the the military side of what I call the, the civil military divide and obviously my work at Pier Post which matches supply and demand of talent around the country. How difficult is the transition from military to civilian work? It's incredibly difficult. Uh People coming out in essence, don't know what they don't know. There is a transition assistance program provided by the various services when they get out, but it, it doesn't come anywhere close to matching the ultimate individuals are largely left ending for themselves to understand what skills competencies they bring to the table where and how that translates into the real world to find that optimal role and full employment in the civilian space. Do you think that there are myths or maybe even misconceptions Matthew that employers have about a service member's transition. There's a ton of myths out there, uh driven by mainstream media movies. You name it among them that, you know, all veterans have ptsd. The fact of the matter is you have five times more non veterans in your organization that have PTSD than veterans that they're all disabled or that they all worked in a combat arms capacity. In fact, the matter is 85% of veterans served in a functional capacity that's directly accredited to the civilian organization that, you know, there's nothing I can do to prevent the loss of someone in the reserve component. And it goes on and on. And those myths writ large get in the way of actively engaging in employees in employing this incredibly valuable talent pool that can add a lot of productivity and competitiveness. Ok. Very, very noteworthy here. What should a veteran first do if they are looking to make the transition from the military to civilian work? First thing I tell them is to start early. And my first book, I advocate for them beginning a series of exercises that I spe spell out in my first book up to two years prior to them leaving the military. And as part of that in, in reading the book, get some boots on the ground to confirm or deny what I call their career hypothesis. They have to first spend time figuring out who they are, who they want to be where and how their skills and competencies actually fit in the real world. And to the extent they can involve internships, fellowships as part of that so much, the better. Can you talk more about the financial and career importance Matthew of a veteran landing in that initial civilian position? Oh, it's incredibly important to the extent that an individual coming out of the military is able to find full employment in an optimal career field. When they leave studies show they will more than double their career earnings rate of retention, job satisfaction. It's incredibly important and all the more reason why they should spend the time and undertake the diligence to figure out who they are, who they want to be where and how those skills and competencies fit in the Real World. What do you think are some services from an employer that would make the transition easier? Well, you know, oddly enough as much as what's spoken about it, few organizations are taking advantage of veterans and military spouses today. Corn Ferry tells us 80% of large organizations don't have veteran hiring programs. The US Chamber tells us 90% of small businesses don't have. So, number one, put a program in place, educate yourself on the value that this talent pool holds and then begin to engage them effectively throughout your organization. Does the government provide resources to help vets with this process? Uh Sure. So as, as I mentioned, there's the transition assistance program, uh which everyone is by congressional mandate has to go through. Uh There's also uh things that the Department of Labor has in place via either the US Chamber or Skill Bridge, uh or uh what the army calls the career uh services, uh plan and program that they have. So please take advantage of all those things, Matt Lewis. Great information. We, of course, thank you and other veterans for their service and we wish all of the veterans here in our country a Happy Veterans Day on Saturday.