Besides teaching the hard skills required to do a job, the military also teaches many “soft” skills. Skills like leadership, management, communication, organization and team building. One of the problems encountered by businesses today is they can find a deep pool of college graduates who have the right degree to do the technical aspects of a job. But most of them lack real world experience leading people.
Being technically proficient is only half the battle. Most jobs today require some sort of interaction either as a member of a team or as the leader of one. A team leader needs communication and leadership skills to supervise assigned employees as does a department head responsible for several hundred employees; leadership is a skill in one form or another needed at all levels. The sphere of influence gets bigger the higher up one goes in an organization, but the basic leadership skills remain the same.
However, most advance degree programs do not teach leadership – particularly the unique military leadership obtained by veterans. They may include a course or two on the subject, but it is not a focus. Instead, they teach how to identify and analyze issues, along with how to create and present recommendations aimed at solving these issues. On the job, it doesn’t stop there. The recommendations usually have to be presented to some level of management to get approved and that usually involves working with people at some point.
Today’s Hires: Book Smart, Leadership Dumb
Once recommendations are approved, implementation goes nowhere without leadership … the situation many companies are running into today when they hire new graduates without leadership experience. The people applying for jobs are book smart, but leadership dumb. Because of it, they take longer to get proficient in their new job – a luxury businesses don’t have in today’s fast moving world. The opposite is also true – without the proper education, a leader can’t create the proper recommendations in the first place. The two complement each other.
Active duty personnel and veterans have on-the-job, real world experience, often gained under austere conditions, but may lack the degree required by the position. Having both could be the credentials to a meaningful and rewarding career in the civilian world.
Where Military Leadership Meets Company Need
Reflect back on the leadership skills you learn from serving, such as:
- taking responsibility for your actions
- learning how to give and take orders
- how to work under pressure
- the importance of meeting deadlines
- adhering to rules, structure and standards
- setting the example
- systematic planning
- accountability
- attention-to-detail
- and the list goes on and on
Companies like to hire whole packages: ones having both the education and experience to get the job done with little to no “ramp-up” time after hiring. Veterans and recently transitioned active duty personnel – both with advanced degrees – are that whole package.
