Transitioning from military life to civilian life is often challenging for veterans. Gaining insight into why they experience difficulty can help increase the effectiveness of existing transition assistance programs.
Transformation from civilians into soldiers requires significant efforts (Military OneSource, 2018), with adult learning being an essential part of this transformation process.
Identify Your Core Competencies
Transitioning from military to civilian life may seem daunting at first, but you are most likely to achieve success by focusing on your core competencies. This means identifying any particular skills or traits that you excel at relative to competitors and then using these strengths in the business.
Personal core competencies may involve industry-specific skills, such as specific computer languages or experience working with certain client types. But core competencies also encompass personal qualities like resilience or an results-driven attitude.
To identify your core competencies, begin by reviewing job descriptions and interviewing managers and employees with expertise in specific roles. It may also be beneficial to solicit feedback from clients or end users for input on what their strengths align with identified core competencies; then compare your evaluation of yourself against that of others to determine if these align. Doing this will allow you to craft more realistic, achievable plans going forward.
Translate Your Military Experience
Before leaving the military, military members need to consider how their training and skills will translate to classroom environments. Many military members wish to change careers and enter teaching positions - with many former military professionals having successfully made this transition successfully.
Understanding how to operate certain equipment or the heightened responsibility that comes with managing millions in assets may be straightforward, yet translating these capabilities to civilian language may prove more complex. Therefore, it's crucial to emphasize transferable skills like teamwork and prioritization during high-pressure situations.
Utilizing available education benefits is a crucial part of making the transition back into civilian life a success. According to research, veterans who take advantage of their benefits are more likely to secure employment and achieve improved health outcomes compared with those who don't use theirs. Furthermore, education benefits allow veterans to explore new disciplines without incurring extra expenses, helping them discover what civilian careers best suit them.
Get Support from Mental Health Professionals
After leaving the military, many service members and veterans opt to pursue further studies as an effective way to increase job prospects and build professional stability for themselves and their future careers.
Recognizing that college life will differ substantially from military service can cause anxiety and stress for some veterans. Therefore, it's essential to connect with resources at school and in your community such as Student Veteran of America groups or mental health providers as early as possible.
Researchers have demonstrated that experiencing difficulty transitioning back to civilian life after military service may be tied to emotional traumatic experiences encountered while serving, which may have lasting negative repercussions for mental and emotional wellbeing. Enhancing military-to-civilian transition processes may reduce downstream challenges like homelessness, suicide, unemployment and poverty among veterans - creating benefits across communities nationwide.
Find the Right Resources
Additionally, military members and their spouses often find comfort in consulting mentors who have gone through the transition themselves, who can offer insight and information into what has worked and hasn't when seeking civilian careers.
Transitioning from military life to civilian life can be taxing on mental health, so seeking professional assistance to manage anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder during this transition process is highly recommended. Therapists or counselors can offer invaluable support during this transition process.
DOD recently modified its Transition Assistance Program (TAP) to meet the individual needs of service members, enabling them to select counseling pathways based on their readiness for civilian employment and education. A comprehensive list of resources, including one-of-a-kind workshops and individual case management is available here; furthermore there's also an online tool which matches military skills with civilian occupations as well as another which lets users practice job interviews virtually.
