by Christopher D. Lee
Kindel Media/Pexels
Military veterans are some of the most educated and trained professionals in our society. Most people are unaware of this fact, and veterans may not have this top of mind or use it to their advantage when seeking employment after active-duty service. In addition to what they have learned-the courses taken, the certifications, and degrees earned-veterans should also highlight their ability to learn. Veterans should tell their educational story to prospective employers to help them successfully pursue employment opportunities.
Upon entering the profession, every service member submits to a formal and systematic comprehensive education system that is multilayered and dynamic. Whether one serves four years or thirty, there is a preplanned and methodical series of training and education programs that prepares them for a service, a profession, and leadership. These types of training and education programs can be categorized as military skills, occupational skills, and managerial and leadership skills.
Military skills are easy to describe because everyone, without exception, goes to either boot camp or officer candidates’ school for their initial military training. Military skills include language, traditions, ceremonial protocols, tactics, and weapon systems. Military-only occupations include infantry, artillery, air defense, and special forces. The list is surprisingly small since there are private sector or governmental corollaries for many of the things that the military does, including security, law enforcement, emergency services, logistics, field operations, maritime vessel protection, construction in remote environments, and maintaining trade secrets.
After initial military training, all personnel receive their initial occupational training whether its infantrymen going to combat school, lawyers entering judge advocate general’s school, or pilots going to flight school. Occupational skills are not much different from those in the rest of the world and include occupations that are solely military related as well as those found in the broader civilian world. Every occupation will also have a series of advanced courses for both officers and enlisted personnel.
Leadership courses are required at every level-whether its corporals going to non-commissioned officer school and then to senior non-commissioned officer school or lieutenants and captains heading to Amphibious Warfare School and then to one of the service’s War Colleges. Many officers gain master’s degrees that are accredited by regional bodies like the Southern Association for Colleges and Schools (SACS) and the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) when they attend one of the many military command level colleges and universities. There are also advanced-level educational offerings for even more senior personnel, such as sergeant majors, master chief petty officers, admirals, and general officers.
Many enlisted personnel earn civilian credentials before or during their military service, and the Community College of the Air Force is a testament to education’s importance to the military. Many officers are sent to earn civilian master’s and doctoral degrees and may teach at the service academies or serve in senior administrative posts in the White House, CIA, the Office of Naval Research, and other assignments that require such advanced knowledge. The point is that everyone who earns a stripe, bar, oak leaf, or star must be an active learner. Learning at every career level is not only an expectation, but a core requirement for promotion. A history of completing courses for military skills, occupational knowledge, and military leadership should not go unheralded.
Military experience is often valued at the highest levels, so it is common to see retired colonels, generals, and admirals becoming college and university presidents. The same recognition should apply elsewhere. The fact is that a hiring manager at a local hardware store, a director at a college or university, or a plant manager at a regional manufacturing plant may not know the fact that every veteran has been taught to learn, has an array of multiple skills and credentials, and has been successful learning in many different dimensions. To further convince hiring managers of their capabilities, job-seeking veterans should explain how the military educational system works and share their own personal learning pedigree. Another little-known fact for civilian hiring managers is that a sizable number of military courses, credentials, and degrees are taught by civilian employees. This further negates the stereotype that military personnel have only military-specific knowledge and skills.
Service men and women live the mission-essential reality that if they are not in combat operations, they are in classroom or in training. Whether they are acquiring military, occupational, or management and leadership skills, service members are constantly learning. Learning is a requirement for the mission and a requirement for growth and promotion. Veterans know how to learn, and this meta-skill is as valuable outside of the military as it is within. Therefore, veterans would be wise to ensure they communicate the full breadth and depth of their learning experiences and learning prowess to hiring managers.
