Lessons Learned for Vets

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In honor of Military Spouse Appreciation Day, we are hearing from Shelley-Rose Illig. Rose is the spouse of US Army active duty soldier and now US Army reservist. Rose has a great career of her own as a business analyst and project coordinator with a financial institution. However, the transition out of the military was neither planned nor a smooth process for her and her husband. Take the time to listen to the challenges of the military transition from the spouse's perspective. Rose also has some great financial insight and advice that you may not have considered yet in your planning process. 

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After retiring from the Air Force, Chris McGhee made the decision to pursue his lifelong dream of going to law school. Listen in as Chris talks about how his maturity and his military career has helped him get through the challenges of law school. In addition, Chris shares the lessons he has learned about networking, navigating the online application process and his own strategies for success in acing the job interview. 

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A Navy veteran and a veteran of the gaming industry, Jerry Prochazka transitioned out of his military service as a nuclear engineer and eventually navigated to his current position as the CEO and co-founder of  Ganymede Games, a start-up game design company that is launching its first game later this year.  Jerry shares insight into the different structure and communication style of the tech industry while also discussing the common factors he has seen among the veterans who achieved success in the high-tech career field. 

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Retired USMC Master Gunnery Sergeant Mark Holman has been out of the military for more than 10 years. He shares not only the mistakes he made in his transition, but also shares some valuable insight for job seekers that he has gained as an executive leader for a Fortune 200 company and as the VP of Corporate Social Responsibility for the Resilience Building Leadership Program (RBLP). Listen in as Mark and Lori take a detour to give advice about how to research your value and have the salary conversation with your future employer. Also, listen in as Mark gives a real-world example of how to translate military leadership into terms any private sector employer will understand. 

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Bob Newlin asks some great job search and military transition questions as he prepares to retire from the United States Air Force in an overseas location. As a bonus, Bob comes back for a follow up to share some exciting news and give you his "4 BE's" that contributed to his relatively new military transition success.

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Retired Army leader Justin Pearson has been a mentor and advocate in the military transition space since 2016. Justin has built an amazing post-military career for himself holding senior leadership roles with companies such as AAFMAA and Wells Fargo. In this episode he discusses how he navigated the transition landscape before there were so many resources available, how he found his way to networking and mentorship and what he learned from his stumbles and struggles along the way.  

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21-year USAF veteran Chris Dreisbach has a seemingly perfect transition - from service to SkillBridge to multiple job offers and a great job above his salary expectations. Within 3 months he found himself overworked and unhappy. He had the courage to leave his first post-military job that wasn't right for him. Listen in as he shares what he learned along the way and highlights how this podcast helped him through it all.

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Ericka Kelly retired from the US Air Force Reserve where she was one of the top 3 Chief Enlisted Master Sergeants and from Federal Law Enforcement, working for the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection. This episode is a bit different in that it starts with stories of her earlier life that shaped her resiliency and built who she was in the military and who she is today. 

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In the 2nd part of the episode with US Navy veteran Alfredo Flores, he and host Lori Norris discuss the resume. They cover subjects such as should you pay for assistance with a resume and offer tips on what a good resume should include. To wrap up, Alfredo shares his lessons learned during his career as a veteran in transition, a veteran advocate and educator.

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After suffering what he calls a "very painful transition," US Navy veteran Alfredo Torres has today settled into his role as the Virginia Transition Assistance Program Regional Coordinator. He dedicates his time and efforts to helping other veterans avoid the obstacles he faced. In part 1 of this two-part episode, Alfredo shares his thoughts on how veterans can adapt to achieve success.