Lessons Learned for Vets

Send us Fan Mail US Navy veteran Marina Rabinek had a smooth transition. She started networking early, built a strong network on LinkedIn, created her own support tribe and participated in a SkillBridge internship that turned into a full-time role when she retired. Unfortunately, within 3 months her position was eliminated. That is when Marina's hard work and strong network paid off. Within 5...

Send us Fan Mail Though his transition from the US Army was 20+ years ago, William "Bill" Kieffer was unprepared for his transition. He had to quickly learn how to network, write a resume and market himself. He went on to build a successful career in human resources and is now a coach and mentor for corporations, service members and others in career transition, leadership development and...

Send us Fan Mail US Army veteran Clifton Clevenger served 10 years as a personnel administrative assistant and infantryman. When Cliff transitioned out of the military he planned to finish his education. However, he also met and married his wife, a US Army officer that year and soon became both a veteran and a military spouse. Cliff made some mistakes along the way with interviewing and his resume...

Send us Fan Mail Ray Jokie had great success in the United States Air Force and tied his identify and self-worth to his USAF career. Unfortunately, when he retired, he struggled so much that he was not sure if he would make it to the next day. Thankfully, he found several sources of support and refocused on his mental health in order to pull himself out of a rough period. Now, as a talent acquisit...

Send us Fan Mail USMC veteran Wayne Worthington went from his 5-year service into the executive recruiting career field. Wayne gives us his insider's perspective on the different types of recruiters, strategies to optimize your success working with recruiters and even shares a few names of veteran-focused recruiting agencies. Additionally, Wayne has a great strategy for networking strategical...

Send us Fan Mail Wounded Warrior and US Marine Corps veteran Justin Constantine has a unique story to tell and valuable lessons learned to share. He was shot in the head by a sniper in Iraq and though he has had countless reconstructive surgeries, he has gone on to build his own business, enjoy a successful career with a workforce development company and launch a non-profit called Veteran Success...

Send us Fan Mail Greg Fischer served 4 years and 3 combat tours in the US Marine Corps. When he separated from the military, he went to school to complete his degree and took a job in the insurance and finance industry. On the surface his transition looked seamless. However, he was not happy in this role. During the recent COVID-19 shutdown, Greg and his business partner took a leap of faith and s...

Send us Fan Mail Dave Poole served 21 years in the US Marine Corps as a Combat Engineer. Though the extent of his computer experience in the USMC was sending emails, Dave landed a software development role that he will start in June 2020, a week after his military retirement. Dave participated in the Microsoft Software and Systems Academy (MSSA) SkillBridge program to gain additional skills and kn...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode USMC veteran Mark Holman and US Navy veteran Marina Rabinek discuss the Resilience-Building Leader Program and the value of the Resilience-Building Leadership Professional certification. Listen in as Mark tells us how the certification program can improve your ability to communicate your value and Marina takes us through the program and how active duty service memb...

Send us Fan Mail Cindy Dorfner retired from the US Air Force in 2013 after a successful career in public affairs. She quickly landed a director-level role in the private sector and although she wasn't happy with the role herself, within 6 months she was fired from her first post-military job. Today, she holds a high-level leadership role in the federal government and has found that the enviro...

Send us Fan Mail 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....

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail 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 (RBL...

Send us Fan Mail 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.

Send us Fan Mail 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 h...

Send us Fan Mail 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 highlight...

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail 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.

Send us Fan Mail 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...

Send us Fan Mail Listen in as USMC veteran Derek Moore asks some great questions about the SkillBridge program, the best job search websites, the benefits of using a professional resume writer and my top 5 most important courses of action to prepare for the military transition. As a bonus, Derek, who is about to complete his Doctorate degree, talks about how to pursue higher education while still...

Send us Fan Mail After serving 6 years in the Air Force, Amanda Huffman traded in her combat boots for a diaper bag and focused on being a stay-at-home mom. Along the way, she discovered a passion for sharing stories of women in the military as a blog and book author and host of a podcast. In the episode, she shares some of her most important lessons she learned along the way.

Send us Fan Mail After a diverse USAF service career that included the Air Force band and a Military Training Instructor, Adam separated from the Air Force to pursue employment in the private sector. As he worked for both corporations and non-profits, he learned the importance of knowing his value and networking to avoid underemployment. However, he is also very candid about his struggle with depr...

Send us Fan Mail Retired USMC officer Patrick Weinert discusses how to remove financial success road blocks in your life and how to achieve more freedom in your post-military career. He offers his advice on how to manage your finances and provides insight into how he successfully launched a financial coaching business.

Send us Fan Mail In the second half of my conversation with Herb Thompson, retired US Army Green Beret and Drill Instructor, he talks about how important it is to make your transition your own experience and truly take ownership of the process.