PCS to Corporate America

Welcome back for a special episode where we will give you keys to interview success! Pete Van Epps interviewed 3 of our most recent alumni from the January 2023 Career Conference for our post-January 2023 Conference review webcast. At the time of the interview, all three alumni had already accepted an offer of employment. We really enjoy doing this type of episode because it gives those who are pl...

The key to career progression is initiative ! In this episode, I am glad to introduce Chris Benson. Chris is a former USMC Field Artillery officer who attended the January 2014 Career Conference. After the follow-up interview process concluded, he received multiple offers for employment and ultimately chose to work for INVISTA . INVISTA, a company within Koch Industries,  is one of the world’s lar...

Welcome back to another episode of the PCS to Corporate America Podcast, where we answer the burning question…”How will the 2023 economy affect JMO career options?” This episode is the second half of an interview I did with Cameron-Brooks CEO Chuck Alvarez.   Chuck and I reviewed JMO to business career transition best practices and the outlook for 2023.  I recorded the full inter...

Happy New Year!  All of us at Cameron-Brooks hope you had a wonderful Holiday Season and feel refreshed to reach your goals in 2023. At the end of every year, I interview Cameron-Brooks CEO, Chuck Alvarez , to review JMO to business career transition best practices and get his outlook for the following year.  We record this in a Webcast video format that you can watch here .  If you prefer to list...

If you were ever wondering about military-to-corporate history or the history of Cameron-Brooks , this is the episode for you. On this show, we welcome Mary Lou White to the program. Mary Lou is one of the founding members of Cameron-Brooks and has been helping Junior Military Officers move from the military to Corporate America for over 45 years! As you can imagine, she has seen a lot in that tim...

Learning how to use your technical aptitude to propel your career is our focus for this Episode. We welcome back Chazz Hoskins. Chazz was featured on Episode 82 of the Cameron-Brooks podcast. This podcast is a career check-in, but as a reminder, Chazz is a former Air Force Development Engineer who transitioned to Lam Research . Chazz’s last job in the Air Force was as a data analyst working...

Successfully transitioning from military officer to business leader is a strategic multistep process.  In my 23 plus years as a military to business headhunter and recruiter, I have coached 5,000+ junior officers through the 8 stages of a military to business transition. In this 30-minute podcast, I explain the 8 Stages of the Transition to give you a roadmap to help you reach your goals.  Like an...

Welcome back to another episode of the Cameron-Brooks Podcast. In Episode 157 , I talked about the similarities of financial investing and managing your career for future opportunities— which ties right into why finding the right opportunity fit is more important than location. After I recorded that podcast, I wanted to find an alum who modeled this.  Coincidently, I spoke with C-B Alumnus Chris P...

Let’s dive into an economic discussion for transitioning JMOs. As military officers consider moving from the military to corporate America, we often receive questions about the state of the economy. These questions typically come in a few different forms, but the question behind the question is this: will the economy support my transition from the military, and will I find employment that is...

Welcome back to another episode of the Cameron-Brooks Podcast. Do you want to make a successful transition from military to business ? Do you want to be in a top leadership role of a leading company?  If you do, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel to help you get there.  You can follow former military officers who have become key business leaders’ steps for career success. One such fo...

I like to use the lessons of investing to help Junior Military Officers (JMOs) understand the tradeoffs and choices they will make during their career search process.  In this podcast, I walk through the value of investing early in your life.  I share the financial benefits of sacrificing today for reaching financial and career goals in the future.  Chiefly, I explain how that same investing disci...

When you hear the phrase “Corporate America,” what imagery immediately comes to mind? Personally, my brain first goes to a fictional photo of Wall Street – probably something snapped in the mid-1990s that would be found in a dusty textbook. My mind forms lots of gray buildings and gray suits. However, I think this idea of Corporate America is a stereotype where a lot of misconceptions about busine...

What is the formula to launching a successful business career? And what does a “successful business career” mean for a military officer who wants to transition? We define this concept more HERE  but wanted to share a story of how a Cameron-Brooks alum utilized three strategies to successfully transition with a long-term goal in mind. When we published the Transition Guide “ 3 Gam...

One of the programs that the Department of Defense (DoD) recently launched is the Skillbridge program. Skillbridge is an opportunity for transitioning service members and their spouses to gain valuable civilian work experience through specific industry training, apprenticeships, and internships. The program assists retiring and transitioning service members by allowing them to participate in indus...

This month I celebrate my 23rd year at Cameron-Brooks ! Wow, time flies! Funny thing is that I still think of myself as a new team member at Cameron-Brooks because I am always learning something new, and each JMO I work with is unique. Even though I look at myself as someone new to the business, I know I am a seasoned veteran with lots of experience and knowledge on how to make the transition from...

Welcome back to the podcast! In a recent episode, Joel, Hope, and I discussed the 3 Game-Changing Strategies that JMOs can employ to maximize their transition . The podcast is based on a recent transition guide with the same title. The first strategy we recommend is to find opportunities where a JMO can build a track record of success, typically within three to five years. In this episode, you wil...

Today on the podcast, we tackle 3 recession myths every JMO should know. As I write this post, I am flying from El Paso to Denver for a week-long trip through the Southwest US to meet with Junior Officers preparing for their transitions.  In my one-on-one meetings, officers are asking more questions about the economy. This makes sense with non-stop news about record inflation, the Fed raising inte...

Welcome back to the Cameron-Brooks podcast.  2017 Cameron-Brooks Alumnus Nick Henderson and I talk about the recently published Cameron-Brooks Transition Guide, “ 3 Game-Changing Strategies for JMOs Making the Jump to Business “.  Nick is a Consultant with Russell Reynolds Associates (RRA), a leading executive search and leadership advisory company.  Nick is a great example of making t...

What is a transition strategy? Do you need one? We tackle this topic on our most recent Cameron-Brooks podcast episode. Today, we’re hosting another round-table discussion with Joel Junker and Pete Van Epps to share with you our THREE game-changing strategies for junior military officers looking to make the jump to business and WHY it’s important to have transition strategies put in pl...

Welcome back to the Cameron-Brooks podcast. Today we’re publishing one of our MOST DOWNLOADED episodes, “From USMA to Infantry Officer to Iraq to Senior VP of Supply Chain in Switzerland,” with Steve Joachim. From the original podcast blog text, Joel wrote: Steve Joachim, USMA ’97, Iraq War Veteran and Cameron-Brooks Alumnus, talks about how he created a patent with other enginee...

Welcome back! I am glad to introduce you to Lauren Kordzik. Lauren is an Associate Principal at Cameron-Brooks. Her role in the company is to work directly with companies who want to hire Junior Military Officers (JMOs). During our conversation, she shares more about why companies hire from Cameron-Brooks. Lauren has an interesting background – she came to Cameron-Brooks after successfully s...

Transitioning from military officer to business leader is a big change.  Military and business careers present different professional and personal cultures.  For example, they compensate and promote differently, and although the skills and experiences relate across the domains, functional experience rarely does.  It is a big change to leave the military and enter civilian life and a business caree...

Today on the podcast, we’re featuring a special discussion revolving around one of the most frequently asked questions that we are asked by Junior Military Officers: How much money can I make? A concern we often hear from military officers who are considering a transition is salary. Transition Coach, Rob Davis, covers the topic of compensation and salary in Corporate America. This topic ofte...

Welcome back! I am glad to introduce you to Steven Sandoval . Steven is a former USMC Aircraft Maintenance Officer (F-18 Hornet) who launched his business career in 2018 as a Manager of Customer Service and Support at Textron Systems , a division of Textron . An interesting aspect of this episode is we recorded it just after he received and promotion to a Director-level position and was back at th...

What are some of the biggest interviewing mistakes JMOs should avoid when transitioning to business? What are some tips for avoiding a verbal professional faux pas? We can help. After 50+ years of coordinating interviews with officers in our program and our client companies, we’ve learned a thing or two! Our team puts together five conferences per year, each averaging 500+ interviews over th...