Career Lessons from the Troops
Tom DiMartino C’96
At the end of July, 1,500 returning service members, many of them Reservists having served in Iraq or Afghanistan, were deployed to Fort Dix, N.J., to participate in workshops and training for re-entering the workforce after having been de-mobilized. On July 29th, I had the privilege of being at Fort Dix as a volunteer Career Coach. There were nearly 200 Career Coaches in total that day volunteering their time, including the Director of Drew’s Center for Career Development, Kim Crabbe.
Given the current challenging job market, our job was to meet with the service members in one-on-one coaching sessions primarily to provide career guidance, feedback on resume content, and other job search related issues specific to their circumstances. This particular day was also the first of a series of de-mobilization workshops that were planned to be held on other bases all over the country, and ours was intended to be viewed as a pilot program.
With this as the background, what I experienced and took away from that day would be worthwhile for anyone thinking about his or her career, let alone being in job search mode. I was deeply impressed with the character of these men and women, and the way they approached this challenge. Some of the specific things I noted were the following;
- Positive Attitude Most everyone I met was optimistic. This transition was looked at as just another challenge, an opportunity to overcome. I met with a former MP who was returning from Iraq who did not know what he wanted to do, just that he wanted to “help and protect” people. This was indicative of the attitude of others there, they knew they could work hard, they knew they could and would find something productive; it was just a question of when and where.
- Respect From the minute I stepped on that base, I and every other civilian there was treated with the utmost respect and politeness. Unfortunately, you do not always see this everywhere, but I think it is worth noting, as well as striving to duplicate.
- Determination and Perseverance One service member I met with was a native of the Republic of Congo, over the course of many years, he moved to the States on a visa for higher education, joined the Army, and ultimately became a United States Citizen. He represented the determination and perseverance that I witnessed in other service members I met with. They were all going to keep at it; no one was going to give up, in spite of any difficulties such as the job market conditions.
- Creativity and Flexibility Another one of the service members I met with was moving to an entirely new part of the country to her. We worked on her resume, and she was very thoughtful in coming up with ways to relate the areas she had served in to potential prospects in the city she was moving to.
Finally, no service member that I met with expressed any fear, depression, or otherwise was overly concerned about the state of the economy, what they were going to do, or whether or not things would work out. Maybe this was a result of some of them being in an extreme situation, and the prospect of a job search being delightful after being an MP in Iraq, or some other similar position. As a Career Coach, I found for the most part that the experience they gained in the military would be highly relevant to potential employers, and I left feeling that most of them would be able to find work relatively easily. That said, the biggest reason I thought they would do well is not because of the relevancy of the work they did while serving the country, but it was because of the character and values that they demonstrated when speaking with them.