You with your transition. It's not just about getting a place in a job. When you leave the military, it's about helping you adapt to life. After the military helping, you understand yourself, your strengths, your interests and then helping guide you to, hopefully, the right kind of role in the right kind of company when you leave the military. Welcome to the when see a podcast today, we have a special guest Colonel, John Hutchison on behalf of Hiring.
Our Heroes are in are heroes is an organization that helps military members and spouses with training networking and job placement. What are the biggest challenges for people who are leaving the military is transitioning their skills to the civilian world and learning to work. In a new culture are in our heroes, is one of the leading organizations for helping people bridge that gap between military
and civilian careers. They do this by organizing training iron events running Fellowship, programs organizing education, and networking opportunities to discuss Hiring Our Heroes. As I said, our guest today is to Colonel, John Hutchison, who is transitioning from active duty to a civilian career? He and Hiring Our Heroes have agreed to have him on, to discuss his experiences and hopefully help others in their transition.
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information. Let us unpack your data and put your knowledge to work. Learn more at Tesla gov.com. So here's a little background on Colonel, Hutchison. John Hutchison started in 1995 and work to leadership roles in contingency operations, including Bosnia-Herzegovina Iraq, Philippines and Afghanistan. He also held command positions throughout his career, that included the commandant of his C Co e and directorship.
Within US forces. Japan, additionally, Colonel Hutchison has a Masters of Science in National Security strategy from the national War college and a Actually science, it administration of justice from Penn State home of the Lions. Now, I'm personally leaving out details about his career. In order to help everyone focus on the transition to the civilian world, something all service members need. We'll have to send.
Of course you are. Welcome to talk about your past career and what you did you were a god of many great projects. But I also wanted to give a neutral background so people can focus on Hiring Our Heroes. Now, additionally for everyone, I will have his LinkedIn address and Hiring Our Heroes webpage, link on the show notes. So, if you have any questions or want information, it'll be there for you. With that said, Colonel Hutchison. Good morning, and thank you for coming on one CA Hey Jack.
Good morning to you and good morning to all your listeners and thanks for having me on. Oh, it's fantastic to have you on. I've been a longtime fan of Hiring Our Heroes and this is my first opportunity to get their work out into a public setting, to attract more people to what they do, and why it's important. And the reason I asked you here today is because you're in the middle of that transition.
So not only do, you know, Hiring Our Heroes but you also are living it. So I wanted to see how you feel, what you're seeing with the program. Well, thanks for the question Jack. Yeah, it's been as you stated I'm in the middle of my
transition process right now. So I've been working with Hiring Our Heroes over the last several months, as part of their corporate fellowship program, where they work with transitioning military members, from all branches of the service, the place them in civilian companies for about a, 11-week 12-week, corporate Fellowship.
So that we Fissioning veterans can get an idea of what corporate life is. Like what corporate culture is like the see if it's a good fit to make our transition to a post military career a little bit easier. So I've been working with them and participating in my fellowship that at Lockheed Martin Corporation which has been just fantastic so far and we're about a little over halfway through the the fellowship right now, right?
That's what I was going to say is they don't usually have these smudgy corporations, you know, a date. Senior actually out running signs. You know it's spinning them on the street. They're usually real corporations with real Hoops that industry. So yeah. Hiring Our Heroes partners with some fantastic companies across all Industries and all sectors and they really give transitioning military members a lot of different options and choices to look at for this fellowship program.
And so you know, Lockheed Martin's been been one of those partners for a while but there's so many other Are other companies out there who see the value in hiring veterans, and giving them opportunities to succeed after they leave the military. That's terrific. If you also looked into their hiring events or education programs, Yes, so if you are in a one of these Fellowship cohorts, you get to take advantage of all of these other
developmental opportunities. So, I haven't personally participated in one of their specific hiring fairs, but I know they do those frequently not only for military members with Burr, military, spouses as well. But our we've had so many wonderful professional development sessions as part of our Hiring. Our Heroes cohort, focused on things like resume, writing, building an effective We've been profile, you know, corporate culture of corporate benefits and compensation.
Interviewing techniques, you know everything that is a little bit foreign to folks in the military until they need to know it when they're getting out and getting ready to transition into the civilian sector. So they really focus on a very holistic approach to prepare you for life after the military and that's the hardest part, isn't it is When you get into that language change, because that's one of the things that people have coached me throughout my time is how you write your
resume. How you speak in the corporate office is very different than what is said and done in the military and it takes time. It takes time to get out of that. Knee-jerk response of, you know, Jumping into a sir, ma'am. And and going crazy on a project trying to predict what the boss wants.
Whereas in the corporate culture, you can walk in and say, hi, Tom, how you doing today in the guy's worth four billion dollars and and it's crazy and it's and I'll be honest, it's a hard transition for civilians going into the military as well because they're used to walk in into Tom's office, who's a billionaire and say, hey I heard you're going to bring the grand piano into the office, this weekend, so people can play and, and they just can't do that two or three or
four star, or even a to It's a big cultural change and so, how much work is it taken to get through that cultural adjustment? For yourself. How did you know I have found for me?
At least it's it hasn't been that difficult, you know, so but I know it can be an adjustment then you know, I come as a public affairs officer for most of my career in the Air Force, you know, I the skills that I developed as a communicator and a leader weren't too difficult to translate into civilian, speaking into the civilian sector.
But you know, if you spent your career infantry or Special Operations or, you know, some more of a combat arms type of roles Making that that transition and translating those skills that you've developed over time can be a lot more
difficult. So I feel fortunate that many of my skills and experiences translate well into the civilian sector but also know that others have more difficult time to make that connection and to really be able to highlight what they bring to the table when they're looking for civilian rules. Right? And that's you know, that is good. A good point especially for recruiting, is that public affairs, civil affairs?
These roles that deal with people that deal with communities, local governments Regional National governments. They do have a better chance of transitioning successfully into the career field, because those skills that they've stacked over, the overtime are appliable. It's just then a little bit of language and culture adjustment. Absolutely. Yeah. And you've traveled all over the world with your job.
So you have seen this Yeah, I've seen I've seen some wonderful places and some not so wonderful ones as I'm sure you have as well Jack. Yeah. And you know, all of those experiences, especially, you know, interacting and working with folks from other countries and immersing myself in other cultures and some of those assignments. They've all helped me.
I think to be adaptable to different situations and certainly transitioning to a civilian career and corporate culture with would qualify as a different situation than what I've been used to the last 20-plus years. So I think all of those experiences that I've had have helped me along the way. In addition to the great development and training and mentoring that I'm getting through Hiring Our Heroes, right?
Right. You know, one thing I wanted to bring up and I'm not sure if you can talk it to this or not. But Hiring Our Heroes also provides the same support for spouses which is wonderful when We lived overseas, my wife struggled with getting a job because of all the sofa agreements she's a financial analyst. You worked Wall Street and to go to Germany and people to say, well you can work at the gas station was was yeah, that was
deflating and I paid the price. I could have absolutely and so it's nice to see that programs, like how Hiring Our Heroes consider the spouse, as well? Because they are so much a part of our lives and our military. Military career. Yeah, I can't agree with you more.
I to, you know, I'm married and when we were stationed in Japan, my wife, you know, went through the same struggle, she had a promising career here in the United States up until the point that we moved to Okinawa and she made the most of the assignment. But the the resources back, you know, when we were there back in 2007, to 2010 the resources to help military spouses, this weren't the Same as they are today.
So I'm, it's wonderful to that Hiring Our Heroes and other organizations are paying attention to the needs of military spouses and creating more opportunities account for the difficulties of a military lifestyle here. Absolutely true. And it helps also that they have a remote work now. I mean you and I started 80s 90s, you know, the only remote work was, you know, catalog sales or bill collectors. So right, right. Right. So that's opened up a whole new
world, for sure? Yeah, yeah, it's made it and actually for us looking into our second and or third careers or fourth careers, you know, it gives us more opportunity, you can work remotely or through consulates or you know, how to branches and agency stations around the world and do your job. It's really made it much more convenient. Yeah, for sure. So, can you talk about informational interviews? I think that's something that People have heard of, they don't
understand. Yeah, absolutely things that you hear over and over through the, the tap program and in Hiring Our Heroes and other experts on Military transition is Reach Out, Network, conduct informational interviews, with people who are in your industry or in companies that you're interested in, to find out more about that industry, more about that role more about the kind of job that you're interested in. And you're, you know, it's a simple as sending.
Somebody a connection request with a note on LinkedIn saying, hey I see, you're you're involved in this particular role that I'm interested in and I would love to chat with you for 20 minutes or so just to find out more about what you do and what it takes to succeed in this industry.
And that's really really helpful, especially if you're looking to completely change the kind of work that you're doing or if you're going to be doing, you know, the same I work but in a different sector and so what you will find is that many many people are happy and willing to talk to you about their roles to give you a little bit of mentoring and look and let's be clear. You're not reaching out to them to ask for a job that's not part of the conversation.
You're reaching out to find out more about them, more about why they've been successful and to build up your knowledge of a particular role or industry and also to build. Network. So I have done many of these since I, you know, left, my last Air Force job and they've been really, really valuable in again, building the network and finding out more about what it takes to succeed on the outside. Elsie 38 brand.com the Civil Affairs Lifestyle brand
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like, your job. Right. I think the biggest fear people have because of that training and chain of command is actually sending that email to a CEO or a cc 0. And saying, hey I'd really like to know more about your company. Can you or somebody? You know you know direct me to meet and have lunch and just talk about it because it's it has four boat in the in the military world to get you in a lot of trouble but the outside world that kind of yeah, that kind of Drive is actually
respected and appreciated. So I'm glad you brought it right up. So is there anything else about the experience that you want to talk about with Hiring Our Heroes? I just I can't recommend the program enough for transitioning military members. Whether you are you know completing one or two enlistments. Maybe you're giving out at the six or eight year mark or you're retiring from the military, they really take a holistic approach to helping you with your
transition. It's not just about getting placed in a job when you leave the military, it's about helping you adapt. To life after the military helping, you understand yourself, your strengths, your interests and then helping guide you to, hopefully, the right kind of role in the right kind of company when you leave the military. So I just, I really like their approach and I you know, if you're a if you are a transitioning veteran and you're getting, you're looking at what
comes next. I highly recommend you look into their programs that you take advantage of Of the resources that they have, and there are many, whether it be participating in a corporate fellowship program or simply, you know, leveraging some of their workshops and hiring fairs and things like that, they're a great organization and they're helping a lot of veterans, achieve success after the military. Fantastic.
You know, it actually I was just scrolling through some of their resources and they have employer panels where they bring in people and they talked to folks and you get to listen to them. They also have recorded sessions so you can kind of get a feel of what's going on. They have Financial costs of unemployment and transitioning work. And also as a cultural piece that I think is very important belong. It at work, is it? I, you still feel like a soldier when you get out, you're walking
these, these carpeted halls. And you're I don't know if I belong, you know, and so it's that kind of emotional coaching that gets you into that transition so that you're more comfortable in that workspace. So well, fantastic Colonel John es hecha said, you've been great, I appreciate all the time you've put into this meeting and I look forward to seeing your, your career go, you know, fantastically. So that's the look on the transitions were pretty much
back. Thanks for having me and again, to all your listeners. If You're getting ready to transition from the military. Check out Hiring Our Heroes. They're fantastic. A lot of great programs to help you and Jack. Thanks again for having me on my pleasure today, Angela, David will read us out If you enjoyed this podcast and others, please remember to subscribe and hit light. The Civil Affairs Association is a proud sponsor of the wannsee a podcast.
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