Each year nearly 250,000 servicemembers and their families leave the military. To varying degrees, they all engage in the 3 R's of military-to-civilian transition: Re-careering, Relocating, and Retiring. While a few go directly into full-time retirement, most expect to work at least another 10, 20, or 30 years. So, what kind of employment decisions will they make? Where will they live? When and where will they retire? Faced with numerous forks in the road, most transitioning military want useful advice on making smart re-careering, relocation, and retirement decisions. Like a good friend, Military-to-Civilian Success for Veterans and Their Families is designed to help any servicemember achieve transition success. It forces them to address the most important question about their future: “What do you want to do with the rest of your life?” The answers hopefully involve more than just making money or acquiring more “stuff.” Successfully managing this process begins with changing their mindset about meaning and purpose in their lives. Ideally, they should find meaningful work that confirms what so many people in transition have discovered: “If you pursue your passion, you’ll be happy and healthy for the rest of your life!” When it comes time to re-career, don’t just focus on finding a job that looks interesting or pays well. Instead, explore jobs that directly relate to your motivated abilities, skills, and values. This book shows how servicemembers can make that happen and thus turn their focus toward those things that are truly important in their lives. Representing a massive expansion of the author’s two military transition guides – the annual Military-to-Civilian Transition Guide and The Military-to-Civilian Transition Pocket Guide (5+ million copies) – this enhanced self-help and training volume is filled with timeless tips for launching a successful transition into the civilian world. It also addresses important relocation, retirement, and benefit issues. Its 19 chapters cover the new world of work, transferable skills, best jobs, top 100 employers, attitudes, skills, goals, applications, resumes, letters, attire, online job search, job fairs, networking, interviews, salary, job offers, career advancement, overcoming setbacks, and much more. Special features include: 300+ military-friendly employers; 103 compensation elements for negotiating salaries; 47 tough interview questions you should be prepared to answer; 40 myths and realities of the job search process; 40 employment trends; 25 job-keeping and advancement strategies; 20 principles for job search success; 19 sample resumes; 14 things you need to know before starting a business; 11 samples letters and focus pieces; 7 sequential job search steps you must follow. The book also includes numerous self-assessment tests and exercises, a realistic planning and implementation time line, job search contract, weekly performance reports, advice on relocation, tips on starting a business, questions about retirement, and useful military transition resources.
