“Transition Tips” with Barry Engelhardt from 1st Choice Courier
Barry Engelhardt has over 18 years of service in the National Guard, combined with a background as a professional recruitment manager and veteran mentor. Here, he provides excellent insight into veteran transition and employment.
Being in the National Guard, I’ve always had the luxury of having one foot outside the military. That being said, it’s amazing how much my military experience has defined my leadership and management style.
St. Louis, MO— Barry Engelhardt combines 18 years of National Guard service with a diverse background in recruiting, management and client services. He has deployed for OEF, completed an MBA and currently uses his knowledge and experiences to mentor veterans and help them achieve placement in some of the nation’s top companies.
DJS: How has your 18 years of service made you a more effective asset to the workplace?
BE:
I worry that too often, veterans sell themselves short and/or don’t know how to brand themselves to convert military experience to ‘real world’ experience. Being in the National Guard, I’ve always had the luxury of having one foot outside the military. That being said, it’s amazing how much my military experience has defined my leadership and management style. Right after my last deployment, I enrolled in an Online MBA program for working professionals through SIU-C which forced me to reflect on my experience. At that point, I’d had significant experience managing employees. But I found myself leaning so heavily on my military experience.
I worry that too often, veterans sell themselves short and/or don’t know how to brand themselves to convert military experience to ‘real world’ experience.
I’d never stopped and realized just how much the military had taught me that applies to business management. So much more than I’d learned in my 9–5 jobs. Backwards planning. 1/3 Planning and 2/3 Preparation. Leadership through service to others and by example. Never asking anything of others you wouldn’t do yourself. Being willing to get my hands dirty and perform the work alongside others, even if technically, the work was beneath the pay grade. Recognizing others or the team for their successes, even if it means you pass up an opportunity for self-promotion in the process. Being comfortable speaking my mind candidly, while also having respect for my chain-of-command.
I could really go on and on, but above all, simply being comfortable making decisions. Indecisiveness and fear of making the wrong decision is so common, but after being in environments where decisions can be judged from a standpoint of life and death, a misstep in business is not nearly as stressful. Especially if you learn from it and hold yourself personally accountable, which are also strong military traits. The military built my management foundation and did the same for so many others.
DJS: What are the most common mistakes or struggles that transitioning service members make when searching for their first job?
BE:
Really, I can think of two answers, but they intertwine awkwardly. The first is selling oneself short. As a manager and as a soldier, we’re taught to have a team based mentality. But a recruiter isn’t hiring your team, they’re hiring you, and therefore you need to be able to say I did this and I did that and it resulted in this outcome and saved this much time or money or whatever it is that quantifies the process. That’s how one proves their relevance and ability to be successful in a new role
But a recruiter isn’t hiring your team, they’re hiring you, and therefore you need to be able to say I did this and I did that and it resulted in this outcome and saved this much time or money or whatever it is that quantifies the process.
The second issue I see is not knowing what one wants, which results in an individual who feels they can do most things and aren’t afraid to express this sweeping interest. I would classify it as a ‘just give me a job,’ mentality. When I lost my job several years ago, I had that attitude and it hurt me considerably. I was looking at things from my perspective and not emphasizing with the recruiter. The recruiter’s job is to find X number of roles. The role first; candidate second. If someone gets in front of a recruiter, regardless of how dedicated that recruiter is to hiring Veterans, they aren’t going to beat out other candidates. The recruiter isn’t going to do the Veteran’s job by dedicating the time to breaking their experience down and figuring out how it relates. They can’t. They don’t have the time and have quotas to fill and therefore they’ll pass the Veteran up for the traditional candidate who could articulate why they were a strong fit for the role and move on to fill countless other roles.
DJS: How do you get veterans to talk more about themselves and to sell themselves better?
BE:
I think in essence, it comes down to learning how to brand oneself. There’s a great book on the subject by Lida Citroen titled Your Next Mission: A personal branding guide for the military-to-civilian transition that I’d recommend to anyone who has any of the above struggles. But it comes down to this — If you can’t tell someone why you’d bring significant value to the position, you’ll lose out to someone who can. Every single time.
If you can’t tell someone why you’d bring significant value to the position, you’ll lose out to someone who can. Every single time.
The rest is networking. Like it or not, more people get jobs through other individuals than they do by having the perfect resume or nailing an interview or whatever. I’ve always been so busy being a doer and I’ve struggled with this realization. I’m not speaking as an expert. I’m speaking as a guy whose been laid off and made every single mistake I’m listing. But I reached out for help. And I kept an open mind applied what I learned and forced myself outside of my own comfort zone. And eventually, I saw momentum build in ways that they hadn’t before.
DJS: What are your personal favorite resources for veteran career advice, resumes and employment help?
BE:
Nothing is more powerful than Veterans helping Veterans. There are so many Veterans doing amazing things in the world. Reach out to them. They’re your Brothers and Sisters. They get it. Likely, they’ve been there. There’s a guy here in St. Louis who’s trying to launch a non-profit that will help Veterans learn to code for free and then partner to pair them with organizations willing to hire them. The organization is called CoderVets and it’s founded by a Veteran because he saw a need and wants to help other Veterans. It’s amazing.
Nothing is more powerful than Veterans helping Veterans.
The Mission Continues was also founded here in St. Louis and I think their service platoons are a wonderful way to continue to serve your community, as is Team Red White and Blue and Team Rubicon. From a job search standpoint, LinkedIn offers a free year of premium services to Veterans and has groups like Veteran’s Mentor Network, which is wonderful. Also, there are mentorship platforms. I went through American Corporate Partners as a mentee and I volunteer as a mentor through Veterati. Veterati is doing such great things. If I had to recommend one thing to transitioning Veterans, it would be to find a mentor or mentors and challenge them to challenge you.
If I had to recommend one thing to transitioning Veterans, it would be to find a mentor or mentors and challenge them to challenge you.
DJS: What do you believe are the top skills that veterans bring to the table, and how should they highlight these in an interview?
BE:
Leadership. The military invests more time and money into building leaders than most Fortune 500 companies. And strong leaders are natural managers. Also, don’t underestimate soft skills. Veterans typically know how to hold themselves accountable, work a project on time and on budget, multi-task, made decisions, prioritize, delegate and build strong and lasting relationships with others regardless of race, creed and socioeconomic background. You want someone who shows respect to seniority and gets Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, look at a man or woman whose build bonds through trusting their lives in other’s hands of their superiors planning and their peers’ hands.
The military invests more time and money into building leaders than most Fortune 500 companies.
DJS: What specific transition advice would you give to junior enlisted, such as E-5 and below?
BE:
Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Listen and learn and be proactive. Don’t stop growing simply because you’ve landed a job. And read the book, The 2-Hour Job Search by Steve Dalton. This book will allow you to build a momentum based system. It’s designed with the college student in mind, but I think it transfers perfectly to a transitioning veteran, especially younger ones.
Above all be resilient. Anyone who’s sacrificed themselves by volunteering to serve their country has so much to be proud of, so even and especially if things get frustrating, hold your head up and persevere. Sometimes finding a job takes time and can beat down a person’s self-worth. Again, I’m talking from experience. It’s a system that centers on rejection and acceptance. But don’t you dare give up or become the stereotypical veteran who simply sits behind a desk and shoots out dozens of the same resume to nameless companies and becomes cynical or feels victimized because no one will hire you. I really don’t think there are that many veterans of this description out there, but the few that exist cause so much damage, not only to their ability to land meaningful work, but for all other transitioning veterans, as well. If you catch yourself blaming others for your position, it’s time to do a little soul searching.
DJS: In your experience, what are employers looking for in veterans? What sets successful veteran job seekers apart from the unsuccessful?
BE:
Successful veterans know how to communicate their self-worth in a language focused not on themselves, but on who they’re talking to. They help others when they can and lean on others when they need to. They’re proactive and push their comfort. My wife once told me that when she graduated from college, her first job was finding a job and that’s how she looked at it. She clocked in and clocked out, giving 40+ hours per week. I’m not saying successful individuals need to sit behind a desk and work on resumes and change their LinkedIn profiles 40 hours per week. In fact, I don’t think that’s a successful strategy at all. All that stuff is a necessary component of the job search, but to be successful they also need to use this time to do things such as taking care of themselves (if you have a work out regiment, don’t let it slip) grow their networks, grow their skills and give back to their communities by volunteering. All of these things are ways to not only help provide self-worth through a tough process, but allows the person to grow personally and professionally.
Service Details:
Barry Engelhardt resides in St. Louis, where he works as a Recruitment Manager & HR Generalist for 1st Choice Courier, which was recently awarded the Show-Me Heroes Flag of Freedom Award for excellence for successful implementing a Veteran’s Hiring Initiative.
He has also been a Staff Sergeant in the IL Army National Guard, where he currently acts as an Infantry Squad Leader. He has deployed as part of OEF & Noble Eagle & obtained a MBA in Business Management from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale. He volunteers as a transition mentor through Veterati.
Recommended Resources:
Veterati — A veteran mentorship site which pairs transitioning veterans with experienced veteran mentors in order to provide the resources, tools and advice to thrive in civilian life.
CoderVets — An initiative here in St. Louis that’s currently being launched. The goal is to provide free training in computer coding to veterans and partner with organizations to place these individuals into roles within companies who are struggling to find qualified programmers.
The 2-Hour Job Search — An amazing book that can easily be applied to the Transitioning Veteran.
Are you interested in sharing your story of transition? Or are you a military transition specialist who would like to share some tips? Send me an email at MilitaryTransitionStories@gmail.com
The goal of this series is to bridge the military-civilian divide in three ways: 1) Highlight the incredible skills and value that military veterans of all generations and backgrounds bring into the workplace. 2) Help transitioning veterans understand their true value and therefore aim as high as possible in their employment and educational goals. 3) Discuss the common struggles, pitfalls and indicators of success in veteran transition, in order to provide better transition assistance from both military and civilian sides.
