Who Am I? (Transitioning from the Army series, Part 2)

Who am I?

Can I condemn this man to slavery?

Pretend I'm not the man I used to be?

My soul belongs...

Oh, wait, sorry, my bad. I meant to write about how to define myself and determine what my strengths and weaknesses are, but went off on a Jean Valjean tangent. Loves me some Prisoner 2-4-6-0-1. I digress.

The only time it's acceptable to enjoy Hugh Jackman's acting

So I decided to leave the Army (see Post 1 in my Transition from the Army series) and I immediately went into a tailspin. I was overwhelmed with choices, which caused a paralysis by analysis. The world was my oyster, which was both awesome and awesomely terrifying. I hope in this entry to help provide a little bit of guidance to others who are experiencing the same feelings I did and maybe help you hack the process a bit.

In a nutshell, here's what you need to do: Define yourself. Don't worry about what city or what job or what company. That comes later. You must, before anything else, figure out what makes John tick (you're John in this case.) This is crucially important because it is the foundation of everything else. It's your guiding light. You cannot, nay, MUST NOT let yourself be dragged down into the minutiae of cover letter font or LinkedIn profile pictures or your "brand". Not yet at least. As my surrogate Asian father Ramit Sethi likes to remind his flock, "losers love tactics". As I'm always harping on in this blog, it's crucial that you focus on winning the war, not just the battle. It's your job to worry about strategy first, then the necessary tactics to achieve that strategy. As another wise man once said:

"Strategy without tactics is the slowest path to victory. Tactics without strategy is noise before the defeat." - Sun Tzu.

Smart man, that Sun Tzu. Somebody ought to make a book out of all his sayings. Just a thought.

So just how the hell does John (again, that's you) go about figuring out what his strengths and weaknesses are? Who exactly he is as a person and a potential employee? That, my friends, is the $1,000,000 question. There's no easy, cookie-cutter solution, but I can tell you what worked best for me, and hopefully others can drop their recommendations in the comments below.

Recommendation #1 - Get tested. No, not that kind of test. Unless you need that kind of test, in which case, immediately stop reading this and go see a doctor. I'm talking about behavioral testing, ala Myers-Briggs, where you can get tested (albeit subjectively) on what kind of attributes are strongest in you. I'm personally a big fan of StrengthsFinder2.0. Buy the book off Amazon for $10 or go to their website, take the test, and then find out what your top 5 strengths are. Mine are listed below:

Achievement (no duh - wife) - I have to earn "points" on a daily basis, otherwise I feel like a failure. Regardless of yesterday's performance, winning the next day is what matters the most. Best in "wild west", chaotic environments.

Learner - I love jumping into new environments and having to quickly adapt to them. Soaking up new information and getting new skills is like a hobby of mine. The outcome isn't as important as starting. Best as a consultant, teacher, and in fast environments.

Relator - I keep a close counsel, focusing on developing strong, rare bonds with key individuals. Loyalty is my currency. My friends are my fuel. Best to take jobs where friendships can be established.

Individualization - I detest generalized approaches, favoring tailorable solutions and find strength through diversity. Best as a team leader, directing solution creation

Self-Assurance (no surprise on this one either!) - Confident in my abilities and judgement, authority comes naturally to me. I'm good at creating order from chaos and providing a steady hand at the rudder. Best in startups (chaos) or in leadership roles

All of these strengths were accurate evaluations of what I had always thought of myself, but struggled to vocalize or get on paper. The test did that for me. The test even provided some recommendations on which occupations might best suite my attributes (Learners enjoy consulting, etc.) I also conducted a test through CareerLeader.com that more or less mirrored my results from StrengthsFinder. Just about every test is different, and they all provide valuable insight, so I'd recommend doing more than just one test. Trust me, the nominal fee for a behavioral test pales in comparison to the time wasted pursuing a job you aren't a good fit for because you didn't match your strongest attributes to your job search.

Recommendation #2 - Get Help. I recently attended Deloitte's CORE program for veterans. I can't recommend it enough. Throughout the 3 day workshop, senior members of Deloitte help guide you through everything in my first recommendation, on top of teaching you about networking, elevator pitches, mock interviews, and more. Really, such a fantastic, top-notch experience. I just wish I had gotten there sooner, so I didn't have to do so much self-driven discovery. Oh well, you live and you learn. Did I mention that Deloitte's CORE program is hosted at Deloitte University, a 4-star, all-inclusive luxury ranch outside of Dallas and is completely free to attendees? No? I forgot that? Yeah, minor detail. Sign up now, but be warned - competition is stiff and is only increasing. The program runs 4x a year with only 50 participants per class. Hit me up if you want help on your application.

There are some great civilian-focused courses. You're about to be a civilian, so why not use one of them? I recommend Dream Job, by Ramit Sethi. His course guides you through specifically defining where your talents lie, then helping you hunt down opportunities that align with those talents.

"Know yourself, know your enemy, and you will win 100 battles" - Sun Tzu (again). Know yourself, son.

There are certainly other guided courses out there for transitioning veterans, and they vary greatly in their quality. ACAP (now Soldier For Life) teaches to the lowest common denominator, so you shouldn't expect to get much out of those mandatory transition classes. Beware the snake oil salesmen who offer a free lunch while they circle the transition center. Again, readers, hit up the comments with your recommendations on quality programs out there, because I certainly don't know even 10% of them.

So why am I going so batshit crazy, hitting you over the head with this demand to determine your strengths and weaknesses? Because I didn't do it. I know, I know, I was just as surprised as your are to learn I'm fallible. I failed to heed my own advice and dove right into the minutiae. I took some well-meaning but misguided advice from friends and went straight into pursuing a few specific jobs, rather than taking the time to build my strategy. It wasn't until a few months later that I finally pulled the brakes, took a step back, and did some analysis of my underlying talents and attributes that I was finally able to right the ship and really get after the types of jobs that I wanted. These tests can really help vocalize the feelings that are bouncing around in your head that you struggle to get onto paper or to explain to others. For example, lots of people kept asking me why I was interested in company X because it was infamous for its employee burnout. After learning that one of my key strengths was Achievement, I better understood that I was looking for the type of company that shared that attribute with me.

Learn from my mistakes, my friends. Do the due diligence up front. Build your new house upon the rock, not the sand.

Next up: What to Do, Where to Go. I'll explain how my family and I conducted a family decision making process to narrow down our search parameters to particular markets and industries.

Bonus Content: Even those of you who are well into your civilian careers can benefit from examining your strengths and weaknesses. Self development is ALWAYS an excellent idea, as the returns on investment are astronomical. Especially those of you who are stagnating at your jobs. If you're thinking it's time for a change, either within your organization or striking out on your own, take the time to examine yourself. Win the war, not the battle.

The blog post ended a while ago. Stop reading.