SEPTEMBER/ OCTOBER
www.CivilianJobNews.com
2010
The Essential Military-to-Civilian Transition Resource
Inside Uncovering your next career
Finding your post-military career can be a challenge for most transitioning military. Spending a little time reflecting on your likes and interests can help you determine the best career to target............................ page 8
Selling yourself on the phone
Many employers start the interviewing process with phone interviews. Getting an in-person interview depends on how well you sell yourself over the phone. In this issue of Career Coach’s Corner, Tom Wolfe explains a few simple techniques you can use to succeed....................... page 12
Job fair calendar
Find a job fair near your base with our job fair calendar. .................................... page 10
DEPARTMENTS
Publisher’s Letter ...................................... page 2 C3: Career Coach’s Corner .................................... page 12 Classified Ads .................................... page 15
Creating higher standards by Janet Farley Contributing Editor
W
hile the recent events in the oil and gas industry have impacted many lives and many companies, T H Hill Associates, Inc. (www. thhill.com), a Houston, Texasbased consulting and services company in the oil and gas sector, is looking to the future. “What has happened in the Gulf is a tragic occurrence,” said Keith Grogan, manager of technical services for the company. “There is obviously a lot of uncertainty now. As a company, however, T H Hill is weathering the storm better than others. We haven’t put all our eggs into one basket and we will even have a need in the near term for more employees,” said Grogan. The privately-held corporation, founded in 1980, offers engineering, quality assurance and training solutions designed to reduce the risk of structural failure in downhole drilling equipment for oil and gas projects around the world. The company
is well known for creating the global drill string inspection and design standard DS-1®, which defines the procedural inspection requirements used for drilling equipment. The company is dedicated to providing the highest quality and most innovative solutions possible. “We are a smaller independent company, essentially comprised of an engineering department and a technical service department where I work directly for the vice president. Under me, there are 15 project managers working with our valued clients,” said Grogan. “Despite our smaller size, we have extensive global experience working technically challenging and critical drilling projects on very high profile wells belonging to such big names as Exxon, Chevron and Shell,” said Grogan adding that while a good percentage of their business lies in the Gulf of Mexico region they also have significant land and international operations. The firm also works extensively with independent operators and
service companies. “We just opened an office in Brazil and we will be expanding into other regions as well. With this growth comes increased [employment] opportunities,” said Grogan. Looking to the transitioning military workforce In an effort to meet the company’s growing need for highly-motivated and intelligent employees, T H Hill has struck oil, so to speak, in the resource rich work force transitioning from the military. “We hire those having strong leadership abilities and the proven ability to effectively communicate. Those skills are often found in those who have served in the military,” said Grogan who frequently uses the services of Bradley-Morris, Inc. (BMI) to help him find employees. “Since 2008, we have placed military candidates with the company as either project managers or as quality assurance technicians,” said Eric Salzman, T H Hill’s BMI account manager,
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Management material: Marketing your skills to civilian employers by Carolyn Heinze Contributing Editor
I
t’s no secret that veterans have a lot to offer civilian employers. Or is it? After all, not every civilian boss is familiar with what, exactly, goes on in the military – and how much responsibility service members actually have, no matter their rank. When seeking a job, then, it’s up to ex-military personnel to market those skills they acquired, and demonstrate just how valuable they can be. Marcea Weiss, author of “Leaving the Military: Your Deployment Guide to Corporate America” (Calypso), emphasizes that
the leadership skills that people develop while in the service cannot be underlined enough. Weiss – who held various positions in the Army over the course of nine years, including Black Hawk helicopter test pilot, maintenance manager and training officer – points out that right away, even privates are put in charge of something, and then as advanced privates, they are put in charge of someone. “You’re used to leading right from Day One,” she says. “It’s a good environment in which to adopt leadership skills, whereas in Corporate America, it can take years to be put into a position like that.” Another area where many military personnel excel is
planning for the unexpected. “They are trained to come up with a contingency plan: They have a detailed operations order, but if things don’t go as planned, they are taught to come up with another way of carrying it out,” Weiss illustrates. It’s not just about planning for something and then following it to the letter. “A lot of their training revolves around contingency planning and knowing that it only lasts until you get to the beginning of the operation and see how it’s really going to go.” This, she adds, is linked with another skill: initiative. Once service members devise Plan A and then Plan B, they’re expected continues page 5