www.CivilianJobNews.com
SEPT/OCT
2011
The Essential Military-to-Civilian Transition Resource INSIDE
Finding Your Bliss Trying to find a career that’s right for you? This article discusses tips that can help you discover your next dream job ...................................... page 9
The Great American Debt Disaster Managing your personal finances can be stressful. USAA shares some useful tips on what you can do to avoid debt .................................... page 10
Job fair calendar Find a job fair near your base with our job fair calendar ...................................... page 8
DEPARTMENTS Publisher’s Letter ...................................... page 2 Classified Ads .................................... page 11
Top 40 Under 40 Military Spotlight: Mike Marty
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Civilian Job News will periodically highlight one of the Top Forty Under Forty Military honorees. Mike Marty is this issue’s profile subject. by HEIDI RUSSELL RAFFERTY Contributing Editor
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esting his arms on the hood of a Humvee during a late-night artillery field exercise, Michael Marty decided it was time to share with his company commander: “I think I need to leave the Army so that I can go to business school. I can’t do both.” The conversation that ensued – and the lessons he learned that night – changed Marty’s life. His captain, Mike Eastman, told him about a program that would allow him to finish graduate school while still on active duty, in exchange for teaching at West Point for three years. What ensued was a series of punctuated Army career highs that set the foundation for a successful transition into the civilian arena. Today, Marty is marketing director for Patch.com, which “takes news, commerce, conversations and events in a community and brings them online into a Web 2.0 experience,” he says. Patch.com reports on news-making events
in 850 communities nation-wide. “We take the core product of a local newspaper and put it on steroids,” Marty explains. In 2010, Marty was one of the “40 Under 40,” an annual recognition program from Civilian Job News that gives a nod to outstanding veterans. He learned of the award opportunity through LinkedIn and found that the application and acceptance process was simple. He encourages other veterans and current service members to throw their names into the ring for consideration in 2011. “I was honored to be considered, let alone selected. It’s a fantastic initiative,” Marty says. “What I love about it is not just that it highlights those in the military but those who served previously. Usually we don’t recognize those who spent part of their professional experience to serve in the military. It has become a topic of conversation for me. I put it into my bio at work, and people were impressed by it. I can see it leading to future things.” One thing he’s learned is that
the skills he developed as an officer in the U.S. Army can be applied daily in the civilian corporate world. “I use all the management, problem solving skills. My abilities are to be flexible, to take care of people that work for me and give them a sense of direction and goal and allow them to maneuver under that to best meet the objective or goal. All that is what I learned in the Army,” Marty says. Like the other “40 Under 40” designees, Marty brings a personal history of dedicated military service combined with drive to succeed in his civilian career pursuits. He graduated in 1995 from the University of Notre Dame with a marketing degree on an ROTC scholarship. And after 9/11, he served with the 3rd Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery of the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, which was the first Cavalry Division Ready Brigade Task Force to be called up to Kuwait. Marty took Eastman’s advice in 2002 and worked on his Master’s
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at Harvard Business School while still listed as an active duty officer. He graduated in 2004. During school, Marty interned with a sports marketing agency owned by the Boston Red Sox Baseball Club. It was responsible for exploring ventures leveraging the Red Sox brand to maximize the club’s revenues. He was appointed CEO and was charged with managing all aspects of business development, financing, marketing, sales and operations. He led it to profitability within 60 days, and investors earned 20-times their invested capital in three years time. Although the Red Sox offered to pay him, as a soldier, he couldn’t be compensated. So he received school credit for his experience. Following graduation, Marty took his post as a West Point instructor, teaching economics, finance and accounting. “I enjoyed my time teaching cadets who raised (their) hands to serve continues page 4
What civilian employers really think of you by CAROLYN HEINZE Contributing Editor
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ou’re stiff. A little too serious. Not really interested in negotiating with people – you’d prefer to bark orders and boss them around. When it comes to what civilians think of those that have been in the military, we’ve heard it all before. But what about civilian employers? Is their perception of veterans just as narrow? Like pretty much everything,
it depends. Ruth Somoza at United Rentals – a Greenwich, Connecticut rental equipment provider and a Civilian Job News Most Valuable Employer – would respond with a qualified ‘no.’ As Corporate Human Resources Generalist for the company, Somoza takes a proactive approach to recruiting and hiring former military members. “This company takes its veteran initiative – as far as recruiting anyone actively – as
one of its major priorities,” she says, adding that the organization reaches out to veterans to ensure that they are aware of what United Rentals, as an employer, can offer them – including those military members who may be called to duty while on the job. “It is one of the most important
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