Resources Part I

So after a quick introduction on my first post, I would like to quickly outline the pros and cons of headhunters. If you missed the first blog, this blog is targeted towards veterans, active duty military, and individuals that are looking to advance their careers by joining a military service. When it is required, I will provide specific information to NCOs, SNCOs, and Officers.

Head Hunters:

I will first describe the purpose of head hunters and what they can do for you. I will then list the major head hunters and post links to their sites, and lastly, I will describe my own personal experience with a few of these companies.
So what do headhunters do, and why do they exist as companies?
Each of the groups below is paid when a company hires you. If your starting salary is $50k, these headhunters will usually get some percentage of your starting salary, such as 10% ($5k). So, when you consider a headhunter remember, they are not there to help you, these are companies that exist to make a profit. This does not mean that headhunters are not a valuable resource, but headhunters win when they are “managing” large numbers of military personnel with minimal cost (i.e. minimal interaction).
The list below is from military.com’s headhunter information.

Placement Firm
Places Candidates
Focus
Alliance Recruiting
Nationwide
Officer & Enlisted
Bradley-Morris, Inc. (BMI)
Nationwide
Officer & Enlisted
Cameron-Brooks
Nationwide
Officer
Career Development
DC Metro
Officer
The Compass Group
East Coast & South
Officer
Corporate Leads, Inc.
Nationwide
Officer & Enlisted
Kaye/Bassman
Nationwide
Officer & Enlisted
Leaders, Inc.
Southeast, PacNW
Officer
Lucas Group
Nationwide
Officer & Enlisted
Military Recruiting Institute
Nationwide
Officer
Orion International
Nationwide
Officer & Enlisted
Soar Consulting
Nationwide
Officer & Enlisted
USA Placements
Nationwide
Officer & Enlisted

I used two of the above companies, Lucas and Orion, when I separated from the Marine Corps in 2007.
Lucas: This company treated me like a number, and I felt like I might as well of posted my resume on Monster.com. I am currently in business school, and this company still contacts me about jobs in Afghanistan, even though I was never looking outside of Seattle.
Orion: Orion helped place me in my first job after separating from the military. I worked a lot with a former Marine Corps Officer named JP, and he was very professional, as was the entire staff. This organization understood what I was looking for, and since I understood what was in it for their company, we had a great relationship.
Headhunters place military personnel in two of the four functional areas of business. To explain this, I am going to first write out and briefly explain these four areas.
Sales: We have all seen sales people, such as the “used car” stereotype, but many of the top businessmen in the world come from sales background.
Marketing: These are the guys that try to find way to increase demand for their products. There are many different ways to accomplish this, but ultimately they do well the demand shifts to the right (economic term).
Finance: In a company these people run the profit and loss numbers, forecast revenue and cost numbers, and decide whether a business project makes financial sense or not. People in finance also work in banking, insurance, private equity, and venture capital, but I am just talking about the types of jobs they perform in a “standard” company.
Operations: These are the people that are making the business run. Such as: building the part, assembling the final product, shipping or trucking the product, providing the service (welding), writing computer code, or managing the people who do these things.
In the military everyone has spend most of their time in Operations, so these are the jobs that headhunters push on their “members.” If you want an operations style job, definitely get in touch with headhunter. Headhunters also generate sales opportunities for their “members.” Civilian companies know that military members are very social and that they can tap the large and strong military network that is currently in the workforce. Most of the sales jobs are geared towards SNCOs and Officers.
In my next blog I will continue to talk about other available resources that can make job transition less stressful.

Introduction to the Blog

I’d like to introduce my blog by giving a quick description of its purpose. Transitioning members of the military to the civilian world has been a historical challenge that dates back to the beginning of civilization. The purpose of this blog is to discuss obstacles that prevent successful integration, current military programs and their varying levels of effectiveness, and jobs that fit well with military members. Overall the goal of the blog is to help military members assimilate into the civilian world and find jobs that provide the level of impact that they are accustomed to making.
I am going to talk a little bit about my background, which will be important to understanding my perspective on the information I provide. I separated from the Marine Corps as a Captain in 2007. I did two tours of duty in Iraq, one with the 31st MEU out of Japan (Fallujah 2004) and the 15th MEU out of Pendleton (Haditha area 2007). I then separated and moved up to the Seattle area, finding a job as a Process Engineer at Honeywell. I was not pleased with the level of impact that I was having, and I applied and entered Business School the next year. I am currently a full time first-year MBA candidate at the Foster School of Business, University of Washington, and I am set to graduate in 2010. I have been searching for an internship for the past few months, and I am still currently on the job hunt. In this regard, I am in the weeds and familiar with the “perceptions” that we face, and the economy’s impact on transition.
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If you or someone you knows has a specific question, please post it as a response, and I will get an answer for you as quickly as possible. Further, the more subscribers I get to the blog, the more content I can elicit from other experts in the area, so please let your friends know.