Cameron-brooks

Today on the Cameron-Brooks podcast, we're tackling a NEW topic that can be half of the equation when officers consider making a transition. SIGNIFICANT OTHERS. We're always believed that significant others make a SIGNIFICANT difference in the transition decision and process. And, at Cameron-Brooks, we like to ENCOURAGE involvement from significant others from the very beginning. It's a large life decision and requires a lot of thought, reflection and research. As we discuss the role of spouses and significant others in the transition decision, we thought "what better way to share tips and tricks than by hearing from the spouses of our own alumni?!" So I want to introduce you to my colleagues and new Cameron-Brooks teammates: Julie and Val! Julie and Val both had their spouses come through the Cameron-Brooks program, so they have first-hand experience in the transition experience as a spouse. We wanted this particular episode to cover the idea of, "... my significant other is thinking about making a tr

We speak with thousands of military officers every year about making a transition, and we've picked up on a couple of patterns. Our ultimate goal at Cameron-Brooks is to help ensure the long-term success of our candidates and our client companies. We've found that military officers who really set themselves up for success avoid this one thing when making their transition. The career do-over. Establishing a solid BASE of business experience the 3-5 years after making a transition is critical to building out your career progression. You wouldn't bake a wedding cake and stack the smallest layer on the bottom. The bottom layer is the largest to ensure its stability. Approach your career strategy with the same idea! Our candidates are searching for the long-term opportunities that will present both a good challenge and a reward. So, how do you avoid a career do-over? We've published a document that discusses exactly which mistakes to avoid and how to avoid them. You can download the document, here. We also tackle

What do business leaders have in common? They read. For the first 20 years of my life, I was not a reader.  I paid the price.  My verbal, reading and writing standardized test scores were average.  This was an indicator that I was missing out on a whole world of development and education out there.  Not until my spring break as a sophomore in college did I start reading.  I picked up a novel by John Grisham called, The Firm.  Not exactly a professional development book, but it kick-started my love of reading and took off from there.  Now, I have insatiable appetite for all kinds of books. If you want to be a leader, you need to be a reader (read this article by Forbes for additional reading).  Why? The business world and leadership is dynamic.  One way to not only keep up but to stay ahead is to connect with experts.  Most of us cannot schedule a meeting with a leadership expert like Jim Collins because we don't have the network to get in with him; we can't interact with a manufacturing and process improveme

When I ask officers in the military what they are looking to do when they get out of the military, I often hear something like, "I want to do something I am passionate about." When I follow up with a question, "Like what?" I typically don't hear a clear and specific answer. I think I know why. When a leader really examines what they are passionate about it's NOT a hobby like golf or surfing. It IS typically LEADERSHIP. I speak to former military officers all the time and the thing that I hear over and over again is they are passionate about leading teams, solving problems, leading projects, thinking critically and making a difference. Whether that is a medical company, a consumer packaged goods company or another company. That is exactly what the guest of this episode, Stevie Solano, said. Stevie is a former Air Force Aircraft Maintenance officer who transitioned in early 2018 and went to work at USAA in a business analyst role. In this episode we talk for a moment about her Air Force career, her experien

Welcome back for a special episode! Rob Davis, Transition Coach, interviewed 5 recent alumni of the August 2021 Career Conference for our post-August 2021 Conference review webcast. At the time of the interview, all alumni guests had already accepted an offer for employment. We really enjoy doing this type of episode because it gives those who are planning to attend a future Career Conference (or those who are curious about the details of the conference) a "peek over the fence" to how exactly everything went down. In this episode, Rob spends a few minutes sharing the "statistics of the Conference" - average number of interviews, pursuit rate, the companies who attended and the positions offered (see much more about this here). He also shares the interview schedule of a candidate from the Conference. Hearing the breadth of companies that just one officer interviewed with is very interesting. The variety of interviews coupled with the fact that no two officers had an identical schedule highlights that the care

Twenty years ago, Matt Beliveau transition from an Army Officer to a Human Resource Specialist at General Mills.  Today, he is the Chief Human Resources Officer of Sarah Lee Frozen Bakery.  To thank all of those who helped him along the way, Matt wrote the following post on LinkedIn.  It is definitely worth 3 minutes of your time to read. After reading his post, I reached out and invited Matt to be a guest on the podcast and share his leadership lessons. It was clear Matt knew that the transition from the military is more complex than just finding a "job" in the right location and having a paycheck.  Additionally, to make it to the C-Suite level, he managed his career well, finding mentors and sponsors while taking a proactive approach. In the podcast, Matt describes the complexity of the JMO to business leader transition that includes changing identity from military officer to civilian, learning a whole new functional role and finally a new company culture. Being a CHRO, Matt has great perspective on work

Welcome back to the Cameron-Brooks podcast! I am excited to bring this particular episode to you, because we have the pleasure of bringing back Chuck Alvarez, Cameron-Brooks CEO. Chuck has been with Cameron-Brooks for over 25 years, the last 9 of which has been at the head of the organization. He has personally helped over 2,500 JMOs move from the military to Corporate America, so he brings a wealth of insight and perspective to the conversation. Back on January 4, 2021 our Senior Vice President, Joel Junker, interviewed Chuck - his first appearance on the Cameron-Brooks podcast. In that episode (114), Chuck looked back at the year that was 2020 (and the massive ups and downs that occurred) and looked forward to 2021. He took time to fully describe the word "transition" as it relates to the JMO and how valuable comparing multiple opportunities in an interview process can be to finding the right career. That episode spawned two more episodes on each of those topics - Episode 116: Defining the JMO Transition a

Stuck in a rut?  Feel like you are on a professional plateau and not sure where you are going?  Wonder if you are "traveling" on the right personal or professional path?  Do you have clarity on your goals? If you have or are asking yourself these questions, good.  That means you are human and you want grow and develop.  I mean, if you didn't have these questions, you would probably be okay with the rut and plateau. I am an overachieve and never satisfied with the status quo.  There are pros and cons to this mindset, but for now, I will stick to the pros.  I ask myself these questions all the time and I recently found a model to help me answer them.  I wrote about this model during my recent Career Tip "3 Simple Questions to Spur Personal and Professional Growth". Getting clarity on your goals, finding the right path to get there and identifying what must be done to accomplish your goals starts with asking yourself a question, "What does success look like for me?"  This is a general question of course.  Y

So, you're thinking about making a transition. But where do you start? Which strategies should you focus on first? We live in the information age. Every generation after us will have more information and faster access than ever before. Which also means the amount of information out there can be overwhelming. Imagine walking into the Library of Congress. You have over 170 million items to choose   from, if you so please. Now imagine there was no librarian or digital categorization or even a card catalog. You'd have to search 170 million different items to find what you wanted. Yikes. I imagine this is how it feels for military officers who are thinking about making a transition and don't quite know where to start. Often I hear, "researching new industries/career fields/job listings is confusing and, honestly, overwhelming" from officers. We'd suggest embracing these four mindsets to help you get started and, ultimately, succeed in reaching your goals. MINDSET #1: Be curious. Ask questions. If you were lo

So, here we are - July 2021. Is the economy back?  Well, there are probably way too many factors at play to truly allow that to be a binary YES or NO, BUT at the Cameron-Brooks June 2021 Career Conference, the average number of interviews per JMO was 13. You read that right. The average number of interviews that officers had was 13 interviews with industry-leading companies who attended the Conference with actual open positions that they plan to fill with non-traditional leadership talent (aka JMOs). One of the hardest things JMOs have to do once they make a decision to leave active duty military is navigating the treacherous waters of the application and interview process.  In this episode, we hear from 4 Cameron-Brooks alumni who attended that Conference and successfully navigated those waters. The intention of this episode is to give you a "peek behind the curtain" in terms of WHAT they saw, HOW they made decisions, and WHY they chose or did certain things. I guide the conversation and we hit on a few ke

Problem solving and project management are closely related, but they are not exactly the same.  Personally, I differentiate them this way: Problem: I am getting one result when I am expecting or need a different one. Project: I like quality guru, J.M. Juran's, definition “a problem that has been scheduled for a solution.” This podcast is not about how to solve problems or manage projects but rather how to answer questions about them in an interview and how to differentiate.  We would have to write a book if this post or podcast was about the topics themselves and there are plenty of other great books out there on each topic. I often hear from JMOs transitioning asking for help in differentiating questions about the two subjects.  Once you listen to this podcast, you will have clarity on how to answer each question and even be able to modify answers that you have already created to them. I explain why recruiters ask about your ability, experience or methods in solving problems and managing projects.  I a

Welcome back! I am excited to bring you my conversation with Cameron-Brooks alumnus, author, business leader and all-around good guy, CORY BOUCK! Our conversation weaves in and out of how Cory's military experience has impacted his business career, how he's propeled himself into greater levels of success, leadership, and career progression advice/observations (i.e. does your career need to be a ladder?). Cory shares his career journey during the podcast, so we will hit the highlights, here. Cory is the Asia/Pacific Regional Business Director at Johnsonville Sausage, and is the author of The Lens of Leadership: Being the Leader Others Want to Follow. He is maniacally committed to profitable volume growth through a "Serve-Build-Inspire!" leadership philosophy. Cory is a U.S. Naval Academy graduate and also served there as a leadership instructor.  Cory graduated in the top one percent of student leadership ranks.  As an instructor, he led a team of civilian PhDs and military instructors in managing the conten

What are the most common resume writing mistakes and how can you avoid them? Cameron-Brooks is a professional services firm and resume writing and consultancy falls under the term “services”. It’s actually one of the key steps before attending a Conference. We review hundreds of resumes, helping each of our candidates craft the perfect document. On this episode of the Cameron-Brooks podcast, we sit down with our Head Resume Consultant, Danielle Granville. Danielle works closely with our candidates before each conference from sending out resume guidelines, setting up one-on-one consultative phone calls and assisting throughout the process from resume inception to final state. We review the Cameron-Brooks resume writing process, how it's unique and tackle the top five resume mistakes we see most often and share tips on how to avoid them. The top 5 resume mistakes we see include ... Wrong format / length Misunderstanding your target audience Not adding results to your accomplishment bullets Lack of

Are you still in the military and either anticipating attending a Cameron-Brooks Career Conference or considering if a partnership with Cameron-Brooks is worth your while? If so, you've landed on the right podcast! In this episode, Joel interviews 4 recent alumni who attended the April 2021 Career Conference. Here is their background: Jeanece Kelly: CAPT, Air Force Force Support David Addams: MAJ, Army Aviation/Acquisitions Dorothy Krebill: CPT, Army Signal Jason McCarty: CPT, Army Infantry/Cyber The group covers a wide array of topics and answers many questions like: What does a Cameron-Brooks partnership look like? What if you are a more senior JMO or beyond? How can Cameron-Brooks help me translate my military background? What does a "typical" interview schedule look like at a Career Conference? What type of companies attended the April 2021 Career Conference? How can I get an edge at the Conference? What can I expect from the Follow up Interview Process? Navigating the move from

Welcome back to PART 2 of our Frequently Asked Questions conversation! We covered the first set of FAQs on podcast episode 121.  Our goal for these episodes is to help officers who are considering a transition (or who are curious) learn more about Cameron-Brooks as a transition resource. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) we cover: Timing - when should you start? What's normal? As we discussed in Episodes 114 and 116, our purpose is to help officers "transition" and in doing so, avoid the early career do-overs. In order to do that effectively, two things must exist. We must know you professionally and have a relationship. Who you are. What you are good at. What you like and are interested in. How you see yourself. You must be prepared to interview with Corporate America. There must be a level of interview prep that occurs in orders to maximize the outcome of 10-12 interviews. Next, officers ask about our Mutually Accountability Partnership (most call it an "Exclusivity Clause" initially. Although w

Welcome back to another addition of the podcast! Many of the people who have chosen to partner with Cameron-Brooks already know much about our model - who we are, what we do, how we do it and our relationship with the companies who come to us seeking to hire Junior Military Officers. That said, even people who know a lot about who we are had to start somewhere. That start is usually defined by doing research and that research often includes an informational phone call with a team member at Cameron-Brooks. Hope happens to be one of the team members at Cameron-Brooks who spends a lot of time with officers looking for more information. Though we publish a list of FAQs HERE and HERE , Hope thought it would be a good idea to cover some of the most frequently asked questions on the podcast. I couldn't agree more! So, Hope, Joel and I hit the record button and Hope led us through a series of questions she receives most often. We only covered 7 questions but the session took about an hour and twenty minutes, so we

Welcome back! On this episode of the Cameron-Brooks podcast, we continue our series of interview tips to help elevate your interview game. Of course the ultimate goal in moving from the military to Corporate America is to chose the best opportunity amongst many and avoid any early career "do-overs." More on that HERE and HERE and HERE! For now, here are the three most common reasons that we see as to why people get ruled out of interviews. Rapport! All too often I see an officer so focused on delivering the perfect answer that they lose sight of the conversational nature of the interview. This means having a good back-and-forth dialogue in order for the hiring manager to further explain the company and/or opportunity and for you to explain your interest and fit. Unfortunately, sometimes an inexperienced interviewer will see the interview more like a military board than a conversation. Connect! Often in workshops and mock interviews I will ask a military officer if the position we are practicing with is a

I am frequently asked, “How do I answer the interview question, ‘What are your short- and long-term goals?’ when I'm not sure what I want to do for a career in business right now?” Over the past few years, we've written a couple of blog posts on this topic.  One of the comprehensive posts was "Tips on Answering 'What Are Your Short and Long Term Goals?'" in May of 2015.  I encourage you to read this particular post and listen to the podcast where I expound on why recruiters ask this questions and how to approach the answer to make an impact. In the podcast, I demystify this question and cover: The recruiter's real question or question behind the question is, “What are your short- and long-term goals because I want to know what you want to do. And, I want to know if you can achieve those goals in my organization and be happy.  Are we the right match for one another?”  Tips on how to balance being specific with your goals but not so specific that you rule yourself out because a particular goal is not a

Welcome back! This is the continuation of our conversation with Cameron-Brooks President and CEO, Chuck Alvarez all stemming from Episode 114. In that podcast, Chuck took a look back at 2020 and a look forward to 2021. From that conversation, he further defined the JMO "transition" in Episode 116 and is back to talk more about comparing options in the process. Chuck has personally helped over 5,300 officers move from the military to Corporate America. On this episode, he sheds light on the benefits of comparing career options and how it can be one of the most reliable and effect ways to launch a career in a new industry. What is the means by which a person could be able to place value on a choice? How do officers assign value amongst many choices?  We explore the fact that we all make decisions in either isolation or in relation to other choices and how relativity can be a very powerful tool. In the military, we've been trained to compare at least three courses of action relative to each other. Circumventing

On the forefront of every job seeker's mind? How to interview during a global pandemic. Let's introduce you to Madeline Calves. She is a former USMC Communications officer who attended our very first virtual Career Conference in April 2020. Madeline launched her career with Abiomed, a leading medical device company that makes products to help revitalize patients in preparation for important surgical procedures. When we spoke last month, Madeline was completing an intricate training program in preparation for her role as a medical device sales representative. Madeline is excited because she knows that the products she will represent literally change people's lives. Although Madeline has been with Abiomed for less than a year, we wanted to share her thoughts and experiences around virtual interviewing. Her candidate class was the first group of candidates to interview during the pandemic. We thought the topic was still incredibly relevant. Let's flash back to April 2020. Although Madeline had been in the Cam