Cameron-brooks

As we all navigate the turbulent waters of this COVID-19 pandemic, we wanted to bring you insight from someone who has helped military officers transition through all types of economic ups and downs. Joel Junker began his career at Cameron-Brooks over 20 years ago. In all that time, Cameron-Brooks has never cancelled a Career Conference! Through the Dot-com bubble, 9/11, the financial crisis of 2008/2009, Joel has been there to help officers transition every step of the way. In this episode, he shares some key insights to weathering the COVID-19 storm. Companies Will Hire in Difficult Economic Times During the Financial Crisis of 2008/2009, Joel maintained a journal and kept asking the questions: Will we make it through this? Will companies continue to hire? Companies did, in fact, continue to hire through those tumultuous times, so the question remains - why do companies still continue to partner with and hire through Cameron-Brooks, even in the fiercest of economic headwinds? We know the office

At Cameron-Brooks  we believe, amidst this global crisis, that quality leadership is more important than ever. So we will continue to post our regular podcasts to educate potential transitioning military officers. You are the future leaders Corporate America will need. This episode features Porsche Wilson.  Porsche transitioned to Corporate America from the Army in 2009 was serving as Army Medical Service Corps officer. She launched her business career at Regions Bank in a banking operations Project Management role and within 8 months was promoted to a Manager of Debit Cards/ATM Claims. One of the interesting things about our conversation is Porsche helps unpack the concept of "career management". She does that from the perspective of someone who has been in the business world for 11 years.  Approaching her mid-career point in the business world, Porsche continues to accelerate her professional life in Corporate America. Early Success Porsche starts our conversation by recalling her time in the Army and some

Military to business transition doesn't have to be risky — especially if you have the right partner who knows how to make the transition successfully.  However, it does require one to step outside of your comfort zone. Cameron-Brooks Alumnus, Mike Burns, is a former Navy Nuclear Surface Warfare Officer who made the successful transition in 2014.  On this episode of the podcast, he shares how he partnered with Cameron-Brooks to learn more about his marketability, navigated the transition and willingly stepped outside of his comfort zone to land a career at Chatham Financial. Mike initially approached his career search believing he needed to interview for only engineering project management roles that directly related to his functional experience as a Navy Nuclear Trained Surface Warfare Officer.  By partnering with Cameron-Brooks, he conducted a wide career search and was able to interview for a broad range of positions that included Engineering Project Management, Consulting, Finance and more.  In the end,

Welcome back! On this episode of Above and Beyond, I interview Hunter Barns. Hunter is a former Navy Submariner who transitioned into a Senior Business Analyst role (one of several possible consulting careers for military officers) at Kearney, a global management consulting firm in 2014. Hunter launched his career as a consultant focused mostly on the analytical piece of consulting before transitioning into more of a client-facing role. We begin our conversation discussing how Hunter transitioned to Corporate America directly from a shore tour in Bahrain. "The day I started terminal leave was the day I interviewed with my current employer," he said. We discuss how preparing to transition from abroad IS doable and how starting research early can help combat the hesitancy of a direct transition from Asia, Europe, etc. Hunter also explains Kearney in more detail. What is management consulting? What does a Senior Business Analyst do? Who does Kearney work with? Hunter walks us through why he decided to work

Late last year, LinkedIn published the Veteran Opportunity Report with some concerning statistics.  Around 33% of veterans report being underemployed and 70% describe taking a step backward in responsibility when moving to the business world from the military.  The number one reason this occurs is that many companies do not understand the value veterans bring to their organization.   The majority of those surveyed were Junior Military Officers, so this risk of being underemployed and taking a step back is very real for the JMO demographic. A big reason that many veterans, JMOs included, end up with organizations that don't truly understand their value is because the veteran placed too much emphasis on the starting position during their career search.  Meaning, they select the company or opportunity based on location, salary or company name only.  They never conducted a full career search to completely evaluate a number of options.  Hence, they may start in a good initial position but as they progress in th

Welcome back! In this episode we feature Jonathan Brewer. He is a former Army Field Artillery officer who transitioned to Corporate America in 2018 and is an Account Manager for Anderson & Vreeland.  When Jonathan came to the Cameron-Brooks Career Conference, he had 15 separate interviews and just about every company expressed interest in having him out for a follow-up interview. At the Conference, he had more interviews focused on operational team leadership than any other type of career field, but through the discovery process of the Conference (his testimonial video here,) he learned that he was a better fit for roles focused toward business development. In this episode, Jonathan talks about making the transition into a sales role and gives three tips to launch a successful sales career. He takes the time to explain how he manages his territory and interacts with customers all the while being a good husband and father. I think you'll really enjoy listening to Jonathan's experience. To learn more about tur

In this podcast, Pat Moesta shares the interview advice he would give other JMOs when preparing for their transition. Pat made a successful transition into the business world as a Brand Manager at Stryker back in 2017.  He is a USMA 2012 grad and a former Army Infantry officer.  When Pat attended the Cameron-Brooks August 2017 Conference, he converted 13 interviews into 9 company pursuits and had 3 offers to choose from.  He knows how to interview. "Interview for every opportunity as if it is your only one." "Make decisions.  Do not eliminate options until after the interview as you will have so much more information." Our archived blog posts are chock-full of other interview advice. You can find a few of our favorites here: Five Easy Tricks to Improve Your Interviewing Skills, Two Keys to Successful Interviews,   Five Interview Mistakes to Avoid and The Number One Factor to a Successful Interview. To learn more about turning your JMO leadership skills into a successful transition and business

Welcome back! This episode is a bit different than our normal podcast. For this episode, Joel Junker is on the other side of the microphone. He shares his insight on how to answer the simple, but very important interview question "Tell Me About Yourself". If you were ever going to rank people who give interview advice, Joel should be at the very top of your list. Not only did he transition as a JMO and have an outstanding Career Conference, but he also has over 21 years of experience helping literally thousands of military officers transition to Corporate America. As Career Conference interviews continue to trend toward being more conversational in nature, this podcast will help you develop an effective response when a hiring manager presents you with the interview question "Tell me about yourself." We dive into why the question is important, the component parts of the answer, tailoring the answer to be specific to different career fields and some do's and don'ts. Our archived blog posts are chocked full o

Thank you for listening to another episode of the Cameron-Brooks Podcast. In this episode, Kilian Wald, Associate Finance Manager at Stryker, joins me for a conversation about his transition from an Army Air Defense Officer to a development candidate career in Finance with Stryker Medical.  In less than two years with Stryker, Kilian has already been promoted and earned a special assignment for 6 months in Singapore.  He credits his success with JMO leadership lessons he learned during his time in the military: do the hard work, be willing to learn, build relationships and be adaptable. He also talks about the value of the Cameron-Brooks program and how it prepared him to make a successful transition to Stryker.  His advice, "While it can be hard, trust the Cameron-Brooks process because it works."  He credits his military to business transition success to the multiple in-person one-on-one conversations with experienced Cameron-Brooks Recruiters and working with his study group in Clarksville, TN. A couple

Welcome Back! In this podcast episode, I interview Kirby Rolfe (Kastner). She is a former Army Transportation officer who transitioned to Corporate America in  August 2016. She launched her business career with Boston Scientific as a Senior Production Planner. We had a great conversation and covered a lot of ground in a short amount of time regarding career management. She started by explaining why she chose Boston Scientific from her Career Conference and the day-to-day responsibilities of her first role. The conversation quickly moved to discuss Lean Manufacturing, Lean Business Practices and how continuous process improvement played a major part in her first year at Boston Scientific. After a year she was promoted to lead a team of Production Planners. At this point, the conversation focused on how she has managed her career to where she is now in a completely different part of her company. At one point in the conversation, I asked what her next move would be. She enthusiastically replied, "I don't know!

Welcome to another episode of the Cameron-Brooks Podcast!  Have you heard about Big Data, Data Analytics or Artificial Intelligence?  Wonder why it is so important in business today? Curious how JMOs can break into big data career fields? In this episode I interview Cameron-Brooks Alumnus, Jason Papale, who is a Senior Operations Business Analyst at USAA.  Most are familiar with what USAA does, but you may not realize exactly how they use data science to create a better experience when interacting with the Member Service Representatives at the Call Center or through their website or app. Jason is a former Navy Nuclear Power Submarine Officer who transitioned to USAA in early 2019.  This episode covers topics of the different data projects Jason has worked on at USAA, his pursual of an advanced degree in data analytics, thoughts on why data analytics continues to grow in business and projecting a future career path. If you want to learn more about Data Analytics or Big Data, check out this article on Data A

Welcome back! I'm excited to bring you my conversation with Brian Fitzgerald. Brian is a former Army Infantry officer who transitioned to an Engineering Project Management role within Boston Scientific in 2016. We started the conversation by discussing Brian's transition. He had 12 interviews at the Cameron-Brooks Career Conference and all of the companies he interviewed with expressed an interest in pursuing him for a follow up interview. Then, we discussed how he narrowed his 12 options down to the best 5 that suited him and his family and how the follow up interview process went for him. Through that discussion, he described why he chose the cardiovascular franchise within Boston Scientific. Brian explains his initial role as a Manager, Process Development, and how his academic background and military leadership experience helped him quickly find success in his role. Since starting at Boston Scientific, he's been promoted to Senior Manager, Process Development and describes how his role has grown more t

Several listeners have requested to hear about what it's like for a JMO to work in the hi-tech industry.  In Episode 81, Cameron-Brooks Alumnus, Eric Dvorak, describes his work with the Corning Emerging Innovations Group.  We wanted to follow that episode up with another alum in the hi-tech industry but with a different type of company and business sector. Chazz Hoskins is a former Air Force Development Engineer who is now a Manufacturing Engineer with Lam Research.  Lam Research makes some of the most innovative wafer fabrication equipment - meaning they make hi-tech machines that make semiconductors.  Specifically, Chazz works in their Pilot Manufacturing Plant that manufactures some of the newest developed machines for customers prior to being transferred to higher volume production operations. During this podcast, Chazz describes his experience working in Silicon Valley and the culture of the hi-tech industry.  He also explains his strategy for his transition and for making a quick impact at Lam Researc

What are the secrets for a JMO to launch a successful business career?  In our latest podcast, we hear from a Cameron-Brooks alumni on his secrets to success. Dave Dostal is a former Naval Aviator who now leads transformation and operational excellence improvement projects at Medtronic, one of the world's largest medical device companies. Dave made the transition from the Navy to Medtronic in April 2017 after 10 very successful years in the Navy.  He landed a career with Medtronic through the Cameron-Brooks Career Search Process.  As a Program Manager focused on operational excellence and business transformation, he is using many of the skills and knowledge he gained when he was an Aviation Safety Program Manager in the Navy. Dave offers 3 tips for JMOs to successfully establish themselves in their careers: Have the mindset that you have control of your career.  Many military officers are used to the military controlling their career.  It is different in the business world, and successful JMOs pivot to

Welcome back! On this episode, I interview Amber McColl. She is a former Army Intelligence officer who transitioned in 2015. Amber launched her career at EY as a Senior Consultant. She excelled in that role for two years and then transitioned to an Operations Manager position. Much of our conversation centers around career management and the secret to managing your career. She highlights some key steps she took to find success early in her career, some things she's done recently to continue her success and some thoughts she has about where she will may take her career in the future. Amber provides some great insight that you can use as you are managing your career. She also recommended the book Blind Spot by Mahzarin Banaji. She said the book has helped her focus on inclusive leadership. To learn more about JMO transitions and business success with Cameron-Brooks, visit our website and check out PCS to Corporate America. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

We sometimes have to explain to JMO’s that just because you have never heard of a company does not mean that they don’t offer great potential career opportunities. Top companies you've never heard of can often present tremendous career opportunities. After all, not all Fortune 500 companies sell consumer products and services and are household names. If we stick only to what we know, we miss out on opportunities. You could also miss out on hearing another opinion. Or could even miss out on giving someone else who is different from us an opportunity to bring their full skillset and experience to bear. Embracing diversity in your career search is important in conducting a career search. If you focus just on what you know or companies you've heard of, you will miss most of Corporate America! Our Alumni continually say one of their favorite aspects of working with Cameron-Brooks was interviewing with companies they never heard of or considered before. In this podcast, Kim Schimick, Director of Global Go To Mar

Welcome back! On this episode, I explore the role of grit in business success as I interview Cameron-Brooks alumnus Paul Young. Paul is a former Army Armor and Adjutant General officer who transitioned after Company Command. He launched his business career at All Risks as a Broker. He started in a business development role and he explains the grit and determination he needed to grow in his company. He makes the point that JMOs are uniquely experienced and can bring that grit to Corporate America. Paul has done a good job managing his career and building his skillset and recently started  a Senior Broker role at Aon.  He also recommends three books that you can use to be more effective in your day-to-day interactions - they are The Like Switch, Just Listen and The Checklist Manifesto. To learn more about JMO transitions and business success with Cameron-Brooks, visit our website and check out PCS to Corporate America. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.

When one thinks of a military officer, a Marine Corps officer nonetheless, one does not immediately think of empathy in leadership. Empathy, the ability to share the feelings and understand another person, is a valuable trait.  In fact, this is what Chris Parks, Cameron-Brooks Alumnus from our January 2018 Conference, says is critical to business leadership.  In this podcast, Chris shares that his sales manager remarked how his ability to show empathy with his team impressed her. This surprised him because he thought his JMO advantage came from organizing the team, taking initiative and delivering results.  He never considered how his ability to  relate to the challenges of his young Marines helped him become a more empathetic leader. At the same time Chris shared this story with me on our podcast, I also read an article in the Harvard Business Review  on the importance of empathy in leadership.  You can read the article here. Chris started his career as an Account Manager with Pactiv in April 2018 and withi

On this episode of the podcast, I interview Austin Welty about his Conference preparation experience. Austin is a former USMC Infantry officer who attended the January 2019 Career Conference. After the conference, he launched his career as an Operational Team Leader at PACTIV. Austin has been a long-time listener of this podcast.  As a result, he suggested we do an episode about Conference preparation from the perspective of someone who recently attended a Career Conference. So, we did just that with Austin. Austin shares his first-hand Conference experience by walking us from weeks before the Conference up to the present. He talks about his journey from admitting he wasn't sure of his transition options to explaining the interest he received at his Career Conference interviews, and finally to where he is today. It's great perspective for anyone in the process of transitioning and preparing for a Career Conference. Enjoy! Pete