Transitioning Out: The Pre-Game Show
by Janet Farley, Ed.M.

The Big T.

We're not referring to the Long Island Iced variety here. We are referring to your military to civilian career transition. Sooner or later, it's going to happen to you and your uniformed loved one.  

If the gloom and doom headlines are to be believed, it could be sooner for many military families than they expected. Let's face the facts. Even if you feel like you're relatively safe from the sharp blade of sequestration's ax, it's never too early to start planning for your future.

Let's just call it the pre-game show, shall we? And any pre-game show worth watching covers the important highlights before the main event, right? Here are a few pre-transition points for you to ponder now.

Contemplate Where You'll Live and What You'll Do.

Whether you are planning to make it to a full 20+ years or you're biding your time to the first off ramp, it's important to talk about what the future might bring for you and your family. Pretending that the status quo will always be the status quo is unrealistic.  There are just too many unknowns for everyone in the DoD these days, in or out of uniform.

To jumpstart that conversation, visualize what your potential post-military life might look like. 

• Where do you think you might want to eventually live?
• Are you open to moving to wherever the best job takes you or are you set on moving to one place for whatever reason?
• What does your other half want to do professionally? Continue in the same career field? Switch fields? Go to school?
• And what about you? Ask yourself the same set of questions. Compare notes.

You and your other half don't need to agree on every little point, but you do need to be honest with one another about the possibilities and start talking about how you could eventually handle them together.

Run the Numbers.

Living day-to-day is expensive enough. Transitioning from one job and/or location to another can be even more expensive on top of the usual stuff.  Whether it's a subject you like to address or not, get comfy with your own financial bottom line and begin to improve it. Answer these types of questions:

• If your source(s) of income disappeared tomorrow, how long could you make it financially?
• Do you have a cushion of savings to help make it through periods of potential unemployment?
• Have you paid down or eliminated your debt?
• Can you create a budget and a spending plan to help you better achieves your financial goals?
• Can you afford to start a "moving" fund now for all those unforeseen expenses sure to pop up when you least expect it?
• Is your credit in good shape? Have you reviewed your reports lately?

More Items for Your Growing To Do List

There will be other things to take care of as well, in addition to the job, location and money issues.   Here are a few more time consuming areas you can start to address now:

• Begin the process of downsizing unwanted household goods by selling off or donating the items you don't absolutely love.
• Research the job market and cost of living in your potential relocation destinations.
• Nourish your professional and personal networks. You may need to make withdrawals on them in the near future and you want them to be strong and ready.
• Review and update the online you. Will potential employers be impressed or distressed?
• Update or create a basic resume that you can more easily target to specific opportunities when the time comes.
• Use the available resources at the military family center and transition assistance centers on the military installation. Soak in the education now so you and yours can benefit later.
• Keep informed about the headline worthy issues affecting your livelihood.

As you start to plot and plan for your mil to civ transition, don't stress over every little thing. Like it or not, you won't always have total control over you destiny even as a civilian. If you make a few mistakes along the way, simply learn from them and move on.

 

Janet Farley is the author of The Military Spouse's Employment Guide: Smart Job Choices for Mobile Lifestyles (Impact Pubs, 2013) and Quick Military Transition Guide: Seven Steps to Landing a Civilian Job (Jist Inc., 2012). Read her new blogs Life's Too Short to Hate Your Job and Resume Rx. Follow her on Twitter @smartjobchoices and @mil2civguide.

Have an employment question for Janet? Ask here. Your question/answer may be printed in a future issue.