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BY Brock Dudley
WHO is Cameron-Brooks?
Well first, WHAT do we do? Cameron-Brooks is a firm in Corporate America that guides Officers in transition preparation to conduct a broad and robust career search to successfully transition from the military to business.
Simply put, we create an opportunity for officers to find and ultimately work for a great company, using their skills to do fulfilling, meaningful work that has a purpose and balance in life. While that is certainly a tall order, it’s the target, and that is what we strive to deliver. We strive maintain a high bar for transitioning JMO’s, as well as our client companies.
We do a lot of things, but that isn’t what I want to talk about today. I want to talk more about WHO we are. If you want to know more about WHAT we do, my colleague Pete Van Epps wrote more in-depth about what we do here.
I was misinformed
A lot of people call Cameron-Brooks “headhunters”. Even my brother-in-law, who is an executive in his company – former United States Air Force Academy Graduate and JMO himself, has said that to me. Maybe he’s trying to get under my skin? Probably so. I love him – I do, but I laugh at him at the same time because he hired my best friend, Naval Academy soccer teammate, best man in my wedding, and stud Marine Corps Officer.
Why did he do this? He was looking for talent. He was looking for the ‘AND’ candidate and quite frankly he needed something that he wasn’t getting. My best friend is on a great path to assume higher levels of leadership and responsibility in his company (I know this because I get all the down low from my brother-in-law!)
***Of note, he didn’t hire through Cameron-Brooks. He met him at my wedding!***
But before I explain WHO Cameron-Brooks is, I’d like to acknowledge a couple of things though because I WAS my brother-in-law: A bit misinformed.
When I was making the transition from the military, I was a bit skeptical and a bit naïve. It made sense as I was entering territory that I hadn’t stepped foot in before. There was a ton of noise and a lot of options out there. For me, I didn’t know what right looked like. I knew there was a place for me out in the business world, but it was so hard to differentiate.
I did know a couple of things, though:
1) I didn’t want to take a step back in pay or responsibility.
2) I wanted to continue to lead.
3) I wanted to continue to make an impact.
4) I wanted to do meaningful and rewarding work.
5) I wanted to ensure that my best interests were kept in mind. Everyone, including my family, told me:
“No one will look after you more than you look out for yourself.”
And quite frankly, I agreed with that. The problem was that I didn’t have the context, the expertise, and not to mention the connections, to what leading companies were looking for when hiring a prospective candidate.
Luckily, Joel Junker took a shot and decided to hire me! Now, as I sit on the other side as a Transition Coach at Cameron-Brooks, I’m exposed daily to the hiring process that takes place within companies, why they are looking to diversify their talent pool and hire a non-traditional candidate in a JMO, succession planning, company requirements and expectations of candidates, and much more. I’m scratching the surface here.
So, WHO is Cameron Brooks?
That’s 90% of the Cameron-Brooks team in the picture above celebrating our CEO, Chuck Alvarez as he’s dedicated 30 years of his post military career leading and serving Cameron-Brooks (and has personally helped over 5,900 JMO’s successfully transition!!) along with the founders of our company, Roger Cameron and Rene Brooks.
We are a high-potential leadership talent firm, that happens to specialize in Junior Military Officers. We don’t just serve transitioning JMO’s; we also serve companies in Corporate America and have been doing so for over 50 years. To companies, Cameron-Brooks represents a Non-Traditional source of High Potential Leadership Talent!
Non-Traditional, High Potential Leadership Talent firm!
Yep, that’s a lot of words. However, those words are important, because that can be you, depending on what your goals are post-military.
Let me expand on this, because it provides more context. A major concern that executives in Corporate America consistently face is ensuring that their leadership bench at the Director and Vice President level is full of talent. Like the military, companies must be deliberate and diligent about managing their “supply chain of talent” and executives are constantly looking 5 to 10 years into the future to ensure that the leadership bench is robust. This is what Corporate America calls “Succession Planning” – their strategic process by which companies manage and evaluate talent within their ranks.
While companies are looking for non-traditional sources of talent, the further away they get from traditional recruiting. This means there’s more risk of failure in non-traditional pools of talent. They need help. They need expertise. They don’t have the time, energy, and resources to do it themselves, and they all don’t understand the JMO background. They like companies who “de-risk” this investment for them.
Want to chat?
We are a firm in corporate America that’s been serving transitioning JMO’s and A-Tier, Industry-leading companies, looking for strong leaders for over 50 years. We are a Non-Traditional, High Potential Leadership talent firm.
If you want to know more about why companies value your background, give me call or send me a message. If you want to talk to any of our team above, I know they’d love to chat.
If you want to talk to former JMO’s who were once Proven Military Leaders with Business Potential and are NOW Proven Business Leaders who happened to be from the Military, we can do that too. Send me a message and I’ll get it set up!
Brock Dudley || (210) 874-1495 || bdudley@cameron-brooks.com
