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BY petevanepps

How To Demonstrate Commitment to Corporate America

Companies in Corporate America are committed to hiring military officers into key leadership roles within their organizations. When Roger Cameron and Rene Brooks founded Cameron-Brooks over 48 years ago, they did so understanding this foundational concept. Companies like infusing JMO leadership talent into their organizations for a number of reasons. First, they appreciate your real-world leadership experience. You’ve led teams, introduced positive change into your organization, influenced leaders and made a significant impact on the bottom line of your unit. Second, you bring a fresh perspective to the business world. Sometimes companies get stuck in the rut of “that’s the way we’ve always done it.” JMOs have the ability to appreciate the way things have been done in the past, but also have the fortitude to offer a new, fresh approach to leading projects and solving problems. Third, companies are attracted to a JMO’s leadership potential.  They appreciate that as you grow and develop in the company, you can rise to higher-level leadership roles within their organization.

While companies are committed to hiring talented military leaders, they also want to ensure that the military officers that they hire demonstrate commitment to business. The military and Corporate America share many of the same leadership philosophies but their bottom-line missions are different. Hiring managers know that high-performing officers can take their skills and abilities and immediately transfer them to achieving results in business, but need reassurance that the candidate they are considering is committed to the path. They know that they are going to contribute time, money and resources to a newly-hired JMO and want to avoid the high cost of making a mis-hire. Dr. Brad Smart, one of the foremost experts on hiring leaders, sites that the cost of a mis-hire is 5 to 27 times a person’s base salary.  Since a company is focused on delivering financial results to their organization, they only want to consider candidates who are fully resolute to this path.

In order to help a company understand your commitment, increase your business knowledge today and apply what you learn. Here are a few ways to get started:

1. Invest in a high-quality business reading program. Focus on books that give more of an overview of business like Good to Great by Jim Collins, First, Break All the Rules by Marcus Buckingham and Industries of the Future by Alec Ross. Also consider reading more functional books such as Velocity: Combining Lean, Six Sigma and the Theory of Constraints to Achieve Breakthrough Performance by Jacob, Bergland and Cox and The Fundamentals of Project Management by Joseph Heagney. There is a professional reading list outlined in PCS to Corporate America by Roger Cameron that is a very helpful resource.
2. Invest time in understanding the day-to-day of Corporate America. Subscribe to a business periodical like FORTUNE, Business Insider or Forbes. Next, subscribe to business sources in your social media feed of choice. Lastly, tune into television channels that focus on business such as CNBC or Fox Business. Exposing yourself to these resources will give you a pulse on what is currently happening in the world of business.
3. Understand common business practices such as Lean, Six Sigma and/or Project Management principles and apply them in your current role in the military.  This serves two purposes – first, it allows you to improve your current military workplace by applying practices that are commonly used in business. Second, gives you the ability to effectively communicate your commitment to business by demonstrating your willingness to learn concepts that are important in Corporate America and talk about your experience effectively in an interview.

In closing, Corporate America wants to interview and hire JMOs, but they also want to ensure that person is committed. As you are considering a transition and preparing accordingly, consider applying some of the tips described in this blog to enhance your interview skills and demonstrate your commitment to business.

To learn more about Cameron-Brooks, as well as many of the resources found in this post, visit our website.

Best of Success!
Pete Van Epps