Embrace The Change Of Uniform From Military To Corporate

Career Transition Tips # 1- Accept The Change

 Did you notice that many a times you feel extremely uncomfortable thinking about transition to outside world. The felling of uncertainty,  and insecurity over powers your thoughts and many a times in such situations, rather than accepting the reality, you tend to shy away or run away from the thoughts of transition. At times, many of you who have already switched to corporate some time prior also tend to feel uncomfortable in adjusting to corporate environment. In retrospect, Have you ever thought  how well prepared are you to take on the corporate and what improvement/adjustments  you can make to be competitive and fit enough outside.  Here is the first article of the five articles series on  career transition tips which will help you in having a successful and  seamless transition to corporate.  

A career in armed forces is more than a career ;rather it’s a way of  life. You’re thickly into the military routine, day in and day out,  year by year, and  deeply engrossed in the dynamic activities of  the services. While performing your duties with extreme passion and dedication, You  sub consciously tend to develop a strong relationship or a deep association with our profession; the more the number of years of service you have, the thicker the military layer on your skin.

Thus, when it’s time to call it a day and hang your boots permanently, Many of you tend to shy away from the reality or simply avoid thinking about it, thinking that doing so the transition will not bother you and not realizing that the more you neglect it now, the more it will trouble you later. You have fallen so much in love with your military profession that you don’t feel like thinking beyond it. While it’s good to focus on your present, it is necessary to have the foresightedness especially when you are left with couple of years in service. Life has various phases in it and every phase is inevitable. Schooling, college( including NDA), first Career(forces), marriage, retirement, second career etc are all various phases of life and most of you have to undergo all while a handful  of you may skip a few of these phases. The sooner you realize this reality, the better it is for you and your career transition. Once you accept wholeheartedly that you will be retiring from forces at some time in life, you will be able to look and focus towards a career post retirement.

We all know that career transition is a well planned game plan and it needs a lot of sincerity, commitment, and time to plan and execute a seamless transition to corporate world. You know that the challenges faced by military leaders while transitioning to corporate world are  normally not faced by others( click here) . However by not accepting the fact that transition will take place or by avoiding thinking about the transition, we put ourself at a major disadvantageous position from where the recovery is extremely difficult. A person who is repeatedly avoiding the planning and preparation for the career transition is also an example of someone not willing to accept the transition or for that matter change. Why do many of us blame the corporate employers that they don’t provide us with good opportunities, however what we fail to realize is that many of us don’t prepare ourself adequately for the transition before hanging the uniform.

The first step in planning career transition is to realize that change will occur and this acceptance will allow for a focused approach towards the career switch. A good exercise to accept the reality would be to keep a slot for an hour or two daily to think, read, and discuss in relation to career transition and the options available for your next career. Keeping this slot and utilizing time for your second career preparation will not only convince your heart and mind about the occurrence of change but also gives a push to your preparation about career transition.  Remember, the most successful veterans immediately after the transition are those who have planned their transition well and the first step in planning your transition is to shake hand with the call of second career. The sooner you accept the reality, the better it is for your second innings.  

For more info on career transition, click here 

Career Transition & MBA Timeline

 Timeline for MBA Prep & B-School Admission

An MBA degree amalgamates your military leadership skills with business acumen and transforms them into a powerful tool that guarantees success in business world( To know why MBA, click here ). During an MBA you learn to understand the business language and immerse yourself deeply into peer group learning. In a b-school you have the opportunity to learn all aspects about running a business and also gain much insight to discover which area of business is more suitable to you. Hence, the MBA degree acts as a bridge between military life and corporate world for your smooth transition.

Almost all of you military officers have been tasked to prepare some or other  plan on various occasions during your service career in which you would have placed  a lot of valuable time, and concerted efforts in doing  meticulous planning and sincere execution.  However, most of you don’t apply the same procedures when it comes to planning your career transition. Here is  a general transition timeline which you can modify to suit your personalized requirement.

Military Experience with an MBA degree makes a powerful tool that is highly marketable in the business environment. Though obtaining an MBA degree may delay picking a job by one/two yrs, the long-term proven benefits are worth the time and resources. The business knowledge with military skills is a perfect blend of leadership and decisiveness with corporate knowledge  and business acumen. To sum it up, Find a program that suit your requirement and start early while you are in active service. To know how you can achieve a good score and how to write essays resulting in admission, click here. If you want to take the highly popular GMAT online course, click here

Employ Real Heroes, Ace Your Business

Why Hiring Military Leaders Is Good For Your Company

Every year thousands of military officers of Indian Air force , Indian Army and Indian Navy hang their uniform and join the corporate street.  These highly skilled , dynamic and vibrant officers join their already retired military counterparts who are lacs in number. They have served the nation by defending it’s integrity , sovereignty and republic and now , after retirement, it’s time for them to serve the nation’s economy with the same passion and patriotism. They have been an asset to any organisation they worked  with and those who have worked with them are well versed with this fact.  The skills that these leaders have can provide the much needed impetus to your business. Here are the 10 compelling reasons why you must hire these military leaders.

1.    Leadership       Entrusted with the opportunity to lead a team  at the young age of  22 in extremely stressful situations, Military officers are nurtured and trained  to lead troops having diverse culture, religion, economic status and regions.  Moreover, Military  officers lead by example wherein they take the initiative and the team follows, thereby inspiring and motivating the team by setting examples.  Leading such diverse people for years in trying circumstances makes an officer an exceptional leader who can be allotted challenging missions with out any supervision.

2.    Team Spirit       Knowing fully the importance of each task or mission, Military officers are not only exceptional leaders but excellent team members  too. They know that any target  can only be achieved if every member of the team gives his 100% willingly. Many a times, they inculcate team spirit among team members for the benefit of the organisation because they know that success depends upon a perfect combination  of individual and team productivity.

3.   Management Skills        Since these leaders are responsible to allocate right men/resources  to right place at right time, They are good managers.  They are trained to be self organised first and that helps them to manage  the resources well even in  crisis. Officers have the unflinching  ability to learn about new technologies, skills and concepts. Thus, they can join your team with transferable skills that are time tested in real world problems, thereby increasing  your company’s profit and growth.

4.     Decision Makers      In operational situations, Military Officers have only a few seconds or minutes to make calculated decisions in the face of enemy , decisions that can impact the  life of hundred of troops and equipment worth millions of rupees not  to mention the nation’s interest. Therefore, through out their military career, they are trained to be mentally robust and efficient decision makers, calculating all the parameters related to the situation and making efficient and rational decisions.

5.   Strong Character with Honesty, Loyalty and Integrity      Military officers are selected through a scientific method wherein their psychology is assessed by scientists(Psychologists)  especially for these three qualities . Thus only those who have high moral values are selected and these qualities are subsequently enhanced during training and grooming. These qualities are must have for all military officers as they deal with the  nation’s  interest. These rare qualities strengthen the moral fiber and add on to the working ethos of the organisation they work with. No wonders  why the top companies worldwide lay so much of emphasis on hiring military people as they have  strong character and good work ethics.

6.   Professionalism        The importance of meeting the assigned  targets and completion of time bounded tasks can’t be understand better than men in fatigues. The allotted task takes the top most priority and rest everything comes subsequently for them. There have been many examples in our history wherein officers have attained martyrdom while accomplishing the task. It shows the amount of sincerity, dedication and devotion military officers have for the task allotted.  Military officers display extreme devotion to work, a practice that not only supplement any organisation’s aim but also motivate other members to contribute.

7.     Problem Solving           Employing skills  besides operational and organisational problems, Military officers have to deal, on a regular basis, with administrative problems that are highly dynamic and complex in nature. Working 24x 7, Military officers deal with problematic situations in a very meticulous and logical  manner, applying high IQ and rational approach.

8.   Discipline and Punctuality          While discipline is a key consideration in the corporate world, it is the backbone in forces.  In Military, Discipline travels another dimension beyond punctuality wherein self-discipline is exercised by military officers not only to present themselves as role model to troops but also to excel in the respective fields without any outside guidance or checks. Display of these two qualities in a corporate work culture act as catalyst, leading  to healthy values and practices in the environment. These officers have a much higher rate of retention as they work with the motto of “Service before self” wherein the organisation is given the priority before self.

9.  Strive for Excellence      Serving in mission critical and time sensitive  environment ,  These leaders  don’t leave a task till the victory is achieved or mission is accomplished.  They work by following procedures ,and regulations and constantly improve/upgrade the system by regular  monitoring and by  taking/giving feedback. They have the un-canning ability to learn new technology and skills  for their self improvement and for the organisation’s benefit.

10.  Versatility      During their illustrious military career, Indian Military officers  serve across multiple  geographies, lead diverse troops, and accomplish task such as  bringing peace in war-hit state/ nations, liaison with civil administration , maintaining logistic and supply chain in hostile conditions, conducting relief operations and many more challenging ones. The enormous experience gained through such challenging tasks brings maturity, versatility and  ability to withstand adverse situations in a confident manner.

If your company has military officers as employees and if the company has done the internal assessment regarding the professionalism and performance of these people, we are sure that you will agree with the points mentioned above. Hiring military officers shows that a company is not only committed to take its business to greater heights and earn greater profit but  also discharges its social responsibility with patriotism and pride.

If you want to hire military leaders of Indian armed forces, write to us at info@militarytocorporate.net
To know more about the advantages of hiring military leaders, click here