Saturday, February 5, 2011

A former JMO from my unit checks in

I asked John to let me post his email reply up on the blog, since he and I spent some time discussing the Kock 'Em Dead book and other principles behind a job search.  I asked him whether that advice had served him well or not, and here is what he shot back with the following (I will add in right here that his closing statement reminds me to advise that the decision to get out needs to be thought over carefully):


It's been a while.  Hope you are well.  I would be happy to share my experience with you.  Our discussions proved to be very helpful.


Knock Em Dead was a great help. As a supplement I would also recommend "PCS to Corporate America" by Roger Cameron who runs Cameron Brooks Recruiting for JMO's.  The books describe very similar tactics, but are written in a different style.  PCS is more general than Knock Em Dead and they really complement each other well.  I would NOT however recommend using any headhunter unless it is a headhunter local to the area in which the JMO wants to live.  National headhunters can show a lot of opportunities but only to those who do not place a high emphasis on location.

Another key takeaway regarding headhunters: The JMO is the product NOT the Client.  The headhunter is interested in getting people hired so they get paid.  They are not interested in seeing candidates achieve the highest salary in their most desired position.  They are interested in getting paid which may mean convining the JMO to take a job they don't really want or certainly one that isn't the greatest fit.  That is not to say they don't have their place.  It is just to say that the JMO needs to fully understand the headhunter agenda.

There are a few important things that I recognize now in hindsight.  Former Marine Officers are viewed as the cream of the crop in the civilian hiring world.  Just by being a Marine you will get interviews for positions that aren't even created yet because people see us as an asset, even if they don't need us at the moment.  I am not saying you can go in and boff an interview and land a job.  I am simply saying that my experience showed me that while people typically look for a reason not to hire a normal candidate people immediately looked for a reason to hire me.  I don't attribute that to anything more than the fact that we are somewhat of a known quantity.  Employers knew I likely worked hard, was ethical and moral, and had been in far more stressful situations than most in the civilian world.  I definitely recall you and [the battalion commander] emphasizing this point and I think it really is true.  If you can tell these guys to be confident in where they came from it will go far.

I personally decided that I wanted to live specifically in Tampa, FL.  So, I moved there and started informational interviewing.  I simply met with people in different fields and tried to find something I was interested in.  I always went into those situations being prepared for it to turn into a job interview and often times it did.  You can meet a lot of people and see a lot of different career fields this way because employers feel no pressure in this scenario.  They are just there to talk about themselves and what they do.  Everyone loves to talk about themselves which leads to them being in a good mood and generally liking the person encouraging them to do so.  People who like you generally want to help you. So, I found this to be a great way to get connected to people they know who ARE hiring.

It took me a while to get used to the lack of follow-up in the corporate world.  If I was still Capt XXXX and you sent me an email at 7am you would expect a response by noon.  If I said I'd call you before the day was over you would expect to hear from me by about 3-4pm.  I got very used to this and I liked the reliability factor of the Marine Corps.  In the corporate world if you call someone on Monday you may not hear from them until Friday.  If you are looking for a job, you may never hear from them unless you follow-up.  There is fine line between being a nuisance and properly following up. Based on our training we [err]on the side of thinking people are blowing us off if we don't hear back.  That is usually not the case and it shows real dedication to conduct follow-ups properly.  Letting people know you are very interested never hurts your chances.  It took me a while to get used to that.

What is the JMO worth?  I remember you telling me that if I played my cards right and did enough interviewing, eventually I could talk my way into a nice salary.  You were right.  I found that by being very honest about my salary expectations I was able to achieve a first year income which superseded the standard guideline. While many people feel 
that the JMO is worth about 70-85K, that does not mean you can't negotiate for more.  When asked about income I said things like "the highest salary I ever achieved was about $85K (which is Captains pay when coupled with housing allowance) and much of that wasn't taxed" That automatically leads people to the $85K side of the spectrum and if they want to match your old salary they really need to come up even a bit more.

I guess if I had to say one final thing it would be that it is tough to line a job up before getting out.  Unless they want to live in Southern California they are going to have to move where they want to live and THEN get a job.  Just tell them not to be scared about the process because they will do well and people value our experience. The most important thing you told me was that simple fact and it ended up working out.

Hope all this helps.  You were right about one other thing.  I do miss the Marine Corps.  I am not sprinting to my local recruiter, but I miss the guys and I miss the level of responsibility I had as a young lieutenant.  Most people in the civilian workforce don't ever get there until they are in their 40's.  I made the right call for me without doubt but I do have fond memories of the Corps.  Tell them to expect that too!



Edited to add: About a week or two ago, John sent me a cc: to a reply he drafted in response to a headhunter's email.  The correspondence was aimed at telling him about a $55K opportunity that the recruiter had picked up on, and required a hot fill.  John tactfully pointed out that $55K was woefully lower than what a JMO could potentially garner with a little effort.  


I thought it a little discouraging that $55K was what I was offered for a production supervisor job when I was looking...about ten years ago.  Wow.

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