The message that many military Members and Veterans have significant project management experience and talent is finally resonating soundly and consistently in the marketplace.
BOOYAH! 10-meter target down!
Now for the 50-meter one…how to transition from military Veteran-to-project manager successfully. Here is the process hundreds of military Veterans have used to secure meaningful, lucrative careers in project management:
Step 1. Translate your military experience into commercially viable project management experience for your PMP application, resume, and LinkedIn profile. There are numerous spreadsheets and articles on the Internet on how to do so;
Step 2. Obtain your PMP certificate. You can do this through education, training, or self-study. College courses, ‘boot camps’, and self-learning PMP exam prep courses are respective examples;
3. Market yourself by:
3.1. Ensuring your 2-page resume conveys your project management experience, 1 project per billet;
3.2. Rehearsing your example-based answers to standard questions about managing projects like “how do you handle stakeholders?”, “how do you manage risks and vendors?”, “how do you develop and lead cross-functional teams?”, and “how do you solve complex problems and make tough decisions?”;
3.3. Ensuring your LinkedIn profile has a nice picture and background image, is in the first person so it’s conversational and compelling, and consistently reinforces who you are, why you do what you do, and what value that brings the employer.
4. Like, Follow, and Connect with companies and their employees on LinkedIn, gaining valuable insight from them about how to manage projects in their organizations and industries, how to on-board and learn, how to manage their customers and business processes, and opportunities and challenges they face. This gives you insight to share in your interviews and ask questions of them about; a must!
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Eric is a decorated two-Service, two-Era US Military Veteran; Serial Founder; experienced, credentialed project manager and PMI Chapter-recognized mentor; and an entertaining instructor/public speaker on project management, deep learning and the military transition, PMI’s PMP® and CAPM® exams, Vetrepreneurship; and project manager development. He helps Military Veterans change their lives profoundly through project management, entrepreneurship, and AI through inspiration, translation, training, and placement. For more information, please visit https://vets2pm.com, www.militaryvetstone.com, and www.linkedin.com/in/docwright2012.
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PMBOK® Guide, PMP®, and CAPM® are registered marks of the Project Management Institute, Inc.
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