Posted on Jul 8, 2015
Do you put your reserve military service on your LinkedIn profile?
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So how many of you in the National Guard and Reserves have a LinkedIn profile? Do you have any reference to your current or past military service on LinkedIn? Have you considered removing it or already removed it if you are in job search mode? Do you think our service helps or hurts, especially in seeking professional positions? If you have kept your service in the background, at what point do you divulge it to your employer or do you just take vacation when annual training comes around? I know, lots of questions but I'm curious what experiences others have found especially when seeking professional positions.
Army National Guard
Army Reserve
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 27
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Mine is on my LinkedIn profile, resumes, and such. For me, it has not been an issue but I have worked for the Army or Army contractors since 2007. I do think that military service will help you, especially if you can articulate what you bring to the company because of that. I would say you want to be upfront with your service instead of hiding it until you need to get time off for duty. Yes, employers cannot discriminate against in hiring because of that but if you hid it and then all of a sudden told them you had to be off for the next two weeks for AT, I think it would raise questions about your honesty and integrity. Even if you try to hide it by taking vacation, you may not be able to take vacation time when you have the AT so it will come out and on top of that, if you are mobilized, you would not be able to hide that very well. Be up front and let me know but also tell them what that means in terms of benefits to them.
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COL Jon Thompson, I agree with everything you said. I think the reality can be a little harder to communicate. Trying to translate NCO duties and a combat arms MOS into benefits to a white collar CPA firm presents some challenges. I presume this might get a little easier as I rise through the NCO ranks. As my duties transition more to administrative in nature as compared to the heavy level of hands on a SGT still has as the gunner on an M1A1 so should my managerial skills continue to develop. While I do direct the actions and tasks of two other troops I am usually right there in the grease with them doing the job, teaching them the job, or showing them how to do the job they did better. I'll soon be a tank commander as I'm just waiting on a position to open up. So I'll have 3 troops at that point and a SGT under me to do part of that task. But even as a tank commander with 4 soldiers on a crew, everyone is hands on unless your day job is company commander, battalion commander or along those lines.
I have always been up front in the past about my military service. I'm still in the NG and have no plans to leave in the near future. But a lot of the current climate I'm seeing is employers weary of the commitments and deployments. I realize we should be a nation at war together and as a whole. But lets face it, this isn't WWII. The military has been at war for the last decade and the nation has cheered a little from the sidelines and then went to the mall. NCO leadership skills in the civilian world are highly under valued and an E-6 and an O-6 with the same education are valued and perceived as being highly different corporate assets. From a leadership experience standard, it is absolutely correct. Officers make plans and develop strategies. NCO's execute those plans, often with a lot of ingenuity and tactical know how that gets the mission accomplished.
It could be that I need to engage someone more skilled than I am at translating my service to civilian benefit. I don't rule that possibility out. I love my service and realize how much after coming back in after a 15 year break. I want the best of all three worlds, maybe that makes me selfish or a dreamer. An awesome family, a successful military service, and an excellent civilian career shouldn't be a dream though. I'm working my hardest to make it a reality.
I have always been up front in the past about my military service. I'm still in the NG and have no plans to leave in the near future. But a lot of the current climate I'm seeing is employers weary of the commitments and deployments. I realize we should be a nation at war together and as a whole. But lets face it, this isn't WWII. The military has been at war for the last decade and the nation has cheered a little from the sidelines and then went to the mall. NCO leadership skills in the civilian world are highly under valued and an E-6 and an O-6 with the same education are valued and perceived as being highly different corporate assets. From a leadership experience standard, it is absolutely correct. Officers make plans and develop strategies. NCO's execute those plans, often with a lot of ingenuity and tactical know how that gets the mission accomplished.
It could be that I need to engage someone more skilled than I am at translating my service to civilian benefit. I don't rule that possibility out. I love my service and realize how much after coming back in after a 15 year break. I want the best of all three worlds, maybe that makes me selfish or a dreamer. An awesome family, a successful military service, and an excellent civilian career shouldn't be a dream though. I'm working my hardest to make it a reality.
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I list it very prominently. I think it is very relevant experience for the sorts of positions that I am interested in pursuing.
Separately, I include it because I think it is integral to the total package that is me. It will continue if I take X position. If it's going to be an issue with the potential employer, I'd prefer it to be on the table from the word go, and not after I have been hired. If that means I don't get a position, so much the better for both of us. Yes, I know what the law says. However, I don't want to work for an employer who has issues with my service and I don't wish to "force" anyone to hire me - especially under false pretenses/lack of candor on my part.
Separately, I include it because I think it is integral to the total package that is me. It will continue if I take X position. If it's going to be an issue with the potential employer, I'd prefer it to be on the table from the word go, and not after I have been hired. If that means I don't get a position, so much the better for both of us. Yes, I know what the law says. However, I don't want to work for an employer who has issues with my service and I don't wish to "force" anyone to hire me - especially under false pretenses/lack of candor on my part.
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Yes, it's on my resume and LinkedIn and YES I think it hurt my job prospects. Civilian employers outside the DoD sector see Guard/Reserve and think you will get the job and then take off for a year or want every Friday off. They see divided allegiances – and that is very true. They assume you have a tighter bond (both legally and emotionally) to the military than you will have to the job they are hiring for…and that also might be true. Civilian employers see deployments as meaning you have PTSD or a TBI or both. I worked in higher education before I went on active duty and when I got out and tried to return I was given a completely cold shoulder. Higher education tends to be very left-slanted and they saw “Army” and assumed it meant I was a pro-gun, pro-war, conservative who would never “fit” in their culture…even though I served at high levels in higher education for 15 years and at that point had only been in the Army for 4.
But still, I don’t amend my information because I don’t want an employer who will give me a hard time about my military service (which as an officer is a LOT more than 1 weekend a month, 2 weeks a year). I don’t want to be in an environment where I don’t fit in or where I constantly have to represent for the entire Armed Services. I would probably be completely unhappy. Right now, I design the systems that my Soldiers actually use. LOVE IT! Love that my two worlds are completely integrated. I wouldn’t be in this position if I tried to hide my service.
But still, I don’t amend my information because I don’t want an employer who will give me a hard time about my military service (which as an officer is a LOT more than 1 weekend a month, 2 weeks a year). I don’t want to be in an environment where I don’t fit in or where I constantly have to represent for the entire Armed Services. I would probably be completely unhappy. Right now, I design the systems that my Soldiers actually use. LOVE IT! Love that my two worlds are completely integrated. I wouldn’t be in this position if I tried to hide my service.
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