Military to civilian transition: interview tips?

A lot of former military get hung up when the interviewer asks a bad or awkward question. For example, "how many people in your unit were killed" or "How many war crimes did you see?" Below are some examples how to respond. They key point is to sell your value and not answer the question directly.

The biggest point for military veterans when poised with an awkward question is to not answer it directly. A military veteran has to constantly promote and demonstrate with examples how they can create greater value for the organization, the organization's customers, and help improve fellow employees. For example:

INTERVIEWER: Well, I heard that the roads were dangerous! What's it like to shoot machine guns when you probably hit innocent people? Did that bother you?

MILITARY VETERAN RESPONSE: The situations were almost always dangerous, but we developed several standard procedures to help minimize the danger. One of my responsibilities was to make sure each resupply convoy was fully utilized. One of the ways we did this was to make sure we developed a standard process for military organizations we were supplying to order and forecast supplies in this way were were able to ensure each vehicle on the convoy carried a maximum load of essential supplies. In this way, even if a unit had not already asked for an item, we anticipated their needs so we could help reduce the need for a follow up resupply convoy. The results of this ordering and forecasting process were a reduction in the total number of convoy's by 15% but an increase in the tons shipped by 10%. Even in a dangerous environment, we hauled more tons to our "customers" and exposed fewer military personnel to danger. My experience in inventory management, forecasting, and on-line ordering systems will be invaluable to this position. The danger that I was exposed to will provide a great leadership base as I develop and train new employees so they can be the best they can be in front of customers.

The key response for veterans is to: (1) use the STAR format: Situation, Task, Actions, and Results; (2) create a story that demonstrates the value you will bring to the company, (3) show how your military skills translate and apply to the company and industry that you will work, and (4) how military leadership creates a foundation for successful corporate leadership.

Veterans will lose any discussion where they directly answer a "dumb" question: For example,

Interviwer Question1: How Many people did you kill?

Vet Response 1: I did not kill anyone.

Interviewer Question 2: Didn't kill anyone? Were you a failure? Why were you there then?

The proper veteran response is to ALWAYS sell your value with easy to understand, simple, and solid examples that demonstrate how you will create value for the firm

There are several things transitioning service members can do to help out when interviewing for jobs; these are some that I practiced.