NOVEMBER 19, 2024 — In early 2017, Michael Quinn endured what he called the worst day in the worst year of his life.
Quinn, then a sergeant major and 24-year Army Soldier, had weathered deployments in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Philippines. As an Army counter-intelligence agent, he said he learned to operate under grave circumstances while standing face-to-face with some of the most dangerous enemy combatants.
But he had never faced the unknown; life after the military. The sergeant major had two young children and wanted to be able to continue paying his mortgage on their Oakton, Virginia house. Following his decision to retire from the Army he attended a job fair in Washington, D.C.
There Quinn spent six hours meeting with 41 companies for positions with employers.
He walked into the job fair with the confidence of his experience in military intelligence and having earned the trust of hundreds of Soldiers in his career, including generals. Quinn wore his sharpest suit. He recited his elevator pitch, an introductory summary of his skills, for potential employers numerous times.
But after meetings with the potential employers, his confidence shattered. Each one told him to submit a job application online. Not one offered him an interview or gave him a phone number.
“Toward the end of that job fair I was beaten,” said Quinn. “I was demoralized.’
The final employer Quinn spoke with that day told him he loved his resume, but he didn’t know what position or department he would best fit. When Quinn asked him how to follow up, the recruiter referred Quinn to his Linkedin profile.
Following the job fair, Quinn said he continued to apply for companies with little success. He had not explored the job market since taking a gap year from college in 1993.
“I had some really tough (military) assignments, and nothing compared with the stress of finding a post-military job,” Quinn said. “There were times that year I was in tears curled up in the fetal position in my basement.”
Then Quinn began brainstorming. He found Linkedin to be a powerful tool in connecting with employers.
Quinn travelled to Army installations and attended some of the Army’s Transition Assistance Programs to gather information.
Quinn learned to tailor his resume, cover letter and pitch to the position and company he applied for.
He said he discovered how to filter only relevant information to specific positions.
“It wasn’t that companies don’t hire veterans,” Quinn said. “It was that companies couldn’t see what I would bring to them.”
Eventually after trying to apply to more than 50 companies, he used Linkedin to reach veterans for advice and recruiters of companies for screening interviews.
This career exploration led to job interviews.
Finally, one month before Quinn’s separation from the Army, he landed a meeting with the CEO of a growing IT services company. The CEO, impressed by Quinn’s resume that included being a command sergeant major responsible for more than 17,000 Soldiers at one point, offered Quinn an executive position on the spot.
Quinn started during his transition leave from the Army. Around the same time, two other companies offered him high-level management positions.
He said he chose to resign after three years in late 2020. The former sergeant major believed he had found the secret to finding work that suited his skills after the military. And he wanted to share his lessons with others.
Quinn said that he saw a disconnect in how companies connected jobs with the skillsets of former Soldiers to potential employers. Quinn sympathized with Soldiers who struggled to land jobs or find careers after military service after having experience the struggle himself. So he decided to invest his life savings into developing a service and website that helped companies direct-hire veterans.
Now he is the chief growth officer of Tenova LLC, a company he founded that brings teamwork and innovation through partnerships in the corporate, government and veteran communities with services of education and training, consulting, staffing, advertising and marketing and contract personnel management.
Their HireMilitary brand helps connect veterans with potential employers. It specializes in veteran-based recruiting with an emphasis in digital marketing and professional skills training. Quinn said his company helps assist many of the 60,000 Soldiers who leave the Army each year.
His company helps Soldiers land Defense Department SkillBridge internships, which connect transitioning service members with industry partners to receive real world training and skills in civilian employment positions.
Quinn travels the country speaking at TAP centers and job fairs. He also hosts job hunting sessions during online calls.
He offers three tips for Soldiers transitioning to civilian life:
Start early
Soldiers should begin their transition early. He said Soldiers can start attending job hunting courses and TAP classes two to three years before their final duty day. He encourages Soldiers to do more than the minimum required training prior to separation. TAP offers courses on advanced job interview techniques.
Build connections
Soldiers should begin building connections with potential employers by attending job fairs and start reaching out to veterans directly through LinkedIn messages or emails. Quinn said Soldiers must be willing to speak to employees, human resources specialists and managers about what skills they look for in job candidates.
“A big part of this is just having conversations with people in industry to figure out what they do,” he said.
Soldiers can also seek internships or spend time with employers to get a feel for a job and whether the position fits their skills and preferences.
Brainstorm possibilities
Quinn said many Soldiers leaving the Army struggle to find a new career field. He has a simple formula to help troops brainstorm on a new career field.
He said Soldiers should make a list of passions or hobbies that they love, which could include a wide range of topics — construction, working outdoors or working with social media. They should also list places that they would like to work, whether stateside or overseas.
Once Soldiers have narrowed down three to five fields and places that interest them, they can contact veterans and supporters that fall under those categories to determine what they want and are qualified to do. This network will also help them find meaningful careers in that field or location, he said.
“My entire career has been about helping others,” Quinn said. “As I navigated this transition, I realized that all the things I learned I can’t just keep that to myself.”
By Joe Lacdan, Army News Service