Interview Ready for Transitioning Service Members

You have acquired substantial skills as a service member. The most difficult part is talking about those skills to an interviewer since you were conditioned to be humble and concise when speaking. You give credit instead of taking credit when asked to talk about projects and key assignments.

The civilian employer may not understand that you are just doing what you were taught. To win in a civilian interview, you need to know how the interviewer thinks. Your interviewer believed you could do the job based on your resume. You will need to convince the interviewer in three categories.

Can you do the job? (Do you have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to do the job?)
Will you do the job? (Do you have the right motivation or are just seeking a paycheck?)
Will you fit? (Will you fit with their organization, team, and their management style?)

Interview Ready’s Interview Builder tool will help you quickly generate a set of position-specific interview questions so you can prepare and come across as genuine, credible, and memorable by identifying your best examples when you are not under the pressure of the interview and practicing your answers out loud.

Most transitioning service members don’t feel comfortable taking credit for their work. Keep in mind that the interviewer does not know you. You need to make them feel comfortable choosing you by providing rich, detailed answers to their questions.

You have an extensive list of experiences to draw from. The Interview Builder questions will help you dig deep and extract the rich details with the follow-up questions. Your answers should explain the problem, the action you took, and the result (P.A.R.).

You have the answers! I have trained numerous elite military units on how to hire high performers. I observed service members during the interview boards. I know the incredible skills you bring to employers, and I know where you fall short. The areas of weakness are easy to fix once you understand the selection process from the employer’s perspective.

Employers are lucky to have you! Good interviewing skills are easily learned. You need to be able to tell the prospective employer what you have done that relates to what they need you to do. Practice your answers out loud until they roll off your tongue.

Think of all the skills you have learned and mastered in your military career. Convey them in a format that’s credible and memorable and watch the job offers come in.