Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter. I’m referred to as The Big Game Hunter because I’ve been hunting down leaders and staff for organizations for more than 40 years. I want to speak with those of you who are separating from the military and have a direct conversation with you about looking for work in the civilian sector. Thank you first of all for serving. I appreciate the sacrifices that you’ve made.

Getting a job in civilian life is different than working in the military. In the military, you’re in an environment where people learn very quickly the importance of commitment, the importance of determination, and the importance of your word having meaning. In civilian life, it’s a little bit different. Plus, I must in all candor say, the language of the civilian is different than that of the military.

I did an interview yesterday for Job Search Radio, where I spoke with someone who is an HR professional with the University of North Carolina. And she pointed out—you know, I read her bio, and she’s someone that had established a PX in Iraq. And when all is said and done, as she said, listening to her bio—and I used her military bio more than a civilian one—she said, “Listening to my bio, I appreciate how different the language is in the military versus the civilian life.”

So I’m going to make a suggestion to you that I think will help you a lot. And that is: learn to speak civilian. It is a different language to you. There’s a behavior that’s different than in military life. You don’t need to say “yes, sir” or “yes, ma’am.” “Ma’am,” as a matter of fact, could be offensive to some women in civilian life. You know, when all is said and done, the behaviors are different. Five minutes late in civilian life isn’t considered a big deal. Five minutes late in the military can be the difference of life and death. I get it. But when you’re interviewing, you need to talk civilian.

You get there on time or early. As my guests say, get there 15 minutes early just in case you need to complete an application. But when all is said and done, learn to speak civilian. You don’t need to say “yes, sir” and “yes, ma’am” very often. Yes, I do appreciate the courtesy that’s extended by saying that, but in civilian life, it’s confusing to them. It’s not readily accepted. And at least in the US, what often happens is you’re seen as being odd. And you don’t want to be seen that way, because odd normally is dismissed.

You want to emphasize your leadership qualities no matter what rank you held, because after all, no matter where you are in the military, there are qualities of leadership that you learn to display that you may be taking for granted, but you can express in an interview. And you can do it in ways that the civilian population will understand. That extends to your resume as well, by the way. But clearly, in an interview, it’s the most obvious place.

So, this is Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter. I hope you found this video helpful. If you did and you’re watching on YouTube, share it, leave a comment, click the like button, do something that lets people know it was helpful to you.

Then come over to my website, which is thebiggamehunter.us, and go explore. I’ve got a lot of content there to help you with your job search, including all my YouTube videos. You can listen to podcasts of Job Search Radio and No BS Job Search Advice Radio there. If you would like, you receive a complimentary subscription to my ezine, which is called No BS Job Search Advice Ezine, or my other one—I have to rephrase that—and/or my other one, No BS Hiring Advice Ezine, plus read previous articles that have been written for each of them there. There’s information about books and guides to job hunting. You can search positions I’m recruiting for, post your resume to more than 50 sites from mine, have access to Indeed and Job Search Universe—both of which search thousands of other sites for job leads so you don’t have to find all these places. Good content, good information to help you with job hunting, so go over to thebiggamehunter.us and go explore it.

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Next, if we’re not already connected on LinkedIn, send me a connection request. The address is linkedin.com/in/thebiggamehunter. I accept connection requests from people worldwide, except if you look like you’re a spammer.

Finally—let me just say finally—if you are working in civilian life and your firm is trying to hire someone, send me an email at the address below, let me know who to contact, and whether I can mention your name. I’d love to help your firm staff positions, and it’s a nice way of saying thank you for receiving the information you’ve gotten from me.

Now finally, if you have a question about job hunting, you’re like everyone. Everyone has questions about job hunting, except many people wind up in a position where unfortunately what they wind up doing is asking the wrong people for advice. Instead, contact me. You know, after all, I’ve filled more than a thousand positions in my career, evaluated over 400,000 people, and clearly I’m a subject matter expert about job search. Contact me through liveperson.com. I’m a job search and career coaching expert there. I’m very happy to answer your questions.

So, this is Jeff Altman. Have a great day. Take care.