Defining 'Successful Career Transition' for Military Veterans

Abstract: From school settings to personal growth and work transitions, we continuously evolve as career professionals. For members of the armed forces, a transition out of the military often coincides with a necessity to transition successfully into a non-military workplace—two separate transitions occurring concurrently or in rapid succession. Much literature focuses on failed transitions into the civilian sector, which is often correlates with an inability to mentally, emotionally, and/or psychologically transition out of the military.
Extant literature has examined transition issues facing servicemembers leaving the military. Losing a sense of purpose (Pease, Billera, & Gerard, 2016; Thompson et al., 2019), lacking direction (McNamara, 2018), and struggling to acclimate (Mael, Wyatt & Iyer, 2022) to non-military workplaces are a select few challenges veterans face when transitioning into civilian employment. Wolfe (2018), and numerous other scholars, have discussed employer support (Kirchner, Stull, & Minnis, 2020; LePage, 2020) necessary for a successful transition of newcomers, including aspects related to the orientation, acculturation, culturalization, and socialization of new employees (Douglas, 2008; Ford, 2017; Winters, 2014). Still, military veterans receive little guidance regarding standards of a successful career transition into the private sector. As such, over half of veterans continue to turnover in the first two years at a new job (Maury et al., 2014; Parker et al., 2019) while the national median job tenure among civilians is 4.1 years (BLS, 2020). Disproportionately higher turnover reduces productivity and increases organizational staffing costs.
Currently, there are over 18 million US armed forces veterans (data.census.gov, 2021), including three million who have served since 9/11 (Gumber & Vespa, 2020). Nearly all of whom, having satisfied their service obligation since 2001, participated in a military-guided Transition Assistance Program (TAP). Career transition literature suggests successful transitions require organizational support (Mornata & Cassar, 2018; Perrot et al., 2014) and supervisor support (Jokisaari & Nurmi, 2009; Nijman, 2004) when acclimating newcomers into the workplace. Yet, amidst the sea of veteran recruitment initiatives, few veteran socialization or retention initiatives guide former service members (or their employers) toward clear attainment of a successful career transition.
Requirements for a Successful Career Transition
While transitioning out of the military, veterans concurrently transition into civilian employment. A successful career transition for military veterans can be informed by career management and veteran career transition literature—namely, aspects related to employee onboarding, socialization, person-job fit, and adaptation of organization cultural norms. Onboarding helps new hires adjust to their jobs’ social and performance norms (Maurer, 2021), while socialization facilitates long-term learning and adjustment (Ashforth, 2012). Therefore, we propose defining a successful career transition as “acquiring and leveraging the required competencies and attributes of both the job and organization, fully embedding oneself with other organizational insiders, while recognizing and incorporating new cultural norms into daily work attitudes and behaviors.”
Veteran Career Transition Requirements:
• Secure employment where acquired competencies are applicable
• Secure employment commensurate with military training and experience
• Adopt a new sense of purpose pertaining to both the occupation and organization
• Learn and adapt to organizational norms and values
• Acclimate with coworkers, supervisors, and subordinates
• Remain employed with the same company for at least 2 years

Discussion and Implications
Military-directed transition assistance programs have undergone extensive revisions, and improvements have increased support for servicemembers preparing to leave the military. However, veterans often report underwhelming experiences during TAP and seek additional assistance supporting their move into the private sector. The outlined successful career transition requirements offer tangible, concrete direction for HRD practitioners interested in helping acclimatize new employees with military backgrounds. Each condition is an essential step toward a successful career transition. Omitting any of them makes a successful career transition for military veterans more difficult. The requirements also offer HRD scholars direction for future research regarding impactful strategies that support achievement of each successful transition component.
Limitations
Successful transitions manifest differently for all servicemembers who leave the armed forces. For some, a full-time job that pays the bills is sufficient, whereas others may expect a high-paying, high-status role with a global corporation. The authors acknowledge that a successful transition is at least in part informed by individual perceptions (Haynie & Shepherd, 2011). As such, HRD professionals should consider the outlined requirements as informing a framework for indoctrinating newcomers with military experience rather than dictating that a successful career transition only occurs upon achieving each requirement. Similarly, a successful career transition will require discreet timeframes depending on the new employees’ service background. Experiences like leadership, combat and training, combined with technical skills transfer, will all play a role.