WHAT’S NEXT Transition to Civilian Life By Eve Nasby eve@infused.work
The Doggone Truth about Transitioning The heat is suffocating. The air shimmers like a mirage on the tarmac, and you're wondering if this will ever end! Welcome to the dog days of summer when the mercury climbs past 100 degrees, the base housing AC units start dropping like bad transmissions, and everyone's thinking the same thing: "How many days until this deployment/assignment/enlistment is over?" “Dog Days of Summer”? The phrase originates from the ancient practice of tracking the star Sirius, known as the "Dog Star," which rises alongside the sun from July 3 to August 11. It was believed this celestial alignment brought "heat, drought, lethargy, fever, mad dogs, and bad luck" – basically everything that could go wrong when conditions get brutal! Sound familiar? It seems to be a perfect metaphor for the most challenging transition you'll ever face –from military to civilian life. Just like those ancient civilizations who believed Sirius added its scorching heat to an already blazing sun, your transition combines the intensity of leaving everything familiar with the pressure of proving yourself in completely foreign territory. Your Network: The Oasis in Career Desert Transition is all about trust in your network. Most who transition out well will find their next jobs through someone they know, not through dropping their resumes into a bottomless online database. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again; your network determines your net worth. Your network can be pivotal in your professional survival, your career trajectory, and your ability to land somewhere that doesn't make you question every life choice that led you to this moment. Think about those brutal summer training exercises. You had buddies who didn't just help you survive – they helped you thrive when conditions were at their worst. The civilian job market is exactly like those dog days, except instead of surviving heat exhaustion, you're navigating a landscape where 87% of exiting service 52 WWW.SanDiegoVeteransMagazine.com / August 2025
members land a job within six months, and leave that job within 12. So how do you avoid a desperate grab on the first available job out of the military? Informational Interviews: Your Reconnaissance in the Heat Here's where your network can help: informational interviews. Think of these as reconnaissance missions in enemy territory, except the "enemy" is your own lack of civilian market intelligence, and the territory is an industry you're trying to infiltrate. Check out LinkedIn where you may find a former Air Force logistics officer who's now revolutionizing supply chain management at Nike. She remembers what it felt like to translate military precision into civilian profit margins and would love to offer guidance. When you reach out, be intentional. Don't send generic "I'd like to pick your brain". Try, "I'm transitioning from my role as a communications specialist and I'm fascinated by your work in crisis communication for Fortune 500 companies. Could we chat for 20 minutes about how military communication protocols translate to corporate crisis management?"