Everything I have written thus far about job-finding, resumes, letter writing, and so on, applies to government people, except that perhaps you will need to be more concise and specific than a job-seeker with a private-business background.
Read again the directions in preceding chapters on resumes, letter writing, etc.; study them and apply them. Try to relate your government experience to business terms as vividly and concretely as possible. After you have had a few interviews with private companies you will become aware, as I am, of the reluctance of businessmen to hire former government employees. Regrettably, many people think of government employees as persons who have been living and working in an unrealistic world. After you have had a few interviews with businessmen, some of the following statements may not come as a surprise to you:
"I concede that you have had wonderful experience, but you did that in government. Business is different. I can't envision where we could use you."
"... we feel that you have some very good experience; but, unfortunately, the years that you spent on a government payroll have resulted in such a loss of time and training for our purpose that we cannot consider you for a position with our company." “Thank you for coming in to see us. I am sorry to tell you we make it a policy not to bring into our organization people with government experience."
"Your job with the government was nonprofit, so we do not feel that government service is as good as experience gained in private enterprise."
"Sure, you bossed and commanded a whole army, but weren't they under military compulsion? They either did what you ordered them to do or they went to the brig or guardhouse. I'll admit that you were accountable for tremendous capital investments in plants, ships, bases, and shore installations. However, you were not over the barrel as a business manager to make profits for the stock holders. You did not have to make the invested capital pay interest or pay off indebtedness. Nor did you need to create the capital for newer and more efficient facilities in order to overcome depreciation and obsolescence, or meet the ever-changing competition of free enterprise. When you needed new facilities, you just junked the old ones, and then called on the taxpayers and us businessmen to furnish tax dollars out of our earnings."
Colonel R. reported verbatim the following remarks from a conversation with an executive recruiter of personnel:
"Except for the aerospace and other defense industries, you are not merchandisable to private industry by virtue of your military training or accomplishments, although they are definitely impressive. You must possess special skills needed by the companies at the time, or you must rank so high that the company feels you will be able to increase its business with government agencies as a result of this influence."
. . There is no profit motive in the military. You spend the funds that are appropriated."
"A military man is considered by some as an individual lacking in imagination, flexibility, or willingness to make deals."
"Being in charge of a military post is different from motivating civilians in private industry. The rank and grade structure in the military establishes authority very clearly. Subordinates are afraid to dispute it. Not so in a company, especially if the workers are represented by a union. Giving orders does not guarantee that they will be carried out."
"I am quite familiar with the manner in which the military gets a job done-just give an order, and the next in rank will see that it is done, while the top man is playing golf."
These statements may strike you as extreme, but they are widely held by businessmen. I am simply trying to prepare you for what you will be up against.
You may well ask, “But what of the generals, admirals, secretaries and under-secretaries, and officers of lesser rank who step from government into fabulous jobs?" One does hear often of some of them becoming the president, chairman of the board of directors, executive vice-president, or general manager of a well-known corporation. How did they get their jobs? Well, in most cases, the corporations came to them. The jobs were arranged long before these men left their government positions. It may have happened that an executive had worked closely with the government person on a specific order or wanted that person for the public-relations effect or for the favorable image this person had created for himself in the press over the years.
And sometimes, I suspect, people are brought in from the government because of the influence they might wield in securing government contracts. Others may be brought in for plain window-dressing. In any case, all are brought in for the contribution they are expected to make to the business in one way or another.
When you cite people like General Lucius D. Clay, who went with the Continental Can Company, or General Douglas MacArthur with Remington Rand, or General Raw-lings with General Mills, you may be very certain that each one was hired to contribute to the company's profit potential and that none of these corporations took them on purely as a charitable contribution to society. They were expected to earn their salt.
Always keep uppermost in your mind the fact that business exists solely for the purpose of making a profit and that everyone in that business must contribute to that end. Everything in business boils down finally to a profit-and-loss entry -to the dollar sign.
Where does all this leave you? Since no one has handpicked you to run, manage, or even to work in his company, it is up to you to get your own job. To switch into industry you will have to go through exactly the same procedures that someone with private business experiences has to go through, but you will have to work harder at it. In your job-hunting campaign, you will have to present your government experience in such a way that private industry will have no doubt that you have a tremendous value to offer. You must make your presentation so attractive that you will be called in for an interview. You must learn to think and speak and language of business, leaving behind you all the idioms, phrases, and terminology so familiar to various branches of government services. You must translate all this into terms the businessman will recognize and understand and appreciate.
The following clipping from the Register and Defense Times was brought to me by Commander M., who anticipated retiring from the Navy in six months and was preparing himself for a job campaign. This was advice given and circulated to retiring officers on "How to Find a Job in Industry."
Personal contact is, without question, the most effective technique for uncovering leads to executive opportunities. But tracking down the persons to contact is usually the bigger puzzler for most retirees. Here are tips on finding key contacts:
Your friends in the world of private enterprise will usually be eager to help if you give them the chance. Your contacts in this group should produce many valuable leads.
Private employment officers who specialize in executive placement can refer you directly to suitable openings among their client companies. Usually, a fee is attached if you accept a position through them.
Personnel consultants and executive search specialists are retained (and usually paid for) by client companies to find personnel with executive talent. Most such consultants are experts on executive requirements developing on the local scene. How can you locate them? Just look under "personnel consultants" in the yellow pages of the phone book.
Management consultants frequently uncover major needs for executive talent in their analyses of client companies and also like to be able to recommend personnel to fill such needs. They are usually listed under "engineers-management" or "business and financial consultants" in the telephone directory.
Officials or professional societies and associations operating in the area of your interest can often provide a very good picture of local conditions and needs, and will frequently provide you with valuable contacts in line with your past experience. And, don't forget, this also applies to editors of trade and business publications.
The top personnel of the local chamber of commerce also have their fingers on the pulse of personnel needs. In addition, they can frequently point out new or expanding businesses which may be in need of your talents.
Bank officials can supply much information of the same kind. It is not unusual for them to be on the lookout for executive talent for companies in need of improved administration in order to convert a picture of loss to one of profit, and incidentally, protect the bank's investment.
You should remember that the heads of university business administration departments usually have their hands deep in local business problems and are often asked to recommend suitable talent familiar mainly to the military, such as logistics, basic planning, strategic and tactical capabilities. Translate such terms into specific and simple language. Highlight accomplishments in functional areas in terms used by civilians to measure performance, progress, or scope of responsibility.
The first draft of your resume may be only one paragraph. As you keep working on it, it will grow to two or three paragraphs, and eventually to several pages. However, in your first draft it is important that you write down each thought as it occurs to you. Start to list various functions you have performed, and then add the actual accomplishments to your credit within these functions. Functions alone are mere abstractions. You need to use them to create a picture of how effective you were in a particular capacity; so think of the action that that function led to, or the problem it may have solved. Be specific, giving numerical statements as to size, dimension, or measurement. For instance, if you worked in a Navy shipyard, was the work behind schedule when you took over? How many months was it behind, and how quickly did you bring it up to current on repairs and new construction? Were you able to do this with the same work force or with a reduced one? State figures in numbers or percentages of the total.
Or suppose you had been working at an Army air base. Did you find planes on the ground for lack of repair parts and proper maintenance? Were there an overabundance of some parts and a shortage of others? How quickly did you bring the inventory into balance? Were you able to cut the total inventory and still provide an efficient operation? I recall the story of an Army captain who had been assigned to a depot in Indiana. He found warehouses filled with supplies ordered for the Spanish-American War and for World War I. He found saddles and equipment for thousands of horses and mules. He got permission to "clean house," and he did it with a vengeance, thereby releasing badly needed warehouse space. Had he not accomplished this, it would have been necessary to have found new warehouse space-a costly capital investment. He saw a job that had to be done and did it, even though others before him hadn't dared to tackle it.
If you have ever reorganized anything, cite in your resume draft how much money you saved the government, how much manpower.
Here are some other examples that may help you:
Colonel Barbara B.: "I reorganized civilian personnel to handle an increase of 200 workers.
"I saved 1030 man hours, developed standard yardsticks and work load ratios."
Major Lewis W.: "I reduced inventory supplies by 33 per cent through the use of IBM control checks on personnel at bases.
"I cut fuel and food consumption 5 per cent by setting up standards.
"I saved $6,000,000 per year through centralized garaging and terminating unnecessary garage leases."
Are you beginning to see how these people developed strong saleable specialties? As you write your draft, translating function into deeds, you will begin to see (and maybe it will surprise even you) how your own specialties will emerge.
You may find that you have accomplishments that could be categorized into the fields of finance, methods and procedures, accounting, manufacturing, building and equipment maintenance, or public relations, to mention a few. If you find that there are several directions in which you can go, it is wise to develop and concentrate on only one at a time. Prepare separate resumes, if necessary, to present to prospective employers, so that your specialty will appeal particularly to him and his needs.
I will give you parts of two different resumes prepared by one Navy officer in the following paragraphs. Notice how ineffective the first one is because he simply lists the functions he performed. Then, in the second, mark how he turned each function into a concrete accomplishment with a numerical measurement. Is there any question which of these would sell him as a decision-making, profit-conscious business manager? This is the first resume prepared:
Direction and control of all cost inspection activities in the Eastern area encompassing the Eastern seaboard. Directed the operations of 30 branch and resident offices employing a staff totaling 400 accountants, clerks, and 30 Navy officers.
Responsibility for assuming and maintaining audit control over all Army, Navy, and Air Force contracts assigned to Navy for audit cognizance in the area. Contract wise the area had at the height of defense activity 3,000 contracts under audit totaling 6,000,000,000 distributed among 1,000 contractors engaged in all forms of industrial activity.
- Determination of financial responsibility of prospective sup pliers to perform contractually prior to completion of negotiations and award of contract.
- Survey internal controls and accounting systems to determine the adequacy and dependability of the system of internal control and accounting procedures.
- Recommend changes in contractors' accounting systems where systems are not practically adapted to cost determinations as required on the basic contracts.
- Conduct initial pricing studies as required by Contracting Bureaus prior to negotiation of contracts.
- Preparation of advisory reports on fixed price contracts containing redetermination clauses and submit recommendations regarding final price under the contract.
- Audit of costs incurred under cost-plus-fixed-fee contracts to determine allow ability under government regulations and the terms of the specific contract.
- Determination of fixed overhead rates for inclusion in cost-plus-fixed-fee contracts.
- Audit of proposals submitted by contractors under terminated contracts.
- Conduct special investigations or studies as requested by higher authority. Examples of the scope of these special investigations and studies include:
- Analysis of Navy cost of manufacturing products which can be procured commercially.
- Analyzing comparative cost data submitted by various con tractors on a competitive basis within a specific industry.
- Special investigations for fraud or other irregular practices.
- Analyzing contractors' financial condition and recommending various forms of government or private financing to maintain production of vital supplies.
- Studies of contractors' costing practices and procedures to determine the equity and reasonableness of costs eventually charged to government contracts.
The position of Supervisory Cost Inspector in the Eastern Area requires that the incumbent possess a sound knowledge of all phases of accounting and auditing. I have all these background requirements.
REGIONAL DIRECTOR, COST INSPECTION SERVICE, NAVY DEPT., NEW YORK.
As Regional Director, I administered the audit of 3,000 Defense Department contracts totaling $6,000,000,000, distributed among 1,000 contractors engaged in all forms of industrial activity.
- Managed the operations of 3 Branch and Resident offices employing a staff totaling 400 accountants and auditors.
- Directed an organization that effected savings to the government amounting to $60,000,000 annually.
- Revised the scope of audit under industrial contracts resulting in an 80% reduction in Navy audit personnel. I reduced the cost of area operation 70%.
- Developed the original pattern for the Defense Department's coordinated concept of audit. On a nationwide basis, the coordinated plan of audit reduces by as much as 60% the number of personnel required to conduct audits at 600 locations.
- Conducted reviews of contract pricing proposals and effected downward revision of prices in 60% of the cases studied.
- Recommended revisions to industrial concerns auditing systems and systems of internal control where they were inadequate for performance of government contracts.
- Conducted studies of all forms of industrial cost systems to deter mine the equity and reasonableness of charges to government contracts.
- Initiated and completed special investigations for fraud and irregular practices which have resulted in several Federal Court actions. I analyzed contractors' financial conditions and recommended government or private financing.
- Conducted comparative studies of Navy versus Industry costs in the manufacture of clothing, paint, rope, and electrical fittings. Many Navy shops were closed because the study showed that industry could do the job more economically.
- Assisted in the drafting and editing of "Armed Services Procurement Regulations-Contract Cost Principals."
- Arranged with five national public accounting firms the first practical training course for Naval Officer personnel. This consisted of actual experience in clients' offices.
Make up your own list of companies and presidents as suggested in the previous chapter. Do not write to anyone but the president. He will call you in and see you himself or ask someone else to see you.
Your choice of names of companies depends on your individual decision as to whether you want to work for a large or a small company. Remember to keep track of all your returns and evaluate them for future mailings. Your experience and specialization may determine whether you select a large or small company and you will, of course, keep in mind the fact that a small company cannot afford a large computer if E.D.P. is your specialty.
Follow the directions previously given in the chapter on "The Broadcast Letter." They apply as well to government employees as to private businessmen. First, write your broad cast letter using your carefully prepared resume. At this stage of job-hunting do not waste time, money, or morale on any other thing. Write and rewrite your letter-even if you have to rewrite it twenty times before you are satisfied. You can use the samples given in earlier pages to help you develop the "style" of your letter. Develop short, effective paragraphs. Use the pronoun "I" as often as you wish; don't worry about sounding immodest. Your letter is about you and your reader wants to know about you.
If you have achieved unusual results in any capacity, take credit for them. Should you find yourself hiding your light under a bushel basket, remember that you were the person responsible for getting that job done, even though you may have had many assistants. If the project had failed, you would have been the one who would have gotten the blame.
The following case history of another naval officer will give you a better understanding of what I mean. At no time does he mention in his letter that his experience was military. As his interviews progressed, he found that having been in the Navy was no longer a problem. By this time, the employer was more interested in finding out what he could do in a specific job. His story, just as he gave it to me, shows clearly what I am trying to say and should prove helpful to you.
- When I decided to retire from the Navy, I had made no preparation for getting a job. I gave the Navy my full required six months' notice with the idea that I would then begin a campaign.
- I then started to prepare a resume using the-brochure as a guide. It was a great waste of time. I spent at least two hundred hours on the resume and all I accomplished was to compile a chronological history of what I had done for the last 25 years. The unfortunate thing about it was that I did not list accomplishments.
- I sent this resume in three directions. First, I started answering ads in The New York Times, submitting my resume together with a short covering letter. Out of some twenty such letters, I didn't receive one interview. Some companies sent me a form to fill out.
Second, I sent my resume to former classmates and friends. This was also a waste of time. I got back a lot of nice letters, but never an interview.
Third, I sent 10 per cent of my resumes to the alumni department of - school. I got no contract through the school, although I spent many hours, carefully following the school's directions, putting the resumes in backers, filling out forms, etc.
- After three months, I started attending Carl Boll's Thursday night sessions in New York. Suddenly I awoke to the fact that I didn't really know what kind of a job I wanted and that I had not been telling prospective employers what I could do. I hadn't adequately explained what I had accomplished or what I was interested in. Furthermore, there had been a definite block in my thinking, because until that evening I thought the most important thing I had to say was that I was retiring voluntarily and that all my previous experience had been in the U.S. Navy. Much later I came to realize that employers are much more interested in "What Can You Do for Me?" Through listening to the group and answering questions about what I had been doing, I began to develop a simple one-page letter. This letter changed every week.
My first letter was devoted entirely to what I had been doing in the Navy, My second letter listed all my accomplishments but did not focus on any one, and I still kept stressing my service in the Navy.
The next letter put all the stress on controllership and purchasing.
The fourth letter focused on distribution, for I had at long last come to the conclusion that my forte was distribution control. In my final letter I put all the stress on control. I told what I had accomplished and did not mention the Navy at all.
As Director of Control in a large organization, I developed an electronic data control system for order processing. This raised effectiveness to new highs in measured performance.
My experience in controlling, accounting, ordering, purchasing, and inventory systems might be useful to you in your organization. You may be interested in additional examples of what I have done.
- I established controls for a hard-goods inventory of 325,000 line items. Improved stock position by 55 per cent without an increase in inventory.
- I devised a data card procedure for determining economical order quantities and speeded up purchase operations that saved 110,000 annually.
- In a large distribution branch, I cut payroll expense over $80,000 a year by revising control functions in the receiving department.
- Developed picking ticket controls used in an automatic ware house,
- I attended-University and received an M.A. degree from the-Business School in 1953.
I would be pleased to discuss further details of my experience with you in a personal interview.
Sincerely yours,
His case history continues:
All along there had been a tendency on my part to think humbly. I was unwilling to take credit for the work of subordinates reporting to me. I think this came from a military officer's desire to stress the part of subordinates in the work.
I began to prepare a list of companies for which I would like to work and, in the meantime, answered ads with the letters which were improving each week. I began to get scattered interviews. In answering ads, I used only the final letter quoted above. From February 20 to 26, I answered a total of sixteen ads from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal At no time did I include a resume with my letter.
Those sixteen letters alone resulted in four interviews. In the four interviews, only one company was interested in a resume. Several companies showed me stacks of resumes and said that they had called me because my approach was so refreshing.
Suddenly, I was no longer faced with the question of getting a job; now there was the question of which job to accept. Minutes after I agreed to take my present position, an offer just as attractive came in from a firm where I had been interviewed a few days previously. I think I can sum up my experiences in some generalities:
- You must know what you have accomplished and be able to relate it to others.
- You must be able to put it in an interesting short letter, which will result in the employer's wanting to talk to you. One page is preferable.
- You must get interviews; confidence grows with each interview.
- Filling out employment office forms by mail is a waste of time, since it is a delaying tactic by the company which sends them.
- Employers really don't care much about age, military service, where you worked, etc.; they just want to know if you can do the job for them.
- Employers don't have time to screen long resumes, and resumes don't reveal, usually, what a person can do. Furthermore, they aren't going to hire you until they have seen you anyway. By employers, I don't mean personnel managers, but the person you will be working for.
Notice how quickly things changed for this ex-Navy officer when he got a good letter in the mail and when he began answering advertisements in the manner described in the chapter "How to Get Interviews Through Advertisers." Note also that 25 per cent of the persons who received these letters requested an interview. This closely approximates my average goal, which is 20 per cent. His earlier letters to advertisements had pulled a zero response. With his new approach, he had a choice of jobs.
There are occasionally times when mentioning military experience is a tactic that works all right. Generally, it is all right for a young man who has just finished school, gone into service, and then begun to look for a job when he has finished his military stint. A young man who wrote the following letter mailed out forty-seven and received twelve requests for interviews. He received a telephone request from the head of a large department-store chain that came to New York a day later to interview him. He got a job offer the same day at a salary three times higher than his previous one and was on the payroll in less than a week. A miracle? Yes, indeed! But he worked it himself. Have faith in yourself and work your own miracle. Here is his letter:
Dear Ms.-:
I have just been discharged from the United States Navy where I served as an officer, commissioned as a specialist in mass feeding. I supervised the preparation and service of 1,500,000 meals to officers, aviation cadets, and enlisted men.
You may have merchandising and supervisory problems in connection with the operation of your customer and restaurant facilities. If so, mv experience and background may be of use to you. During my tour of duty, I performed the following: planned all menus, and purchased foodstuffs, supplies, and equipment. Being familiar with nationally known resources, I reduced food costs to the Navy, saving $1,500,000 in a six-month period. I specialized in setting up menu programs to meet sectional eating habit problems; supervised up to 300 enlisted and civilian personnel.
Prior to entering the service, and since my discharge, I have been employed by the-company. I have been completely responsible for the installation and operation of feeding facilities for its 4,000 employees.
During this period, I designed, purchased equipment for, and supervised the installation of a cafeteria and two canteens; hired, trained, and supervised 40 food service employees; planned menus, purchased all foodstuffs and supplies, set up a financial report system and cash control. Despite low selling prices, high food and high labor costs, the food facilities were operated at no cost to management.
In June of 1948, I graduated from the-School of Business Administration. I specialized in Retailing. I would like an opportunity to discuss with you a more detailed account of experience.
Can you now see from the letters illustrated above why they pull interviews? You too can do what may now seem impossible. Perform your own miracle. Perform-that means work at it. Make the advice in this book work for you, as it has for so many others, even though you are a government employee.
