In industry accomplishments must be related to profit and for good reason. In a capitalist system a company must make a profit to be successful. To do this, the company must offer a better or cheaper service or product. A less efficient, less successful company will be less profitable and will be forced out of the marketplace by its competitors. The profit generated by the successful company creates additional capital for its stockholders, raising their standard of living and giving them the incentive as well as the capital to invest again. As the economy expands, new jobs are created and everyone's standard of living goes up.
Some executives coming from the military feel that the profit motive is a gross one and that industrial leaders are uniformly out to take advantage of everyone, from the common man to the U.S. government. This is absolutely wrong. Industrial leaders are no less idealistic and no more pure than leaders of ability in the military.
However, the military does not have a profit motive as such, and business and profit making are sometimes looked down upon as endeavors far afield from military concerns. Thus the military executive may view his civilian counterpart as somewhat of a rude materialist. By the same token, the civilian manager may feel that because there is no profit motive in the military, the military structure creates waste and inefficiency and military management experience is of little value to industry. The net result is that even though the former military man considers himself better qualified, better trained, and more idealistic than a civilian manager, the civilian executive may see the military man as an overqualified incompetent (as regards business management). Clearly, both attitudes are incompatible with finding a superior job in industry.
A job campaign is no place to educate anyone, and few civilian managers will try to convince you of their viewpoint or even make their viewpoint known. So in order to find a superior job in civilian life, you must bridge the military industrial credibility gap. How do you do this? You must orient your accomplishments toward what industry is looking for, using those denominations that are common to both careers: efficiency and effectiveness.
In your sales letters, answers to advertisements, and other communications with people, you must make a special effort to translate your military accomplishments into terms common in the civilian marketplace. For example, translate the total amount of equipment or supplies you were responsible for into a dollar amount: "Responsible for maintaining $5 million worth of communications equipment." If you had a budget as part of your military responsibilities, mention it. Don't forget to include hidden items such as personnel salaries to arrive at the total yearly budget you were responsible for. But one word of caution about this. Those in military research and development are responsible for a much greater magnitude of dollar value than their civilian counterparts. The dollar values indicated in your sales letters should be appropriate for the job level you are seeking. A little gathering of information from people who are already in the industry you are interested in will be helpful here.
Calculate a percentage figure that reflects an accomplishment from your military experience. Describe the accomplishment in civilian rather than military terms. For example, if you are discussing an increase in reenlistments due to your efforts, you should describe it, in civilian terms, as a decrease in personnel turnover. Use quotes from your effectiveness reports to support your performance, but pick items that civilian executives can readily understand and appreciate. "Outstanding managerial ability and a first class leader" is excellent "Aggressive combat leader" is not, unless you're going after a soldier of fortune job.
