Transition Tip #5: Concentrate your power and effort only on those things that will achieve your objective.

5. Narrow your job search. 

Combat lesson: Concentrate your power and effort only on those things that will achieve your objective.

As a combat planner, my commander drilled into my brain that we needed to concentrate our combat power at the right time and place to achieve victory on the battlefield. Extensive effort went into figuring this all out before I presented a winning plan. 

I put the same extensive effort into my job search, leading me to transition victory.

My informational interviews and networking helped me identify the companies with an appropriate culture (one that matches your virtues and personality and aligns with your needs) and suitable jobs in my targeted career field, so I narrowed my search to only those companies and career fields. 

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” – Sun Tzu

1. Know yourself. Focus on your “Top 10” and those things you determined were essential to your satisfaction and would lead you to transition success. 

2. Know the company. Explore the company’s general website to get a feel for its culture and expected employee values. Ask yourself, “Is this company, and its culture and values acceptable to me?”

3. Know the company’s career opportunities. Do a quick search to verify that the company has job opportunities in your targeted career field.

4. Research available roles suited only to your targeted career field:

a. Visit the company’s career site.

b. Search roles only in your targeted career field.

c. Refine your search using keywords or location searches.

d. Sign up for email job alerts, so the company’s tools do the work for you. 

Concentrating my effort only in the areas that would lead me to victory positively affected the outcome of each application. Accompanied by a customized and relevant resume, my applications produced immediate results. And narrowing my search in this way improved my chances for transition “victory.” 

Get more tips on each of these steps in Koch Industries' Veteran Transition Guide.

This excerpt was formed from “Transition War Stories: Lessons from the Front Lines,” a series of seminar presentations and articles based on the experiences of John Buckley, manager of outreach strategies at Koch Industries. John is a retired U.S. Army colonel who served for 33 years commanding infantry soldiers in combat and peacekeeping ops and directing two of the Army's most prestigious schools.