Building effective networks for the transition from the military to the civilian workforce: Who, what, when, and how

ABSTRACT

Servicemembers leaving the military and entering the civilian workforce are often encouraged to network to identify and obtain civilian employment. However, there are few resources that offer insights into how to build an effective network when transitioning from the military to the civilian workforce. Based on extant literature, we present a Guiding Framework for Building an Effective Network for the Military to Civilian Workforce Transition to answer questions of who Veterans should include in their professional and personal networks (“Who”), what social resources are available from network contacts (“What”) at which phase of the transition (“When”), and how to build relationships with network contacts that may facilitate the transition from the military to civilian workforce (“How”). This framework identifies four types of network contacts that Veterans may include in their networks: family members, other Veterans, civilians, and formal resources persons. Furthermore, we describe the social resources they are likely to receive from these contacts (e.g., love/friendship, information, services, status, money, and goods) at each stage of the transition (e.g. approaching the transition, managing the transition, and assessing the transition) as well as practical suggestions for Veterans to connect with these network contacts. Additionally, we explain how the resources provided by network contacts enable successful role/identity transition. Finally, we discuss practical implications of our framework for service members, and we propose directions for future research on Veterans’ networks and the role that they play during Veterans’ transition from the military to the civilian workforce.

KEYWORDS:

• Veteran
• social network
• networking
• military to civilian transition

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Service members who served after 9/11/2001.

2. Team Red, White, and Blue is a national organizational with 217, 557 registered members that connects Veterans to other Veterans and their community through planned social activities. More information at https://www.teamrwb.org/.

3. Disabled America Veterans (DAV) is a nonprofit organization that provides a lifetime of support to Veterans wounded or disabled during service with honorable discharges. DAV helps Veterans find meaningful employment. For more information visit https://www.dav.org/.

4. Combats Veterans Motorcycle Association is a national, registered Veterans nonprofit organization for Veterans of all branches who enjoy riding motorcycles as a hobby. Membership is open to those who have served in combat as well as those who have not and spouses. For more information visit https://www.combatvet.us/.

5. https://www.vibnetwork.org/.

6. https://www.acp-usa.org/.

7. https://heroeslinked.org/.

8. https://www.togetherweserved.com/.

9. https://www.foundationforvets.org/.

10. Qualifications are that one served at least 90 days on active duty on or after September 11, 2001, or received a Purple Heart on or after September 11, 2011 and were honorably discharged, or served for at least 30 continuous days on or after September 11, 2011 and were honorably discharged with a service connected disability.