Cameron-brooks

Welcome back to the podcast! On this episode I interview Brent Whiteman. Brent is a former Air Force officer who transitioned to Corporate America as a Derivative Trader in 2015. He holds a BS in Management from the United States Air Force Academy, and, upon commissioning, Brent was afforded the opportunity to attend Harvard where he earned an MPP in Business and Government Policy. Brent launched his career at Chatham Financial, a consulting firm focused on risk advisory relating to debt and asset protection. Brent was a Contracting officer during in the Air Force. He'd never really dealt with derivatives trading and risk hedging in the areas of real estate, foreign exchanges and commodities. To get up to speed Brent initially spent a lot of time learning and asking questions of his team members who had the willingness to help him increase his knowledge. He devoted himself to putting in the work. He attributes much of his success to ensuring that he made his boss' job easier. The trick? "[Take] care of some

Welcome back! On this episode of the podcast I interview Greg Payne. Greg is a former Army Infantry officer who transitioned in 2019 after attending a Cameron-Brooks Career Conference. Greg launched his business career at Abbott, a Fortune 500 Global Healthcare Company and specifically started within Abbott's Point of Care division. Today on the podcast, we cover his transition into a sales role and how our current COVID-19 world has created an impact. Why Sales? We start our conversation discussing Greg's decision to start his business career in a sales role. As a matter of fact, Greg asked to have more of his interviews in sales than any other type at the Career Conference. He believes (as do I) that the JMO is "uniquely qualified" to be successful in this type of role. He specifically connected the Army's Military Decision Making Process (MDMP) to sales in so much as both have course of action development, threat assessment, collaboration, cross-functional leadership and, ultimately, a presentation to gain

Junior Military Officers (JMOs) face numerous obstacles in making a successful transition to business.  They are switching industries (defense to business), companies (Navy, Army, Air Force, etc., to a new company), career fields (unless they are going to a defense contractor or government agency) and locations.  They have to identify companies and positions that value their background, ensure they have openings that sync up with their timelines, line up interviews and hopefully get offers they can evaluate simultaneously. Now, imagine two people doing this simultaneously with the goal of landing a leadership development position with a leading company (in the same city)! This is exactly what dual career military couples making the transition to business have to do.  It is not just twice as complex as a JMO, it is 10 times more complex! It is so complex, in fact, most dual military couples use one of the following two strategies to decrease complexity; however, this can inevitably degrade the quality of thei

Welcome back! In this episode, I'd like to introduce Nick Barlow. Nick is an Associate Product Manager at Zimmer Biomet. He is a former Army Finance officer who was branch detailed to the Armor branch for the first four years of his service as a commissioned officer. Nick was in the Cameron-Brooks Development and Preparation Program for 21 months in preparation for his transition to Corporate America. He was actually scheduled to attend an earlier Career Conference, but with the Ebola outbreak in Liberia, he felt the call to help and extended his service commitment in order to deploy for that mission. Interestingly enough, he went to work for Johnson & Johnson who, coincidentally, created a vaccine for Ebola. On the podcast, Nick shares his transition story and touches on how a company restructuring resulted in a layoff and, consequently, a new opportunity. A Great Start Nick started his career at DePuy Synthes, the orthopedic medical device company within Johnson & Johnson. He began his career in a marketing

Welcome back! On this episode of the Cameron-Brooks podcast I interview Jim Rhoden. Jim is a former Army Logistician who transitioned in 2015. He had 13 interviews at the Cameron-Brooks Career Conference and through the Conference and Follow Up Interview Process, he engaged in a total of 45  interviews which rendered 4 different offers for employment. Jim launched his career at Foster Farms as a plant manager. Foster Farms is the largest poultry producer in the western Unites States. On the podcast, Jim shares his keys to navigating your career and earning success. NAVIGATING YOUR CAREER As an Army officer, Jim had excellent operational experience. This allowed him to not only prove his fit in his interviews with Foster Farms, but also find much success in his first role. He was able to apply many of the leadership tools he gained in the Army, which allowed him to accelerate quickly. After a year and a half, Jim navigated his career from the production environment to the corporate headquarters where he receiv

As we all navigate the turbulent waters of this COVID-19 pandemic, we wanted to bring you insight from someone who has helped military officers transition through all types of economic ups and downs. Joel Junker began his career at Cameron-Brooks over 20 years ago. In all that time, Cameron-Brooks has never cancelled a Career Conference! Through the Dot-com bubble, 9/11, the financial crisis of 2008/2009, Joel has been there to help officers transition every step of the way. In this episode, he shares some key insights to weathering the COVID-19 storm. Companies Will Hire in Difficult Economic Times During the Financial Crisis of 2008/2009, Joel maintained a journal and kept asking the questions: Will we make it through this? Will companies continue to hire? Companies did, in fact, continue to hire through those tumultuous times, so the question remains - why do companies still continue to partner with and hire through Cameron-Brooks, even in the fiercest of economic headwinds? We know the office

At Cameron-Brooks  we believe, amidst this global crisis, that quality leadership is more important than ever. So we will continue to post our regular podcasts to educate potential transitioning military officers. You are the future leaders Corporate America will need. This episode features Porsche Wilson.  Porsche transitioned to Corporate America from the Army in 2009 was serving as Army Medical Service Corps officer. She launched her business career at Regions Bank in a banking operations Project Management role and within 8 months was promoted to a Manager of Debit Cards/ATM Claims. One of the interesting things about our conversation is Porsche helps unpack the concept of "career management". She does that from the perspective of someone who has been in the business world for 11 years.  Approaching her mid-career point in the business world, Porsche continues to accelerate her professional life in Corporate America. Early Success Porsche starts our conversation by recalling her time in the Army and some

Military to business transition doesn't have to be risky — especially if you have the right partner who knows how to make the transition successfully.  However, it does require one to step outside of your comfort zone. Cameron-Brooks Alumnus, Mike Burns, is a former Navy Nuclear Surface Warfare Officer who made the successful transition in 2014.  On this episode of the podcast, he shares how he partnered with Cameron-Brooks to learn more about his marketability, navigated the transition and willingly stepped outside of his comfort zone to land a career at Chatham Financial. Mike initially approached his career search believing he needed to interview for only engineering project management roles that directly related to his functional experience as a Navy Nuclear Trained Surface Warfare Officer.  By partnering with Cameron-Brooks, he conducted a wide career search and was able to interview for a broad range of positions that included Engineering Project Management, Consulting, Finance and more.  In the end,

Welcome back! On this episode of Above and Beyond, I interview Hunter Barns. Hunter is a former Navy Submariner who transitioned into a Senior Business Analyst role (one of several possible consulting careers for military officers) at Kearney, a global management consulting firm in 2014. Hunter launched his career as a consultant focused mostly on the analytical piece of consulting before transitioning into more of a client-facing role. We begin our conversation discussing how Hunter transitioned to Corporate America directly from a shore tour in Bahrain. "The day I started terminal leave was the day I interviewed with my current employer," he said. We discuss how preparing to transition from abroad IS doable and how starting research early can help combat the hesitancy of a direct transition from Asia, Europe, etc. Hunter also explains Kearney in more detail. What is management consulting? What does a Senior Business Analyst do? Who does Kearney work with? Hunter walks us through why he decided to work

Late last year, LinkedIn published the Veteran Opportunity Report with some concerning statistics.  Around 33% of veterans report being underemployed and 70% describe taking a step backward in responsibility when moving to the business world from the military.  The number one reason this occurs is that many companies do not understand the value veterans bring to their organization.   The majority of those surveyed were Junior Military Officers, so this risk of being underemployed and taking a step back is very real for the JMO demographic. A big reason that many veterans, JMOs included, end up with organizations that don't truly understand their value is because the veteran placed too much emphasis on the starting position during their career search.  Meaning, they select the company or opportunity based on location, salary or company name only.  They never conducted a full career search to completely evaluate a number of options.  Hence, they may start in a good initial position but as they progress in th

Welcome back! In this episode we feature Jonathan Brewer. He is a former Army Field Artillery officer who transitioned to Corporate America in 2018 and is an Account Manager for Anderson & Vreeland.  When Jonathan came to the Cameron-Brooks Career Conference, he had 15 separate interviews and just about every company expressed interest in having him out for a follow-up interview. At the Conference, he had more interviews focused on operational team leadership than any other type of career field, but through the discovery process of the Conference (his testimonial video here,) he learned that he was a better fit for roles focused toward business development. In this episode, Jonathan talks about making the transition into a sales role and gives three tips to launch a successful sales career. He takes the time to explain how he manages his territory and interacts with customers all the while being a good husband and father. I think you'll really enjoy listening to Jonathan's experience. To learn more about tur

In this podcast, Pat Moesta shares the interview advice he would give other JMOs when preparing for their transition. Pat made a successful transition into the business world as a Brand Manager at Stryker back in 2017.  He is a USMA 2012 grad and a former Army Infantry officer.  When Pat attended the Cameron-Brooks August 2017 Conference, he converted 13 interviews into 9 company pursuits and had 3 offers to choose from.  He knows how to interview. "Interview for every opportunity as if it is your only one." "Make decisions.  Do not eliminate options until after the interview as you will have so much more information." Our archived blog posts are chock-full of other interview advice. You can find a few of our favorites here: Five Easy Tricks to Improve Your Interviewing Skills, Two Keys to Successful Interviews,   Five Interview Mistakes to Avoid and The Number One Factor to a Successful Interview. To learn more about turning your JMO leadership skills into a successful transition and business

Welcome back! This episode is a bit different than our normal podcast. For this episode, Joel Junker is on the other side of the microphone. He shares his insight on how to answer the simple, but very important interview question "Tell Me About Yourself". If you were ever going to rank people who give interview advice, Joel should be at the very top of your list. Not only did he transition as a JMO and have an outstanding Career Conference, but he also has over 21 years of experience helping literally thousands of military officers transition to Corporate America. As Career Conference interviews continue to trend toward being more conversational in nature, this podcast will help you develop an effective response when a hiring manager presents you with the interview question "Tell me about yourself." We dive into why the question is important, the component parts of the answer, tailoring the answer to be specific to different career fields and some do's and don'ts. Our archived blog posts are chocked full o

Thank you for listening to another episode of the Cameron-Brooks Podcast. In this episode, Kilian Wald, Associate Finance Manager at Stryker, joins me for a conversation about his transition from an Army Air Defense Officer to a development candidate career in Finance with Stryker Medical.  In less than two years with Stryker, Kilian has already been promoted and earned a special assignment for 6 months in Singapore.  He credits his success with JMO leadership lessons he learned during his time in the military: do the hard work, be willing to learn, build relationships and be adaptable. He also talks about the value of the Cameron-Brooks program and how it prepared him to make a successful transition to Stryker.  His advice, "While it can be hard, trust the Cameron-Brooks process because it works."  He credits his military to business transition success to the multiple in-person one-on-one conversations with experienced Cameron-Brooks Recruiters and working with his study group in Clarksville, TN. A couple

Welcome Back! In this podcast episode, I interview Kirby Rolfe (Kastner). She is a former Army Transportation officer who transitioned to Corporate America in  August 2016. She launched her business career with Boston Scientific as a Senior Production Planner. We had a great conversation and covered a lot of ground in a short amount of time regarding career management. She started by explaining why she chose Boston Scientific from her Career Conference and the day-to-day responsibilities of her first role. The conversation quickly moved to discuss Lean Manufacturing, Lean Business Practices and how continuous process improvement played a major part in her first year at Boston Scientific. After a year she was promoted to lead a team of Production Planners. At this point, the conversation focused on how she has managed her career to where she is now in a completely different part of her company. At one point in the conversation, I asked what her next move would be. She enthusiastically replied, "I don't know!

Welcome to another episode of the Cameron-Brooks Podcast!  Have you heard about Big Data, Data Analytics or Artificial Intelligence?  Wonder why it is so important in business today? Curious how JMOs can break into big data career fields? In this episode I interview Cameron-Brooks Alumnus, Jason Papale, who is a Senior Operations Business Analyst at USAA.  Most are familiar with what USAA does, but you may not realize exactly how they use data science to create a better experience when interacting with the Member Service Representatives at the Call Center or through their website or app. Jason is a former Navy Nuclear Power Submarine Officer who transitioned to USAA in early 2019.  This episode covers topics of the different data projects Jason has worked on at USAA, his pursual of an advanced degree in data analytics, thoughts on why data analytics continues to grow in business and projecting a future career path. If you want to learn more about Data Analytics or Big Data, check out this article on Data A

Welcome back! I'm excited to bring you my conversation with Brian Fitzgerald. Brian is a former Army Infantry officer who transitioned to an Engineering Project Management role within Boston Scientific in 2016. We started the conversation by discussing Brian's transition. He had 12 interviews at the Cameron-Brooks Career Conference and all of the companies he interviewed with expressed an interest in pursuing him for a follow up interview. Then, we discussed how he narrowed his 12 options down to the best 5 that suited him and his family and how the follow up interview process went for him. Through that discussion, he described why he chose the cardiovascular franchise within Boston Scientific. Brian explains his initial role as a Manager, Process Development, and how his academic background and military leadership experience helped him quickly find success in his role. Since starting at Boston Scientific, he's been promoted to Senior Manager, Process Development and describes how his role has grown more t

Several listeners have requested to hear about what it's like for a JMO to work in the hi-tech industry.  In Episode 81, Cameron-Brooks Alumnus, Eric Dvorak, describes his work with the Corning Emerging Innovations Group.  We wanted to follow that episode up with another alum in the hi-tech industry but with a different type of company and business sector. Chazz Hoskins is a former Air Force Development Engineer who is now a Manufacturing Engineer with Lam Research.  Lam Research makes some of the most innovative wafer fabrication equipment - meaning they make hi-tech machines that make semiconductors.  Specifically, Chazz works in their Pilot Manufacturing Plant that manufactures some of the newest developed machines for customers prior to being transferred to higher volume production operations. During this podcast, Chazz describes his experience working in Silicon Valley and the culture of the hi-tech industry.  He also explains his strategy for his transition and for making a quick impact at Lam Researc

What are the secrets for a JMO to launch a successful business career?  In our latest podcast, we hear from a Cameron-Brooks alumni on his secrets to success. Dave Dostal is a former Naval Aviator who now leads transformation and operational excellence improvement projects at Medtronic, one of the world's largest medical device companies. Dave made the transition from the Navy to Medtronic in April 2017 after 10 very successful years in the Navy.  He landed a career with Medtronic through the Cameron-Brooks Career Search Process.  As a Program Manager focused on operational excellence and business transformation, he is using many of the skills and knowledge he gained when he was an Aviation Safety Program Manager in the Navy. Dave offers 3 tips for JMOs to successfully establish themselves in their careers: Have the mindset that you have control of your career.  Many military officers are used to the military controlling their career.  It is different in the business world, and successful JMOs pivot to