28 U.S. V T RANS MAGAZ N WWW.USVETERANSMAGAZINE.COM

CAREER & EMPLOYMENT

me applying for an internship with the Air Force Research Laboratory.

Phase 2: F !ux

)Kvmz!up!Tfqufncfs;!Dvqt!pg!Dpggff! 362.611* It didn't get any easier. I had depleted half of my savings and was starting a new internship !!!!!! Air Force Research Laboratory, and I still didn't know what I wanted to be when I "grew up." There were victories along the way - I received a full scholarship to U.C. Berkeley's venture capital program and was accepted to AFRL's SPECTRE fellowship. But it all suddenly stopped clicking. I had taken on way more than I could handle until one day, I !!!!!!! paralyzed with anxiety because *!!!!!! wear to a networking event. It was my "come to Jesus" moment. Mental health is important in any transition into civilian life. But I ignored the signs and instead leaned into going out, eating poorly and working myself to exhaustion to try and manage the stress of transition without acknowledging what I was feeling. To jumpstart my process, I signed up for local conferences I was interested in. Then, one evening after the Joint All Domain Command and Control conference, I headed to a local bar to get some work done for SpaceWERX. A group of men from the conference walked in, and I decided to introduce myself. A couple of beers and hours of conversation later, *!!!!! !!!!! intelligence industry with a company called BigBear.ai,

10

Lessons Learned

1

Build your foundation around a life and place you enjoy.

2

Have thick skin. You don't want people to be nice; you want them to be real with you.

3

Actively seek out learning opportunities.

4

Assume risk; take a chance, but mitigate that risk when you can. Try something that you never thought you would do but always wanted to.

5

Treat networking like it's your full-time job. If you don't have LinkedIn, get it as soon as possible.

6

Don't bite off more than you can chew. Slow down and pace yourself.

7

Acknowledge stress, pause and work on it, then move forward.

8

Surround yourself with !!

9

Treat every conversation like it's a potential interview, even if it's at a random dive bar.

10

Keep a close eye on your budget and where you are frivolously spending. &!!!! working for your forward progression, not inhibiting it. which uses AI and machine learning to facilitate data- driven decision support for government leaders.

Phase 3: Networking and Personal Growth

)Tfqufncfs!up!Kbovbsz;!Dvqt!pg! Dpggff!612.2-111,* My number of "coffees" exponentially increased between September and January. I ended up accepting the job offer from BigBear.ai as the Senior Account Executive for Defense Innovation. I turned the offer with BigBear. ai down twice before accepting, !*!!!! my own skill set. After being hired, conversations 501-1,000 were focused on networking for work and personal growth. The !!!!!! in the company. I treated the !!!##!! if my job was to get to know the people in the company and their challenges. My biggest takeaway: Companies need to be steadfast in their support of hiring veterans to give veterans !!!! that their service would be an asset in their careers.