Military Veterans in Marketing, Sales and Business: Celebration and Support from BOLD Vets

Few Americans today have contact with the four million under45 veterans only 12 of the population or understand their capabilities and needs NBCUniversal39s BOLD Vets is a free national networking service designed to help veterans and activeduty reservists who are sales professionals and business owners to rapidly and efficiently expand their referral networksYour author happens to be a veteran I served as a Naval Officer for five years long ago when the US still had the draft You had a choice after college to wait to be drafted and serve two years in the Army or volunteer to become an officer and serve quite a bit longer When I left the Navy to get my MBA 40 of my business school class had served in the military and when I went into management consulting afterwards the proportions were still high at work Veterans were certainly not unique in professional services companiesToday the situation is very differentJonathan Fleming pictured at top currently in Advertising ampamp Partnerships sales operations at NBCUniversal is an eightyear Army veteran who began his military service in the National Guard while he obtained his college degree at the University of Wisconsin Subsequently he was commissioned and served in Afghanistan and at Fort Stewart Georgia training and leading teams to deploy and maintain M1A2 Abrams tanks and equipment He directly led teams as small as 18 members while coordinating with 550person battalions and higher echelons of command He was responsible for equipment valued at 40 millionHe experienced the military as a great melting pot of the nation with enlisted personnel and officers quotmade up of every race gender background and walk of life imaginablequot He observed and participated in the training and molding of individuals so they could work togetherquotTraining is one of the great successes of our militaryquot he says quotOur people came from different thought processes that guided them wherever they grew up whether it be from rural Wisconsin like me or metro New York Watching individuals develop into teams that could accomplish complex missions developing from the time they entered basic training until they were actually deployed somewhere else is truly beautiful This is the foundation of a great culturequotJonathan was surprised at some of the misconceptions he encountered when he took his first job as a sales executive at a preemployment backgroundscreening company quotMy colleagues thought that everyone in the military was an infantryman engaged in combat 247quot he recalls quotNothing could be further from the truth Although I was personally in a combat specialty as an Armor tanks Officer I worked alongside technicians mechanics logistical services cooks and even cyber security specialists Most military members never actually see combatquotHe is grateful for the leadership training he received quotLeadership and teamwork are extremely important fundamentals that are practiced in the military on a daily basis I led hundreds of men and women in combat environments Today I take pride in sharing my leadership experience with my NBCUniversal colleagues it is based on open communication and trust What I learned in the Army is equally important in a corporate setting In a civilian job you have to be able to trust your teammates and foster open communications so that others will share information with you that will help you do a better jobquotJonathan is proud of NBCUniversal39s BOLD Vets initiative quotOur mission is to hunt for nontraditional talent that may get overlooked because they do not have 39hard skills39 to put on a resume Specifically our upcoming BOLD Veterans event on November 11 will be an incredible event to educate potential candidates about who we are what we do and how they might become employees of NBCU if they so desirequot On November 9th NBCU vets will meet with students and alumni of the Institute for Veterans and Military Families for a Career MeetUP hosted by MediaVillage and AdvancingDiversityorgVeterans in Jonathan39s view have all the skills and leadership capabilities to allow them to learn hard skills required for specific jobs like those in Advertising and Partnerships quotMy intention is to open people39s eyes to what veterans can bring to corporate America and to demonstrate to veterans that they can leverage their skills and worth to civilian companies Many veterans begin to feel defeated when applying and ignored for jobs and they can easily give up Companies need to do better and they can upgrade their talent pool by hiring nontraditional candidates like military veteransTo register for the NBCU BOLD Vets event on November 11th click hereClick the social buttons to share this story with colleagues and friendsThe opinions expressed here are the author39s views and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet

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Military Veterans in Marketing, Sales and Business: Celebration and Support from BOLD Vets

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Michael Farmer

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