If Part 1 showed why the first interview is the main gate, and Part 2 exposed the recruiter translation problem, Part 3 drills into the employer side of the equation.
The challenge isn’t that employers are wrong to seek the best – it’s that expectations are not always clearly defined lacking shared clarity.

Not all recruiters are made the same. Some simply push resumes into ATS systems and pray something sticks. Others serve a higher mission: to translate candidate potential into signals that employers actually recognize.

Recruiting in 2025 isn’t short on noise. We’ve got AI tools ranking resumes, companies downsizing and hiring in the same quarter, and headlines declaring the how-to’s of the online job posts every other week. We’re in a fog of noise, cost, and confusion. 

Week 10: Why We Grind
From Mission to Momentum Summer Recap

Nine weeks. Nine checkpoints.
We started with reflection – asking hard questions about the habits, leadership styles, and military carryovers that no longer served the mission. We refocused, realigned, and recharged. And we paused – not to stop – but to recalibrate our vision.

Week 9: Recalibrate
Time to Recalibrate the Bigger Vision
Ops are in motion. But before you dive into the tactical AAR — pause.

This moment isn’t just for reflection. It’s for recon and recalibration.
Because the cost of skipping that step?

Veteran leaders know:
📍 Before you redeploy, you recon.

Week 8: Recharge
Know Your Breaking Point: Why Battle-Tested Leaders Set Boundaries Before Burnout
“Every man’s got his breaking point.” – John Rambo

Rambo wasn’t talking about corporate leadership, but he might as well have been.
Leadership fatigue shows up long before the cracks do.

Week 7: Realign
Gut Check: Are You Aligned with Your Values?
There’s a reason Rocky’s quote still lands after all these years:
"It ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward." — Rocky Balboa

It’s not just a movie line – it’s a business reality.

Week 6: Refocus
Mission Creep in Business: Avoid Chasing Shiny Objects
Every founder and leader knows the pull:
A new idea. A hot market shift. A client dangling a big contract just outside your lane.
It feels like momentum. But is it mission-aligned?

Week 5: Recognize
The Risk You Didn’t See Coming: Isolation
It doesn’t show up on your balance sheet. It’s not tracked in your CRM. It doesn’t burn cash or break systems. But it erodes something far more critical:

Clarity. Confidence. Conviction.

That risk is isolation – and it blindsides more Veteran leaders than you’d expect.

Week 4: Rewire
Why Grit Alone Isn’t Enough
The spacecraft shudders. A loud bang. Alarms blare. Inside Apollo 13, three astronauts float in the silence of space. Utter darkness.

Commander Jim Lovell doesn’t panic. He simply radios:

“Houston, we’ve had a problem.”

He does something that every Veteran-turned-entrepreneur should study closely:
He names the problem. He trusts his team. He opens the door to help.

Week 3: Reveal
Why Veteran Entrepreneurs Get Stuck in Chaos
There’s something strangely comforting about the grind.

The 5 a.m. wake-ups. The hurry-up-and-wait. The controlled chaos of getting it done – together.

A lot of us don’t talk about it, but after the uniform comes off, we find ourselves reaching back toward the suck. Not because it was easy. But because it made sense.

Week 2: Rebuild
Trust Is Earned in the Stack: How to Build a Team You’d Go to Battle With

🎬 Black Hawk Down — Scene: Sgt. Eversmann’s First Command
"No one gets left behind." But what if the mission does?

Week 1: Reflect
The Leadership Hangover: Unlearning from the Military to Scale as a Civilian

Follow along for the "From Mission to Momentum" Summer Series, running through September. Designed for leaders committed to growth, this series is a structured opportunity to pause, reflect, and recalibrate. 

Memorial Day is often framed as a day to honor the fallen. But for those of us in leadership – especially in business – it’s also an opportunity to reflect on how we lead the living.

“Lead me, follow me, or get the hell out of my way.”
– General George S. Patton, Jr.

This isn’t just a bold quote. It’s a filter. A challenge. A gut check.

Transitioning from the military to a civilian career is a big step, but your skills – like leadership, discipline, problem-solving, and technical expertise – are in high demand across many industries. The challenge is figuring out the right career path, especially if your  Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) doesn’t have a clear civilian match.

Navigating a job search process after decades in military service feels like starting all over again, doesn’t it? Many soldiers share sentiments that they do not regret service, not at all, nor do not regret the decision to transition out to civilian life, but the pressure to start a new chapter in late adulthood is absolutely daunting. 

The question now is: How do I add value?

They’ve led troops. Handled chaos. Made split-second calls with lives on the line. Veterans understand pressure, mission, and what it means to put people first. But in the civilian world? They’re too often buried beneath assumptions, buzzwords, and broken hiring filters.

You hired a resume. You missed a leader.

For Veterans transitioning into the civilian workforce, finding an organization that values their unique skills, experience, and leadership potential can be a mission in itself. While many companies claim to be "Veteran-friendly," how do you know which ones truly live up to the name? Understanding what it means to be Veteran-friendly and how to identify these organizations can make all the difference in finding your next career opportunity.

“Tell Me About Yourself.”

It’s one of the most common interview questions – and one of the hardest to answer. Where do you start? Your hometown? Your family history? The first job you ever had?

Pause. While your story is important, an interview isn’t the time for an autobiography. The goal here is to highlight your professional journey and what makes you the right candidate for the role.

Why Do Recruiters Get a Bad Rap?

You’ve heard the stories: recruiters who go radio silent, miss deadlines, or seem more focused on numbers than people. For transitioning Veterans, this can feel like just another roadblock — reducing you to a name in a database instead of recognizing you as a skilled professional. It’s frustrating to feel like your leadership experience and operational expertise are being overlooked.