4 Crucial Steps to Evaluating Risk in Your Post-Military Career

You raised your hand.

You served your country.

You made the decision to separate.

You initiated your civilian career.

While each of those big decisions carried risk, none might be more intimidating than the risks you’ll encounter as you grow your post-military career.

Moving from a military to civilian culture is fraught with uncertainty, challenge and tremendous opportunity. For example, you’ll quickly see that rules, protocols and standards are less uniform in the private sector than they were in the military. You’ll notice that groups, cliques and friendships form in more unconventional ways than they do during deployments. And you’ll realize that growing your career in the private sector is all about weighing the pros and cons of every opportunity you’ll encounter.

So, let’s talk about risk.

Risk is understood to be the exposure (or potential exposure) to something that can cause harm. When we believe something bad can happen to us – emotionally, physically, reputationally, in our career or to our mental health or well-being – we consider it to be risky.

Also baked into an understanding of risk (while not the dictionary version) is the potential for opportunity, possibility and positive benefit. Weighing the risk of harm against the possibility of something good happening is how we evaluate risk. When we fall in love, we risk having our heart broken. When we quit one job for a different one, we risk making a bad choice. When you left the military, you risked not being as happy and fulfilled outside of the military as you were in.

In your post-military career, you’ll encounter new and often risk, such as:

• Volunteering to lead a project or initiative
• Turning down a promotion because it pulls you away from family too much
• Asking for a raise, knowing you could have your request denied
• Stretching outside of your comfort zone, what you’ve been trained in and what you know, to try something completely new and different

While daredevils would tell you the adrenaline rush from fully pursuing risk is worth every bit of the possible harm that could come to you, in your career there are some ways to anticipate and understand risk and how it can serve you.

Step One: Your Career Goals

Start with a career direction and goal in mind. Do you still want to serve others? Are you looking for a career that offers more flexibility and independence? Do you want to make a lot of money? Having a sense of the direction you’re headed in is vital to knowing how, when and where to take risks.

Step Two: Your Values

Write down your values (what you believe deeply in) and non-negotiables. What values must align for you with your employer, clients, peers, industry for your career to have meaning? What boundaries won’t you cross for any reason? Clarify those instead of assuming everyone sees life the same way. This list becomes a north star for your career direction, keeping you on the right path.

Step Three: Opportunities

As you encounter a choice (such as a new job, job transfer, promotion, project, or any work-related opportunity,) evaluate the opportunity in terms of your career direction and goals, and your values and non-negotiables. Does everything line up? Great: Then continue to Step 4. They don’t align? Then you have your answer right there and you stop.

If the benefits (i.e. money, job title) you’d gain from taking the risk are less than the potential costs (e.g., compromising your values), the value is not high enough.

Step Four: Other Factors

With this opportunity aligned with your values and career goals, now you can weigh in on other attributes: Will it offer you growth, visibility, insight, learning, training or something else of benefit to your career? Can you see the possibilities as more positive than negative from pursuing the risk?

If a risk is not aligned with who you are and where you’re headed, no amount of money or fame will make it so. Resist the urge to compromise your goals and values for a short-term result, knowing that the long game is where true and meaningful career success is found.

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