The Armed Services Forum - Easing the Transition from Military Service to Booz Allen
Whether you are a military service veteran, retiree or member of the Reserves or National Guard, the transition from military to civilian career can be a unique and challenging one, with its own set of cultural issues.
The Armed Services Forum, one of the firm's Diversity Forums, seeks to incorporate military service members, veterans and retirees into the Booz Allen Hamilton culture through outreach and professional development. Its key goals include:
- Facilitating the retention and advancement of employees with military backgrounds
- Enhancing the knowledge base of employees with non-military backgrounds about military and defense contracts and perspectives
- Assisting military service members, veterans and retirees with transition from the military culture to a corporate, collaborative culture
- Providing a venue to share professional development best practices
Diversity Forums facilitate understanding and awareness within Booz Allen's diverse communities, and they create initiatives to improve the quality of work life for our staff.
Joe Sabin, the Vice-Chair of the Armed Services Forum, served in the United States Army from 1990 to 1996, and joined Booz Allen shortly thereafter. He remembers the difficulty of transition.
"I found Booz Allen to be very receptive to hiring military service members in terms of their ability to perform at a higher level...but the environment is very different. It was difficult to transition from the vertical military approach to the more collaborative environment at Booz Allen, and to learn how to interact and communicate effectively with non-military co-workers."
The Armed Services Forum is instrumental in easing those transitions today. The forum enables open communication between Booz Allen senior management and members of the Reserve and National Guard, and assists Human Resources in the development of programs that ease the reintegration of staff returning from active duty.
The forum hosts quarterly new hire lunches for those joining the firm as current or former military service members. The forum web site also provides links and resources for the families of activated service members.
"There is still much work left to do," said David Pickeral, a former naval officer who joined Booz Allen in 1999, "I am confident, however, that we will continue to step up to these challenges. Most importantly, there has been strong, consistent and sincere support for the Armed Services Forum from Booz Allen at all levels."
The forum is open to all staff who are veterans, retirees, members of the Reserves or National Guard and any employee wishing to learn more about veterans, the Reserves, and/or National Guard.
story posted November 2, 2005
