Wednesday, 02 July 2025 Issue#038

Transition Smarter. Tech-Driven Guidance for What’s Next

Well, we are halfway through 2025! Hope all of you get to take a bit of a breather this week and spend some time with family & friends to celebrate 4th of July!
If you do have a bit of downtime this week, it may be a great time to examine your organization habits and evaluate your roadmap. This issue has some tools & techniques you could use to tackle that. Tools to help you focus on what you want to do post military, and how to best handle the mountain of data thrown at you.
So grab your favorite beverage & dig in!

Weekly Spotlight

The Career Compass: How AI Can Help You
Navigate “What’s Next”

Today at work one of my colleges commented on how "you veterans say some weird things". This was after the phrase "violent agreement" slipped into a conversation I was having. It made me laugh a bit, but also made me think back to some of the weird things I have heard and yes, even said.

The transition period can be a breeding ground for such phrases...

One such phrase that often generated awkward smiles & forced laughter was: "I'm just trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up" or some similar variation.

Frank is right, what does that even mean? *Note, if you don't know who Frank is you can go ahead an unsubscribe...just kidding, we need you, please stay.

Well, if “I don’t know what I want to do.” has ever crossed your mind in transition, you’re not alone. The sheer number of civilian career options, combined with the pressure to land something fast, can leave you frozen in indecision.

Instead of guessing or even worse, going with what everyone else seems to be doing, there are tools that can help. AI-powered career discovery platforms like Truity or O*Net are such tools. They can help you zero in on something that you may be drawn to or even discover something that you didn't even know about yourself. These aren’t buzzword engines either, they’re decision-support systems.

Here’s how they work:
You take a values/interest/aptitude assessment, and the platform maps those to career paths where people with your traits thrive.

Great, didn't I do this already at the recruiting station?

Maybe, but these tools are a bit more sophisticated and they can provide you real-time data (salaries, job openings, training programs) that help you plot a course. Kind of a GPS for your second life.

Next-Level Tip: Pair this with ChatGPT or Claude to simulate interviews in your new field or generate training plans. Example: “Create a 30-day learning roadmap for a veteran transitioning into UX design.”

Tool to Try:​
​Truity – Take a Free 15-minute values-based assessment to get matched with career fields aligned to your personality and interests.

Feel stuck? Forward this article to someone else who might be. Career clarity is a team sport.

What We Are Tracking

U.S. Job Openings Climbed to 7.8 Million in May

In May 2025, job openings in the U.S. increased to 7.8 million, up from 7.4 million in April, according to the Labor Department's latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) report. The data reflects a resilient labor market, even as the Federal Reserve maintains high interest rates to combat inflation.

Other key points:

• The number of people quitting their jobs rose slightly, signaling continued confidence among workers in finding new employment.
• Layoffs declined, indicating employers are reluctant to let go of staff despite slower overall hiring.
• The number of hires decreased slightly, suggesting businesses may be more cautious in onboarding new talent.

Overall, the report highlights ongoing strength in the job market, with steady demand for workers across various sectors.

The Bureaucracy Beast: How Digital Paperwork Warriors Save Time and Sanity

​
You leave the military only to face… paperwork. Medical records, disability claims, transcripts, DD-214s; it’s a full-time job just managing your own history. And if you miss something? Delays, denials, and wasted months.

Most of us don’t need more advice—we need better systems.

Building your own digital admin stacks using tools like Notion, Trello, and Google Drive to manage every document, deadline, and decision can be a stress reliever and lifesaver.

Some methods to try:

• Create a digital dashboard in Notion with tabs for VA claims, job apps, education, and benefits.
• Upload key documents to a secure cloud folder (Google Drive, Proton Drive, or Dropbox).
• Set recurring calendar reminders for follow-ups, medical appointments, or GI Bill deadlines.

Another tip: Use scanner apps like Adobe Scan to digitize paper forms, then tag and sort them by topic. And if you really want to go high-speed, plug it all into Zapier or Make.com to automate workflows (I used Make to automatically summarize job postings and send them to my email every morning.)

Key Benefits:​
When the admin is under control, you free up mental space for bigger goals. It helps relieve a bit of stress, and when you need to respond quickly to something (someone asking for a resume) you can find things fast.

Tool to Try:​
​Notion Templates for Veterans (free) – There are hundreds of pre built templates for lots of things, even veteran related topics. Just google "notion veteran template" and see the results. This is great because it gives you something to start from while introducing you to all the functions too. Build your own military transition HQ dashboard in minutes.

If you’ve already stepped on some admin landmines, help the next person out—share this article with someone in the thick of their paperwork fight.

Productivity Spotlight

Tools that help you stay, or get, productive

✅ Code Friends- Effective, inexpensive & unique way to learn coding & AI skills.

✅ Dynbox - Organize cloud & local HD files through an AI chat.

✅ Pally - Bring together all your social network connections in one space, great for managing your network.

Check us Out

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