Academic institutions play a vital role helping veterans transition from military life to the business world by simply allowing them some leeway to shift their priorities toward civilian life.
By partnering with a college or other academic institution, businesses have access to veterans who have been prepared to use their skills, experience and leadership in a new environment.
“Higher education institutions provide a bridge between veterans and the business world, locally, regionally and globally,” says Lucy Drenth, associate registrar and military and veteran education coordinator at Delaware Valley College. “Veterans who pursue a degree have the expectation that they are receiving a quality education and will earn a degree that will mean something in the business world. And businesses that partner with colleges have the assurance that the credential the veteran earned has value.”
Smart Business spoke with Drenth about how veterans can offer hard-to-find skills to your business and how colleges prepare veterans to re-enter the work force.
What role do academic institutions play in transitioning military members to the business world?
It’s similar to the goal of educating ‘traditional’ students, but veterans are ahead of the learning curve because they already possess many of the skills that traditional students must still learn. Leadership, perseverance, the ability to be a successful team player, respect for procedures and advanced technical skills are just some of the qualities that veterans bring to the classroom.
When veterans enter the classroom, either brick and mortar or online, they are provided with a safe environment in which to learn how to enhance those skills and to focus on civilian life and the business world. College provides the veteran with latitude to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes.
They are also provided opportunities to work on practical skills that traditional students also need to develop, such as how to draft a resume, or how to handle a job interview. All experiences, in the classroom or out, independently or working with other students, provide great opportunities to help veterans see themselves in new ways and experience success outside of military life.
