Ep 124 - The Network Spread

Your military network got you here, but it could also be a ceiling, if everyone in it is competing for the same pool of opportunities—and most opportunities aren't in that pool at all. If your professional circle is military-only, you're missing 90% of what's available. It's time to spread out

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SPEAKER_01 0:00

Everybody has a network, right? The group of people that you know have met or worked with professionally or personally, and that you can leverage in your path forward. But if every person you'd call for a professional favor wore the uniform at some point, you may have a limitation. And at some point in your transition, you're gonna feel it. Hi, this is Jordana. I'm the CEO of the Recon Network and host of the In Brief podcast. And today we're talking about professional networks. Specifically, what happens when yours is almost entirely military-based and why it's more common than people admit. And we're gonna talk about how to expand that circle of professional connection into civilian spaces without abandoning the community that already knows you. This is in brief. Let's get to it. You served alongside people in high-pressure situations, moved through the same systems, spoke the same language, and shared the same reference points. And that creates a depth of trust that civilian professional relationships rarely replicate, at least not quickly. Now, because of that, it makes sense that you leaned into it. And it makes sense that you still do. Those relationships are real. They open real doors. And when everything else in the transition feels uncertain, reaching out to someone who already gets it and who already trusts you as a default is just the path of least resistance. But here's what starts to happen over time. That network, as strong as it is, has a ceiling. Not because the people in it aren't capable, they absolutely are, but because it's a concentrated pool, especially if everyone in it is navigating a version of the same transition. They're all working with the same employers who have veteran hiring programs, competing for the same fellowships, same pipelines, the same roles that are explicitly marketed to veterans. And when your whole network is fishing in the same pond, you run out of water fast. The civilian professional world, by contrast, is enormous. It contains hiring managers, decision makers, mentors, collaborators, and opportunities that all exist. And a lot of veterans have almost no natural access to it, not because they're not qualified, but because they haven't built the relationships that make access possible. Their time was spent doing other things in the military. Now, cue LinkedIn. Because for most veterans making this transition, LinkedIn is the single most practical place to start building a civilian professional network. Not because it's perfect, but because it's where civilian professionals actually are. It's where people post about their work, signal what they care about. They look for collaborators, make decisions about who they want in their circle. And if you're not visible there, you don't exist to most of the civilian professional world. But being visible doesn't just mean having a profile. A lot of veterans have profiles, and many read like a declassified personnel file, job titles that don't translate well, acronyms that mean nothing outside the branch, a summary that describes what they did but not who they are or what they're building toward. There's no connection, no personality, and no highlight reel. And then they wonder why no one's reaching out. The most important thing to remember is that your LinkedIn profile is not a resume. It's a first impression for people who have never met you and have no frame of reference for what you've done in your career, and that's any career. So that means it needs to answer three questions immediately. Who are you now? What do you bring? And why would someone want to be connected to you? If your profile can't answer those questions for a civilian hiring manager or a potential mentor who has never set foot near a military base, rewrite it. It's not selling out, it's translation. Translation is one of the most valuable skills you can adapt when you're straddling the military and civilian workspaces. But having a good profile is just the foundation. The real work of building a civilian network happens through consistent intentional engagement. And most people skip it entirely. They connect with someone and then never interact with them again. Or they send a connection request with no message and then wonder why nothing comes out of it. They treat LinkedIn like a job board instead of what it actually is, a long game relationship building tool. So if you want to up your online networking game, here are just a few tips. Follow people in the industries or functions you're moving into, not just veterans in those spaces, but civilians who are doing the work that you want to do. Read what they write. When something resonates, leave a real comment, not great post or a thumbs up, an actual thought, a question, insight, a different angle, something that demonstrates that you read it and that you have a perspective worth engaging with. Or, better yet, something that shows the talent skills that you've acquired and shares them with the larger community. Do that consistently over weeks and months, and something starts to happen. People begin to recognize your name. They see your comments before they see your profile. And then when you eventually reach out directly to ask a question or request a conversation, you're not a cold contact. You're someone that they've already noticed. And a quick note: when you do reach out directly, keep it simple and specific. Don't ask for a job, don't send a wall of text about your background. Say who you are, what you're working toward, and then ask one specific question you actually want answered. Give them something easy to respond to, and most people will respond. Civilians are not less generous than those in service, they're just far less likely to respond to an undirected ask that requires them to go do the work to figure out who you are and how to help you. Now, beyond LinkedIn, another lever most veterans underuse is informational conversations. An informational conversation is not a job interview. It's a genuine ask to learn from someone who's further along a path that you're trying to understand and navigate. And it works because most people in any industry will talk about their own work, especially if you ask thoughtful questions and don't treat the conversation like a transaction. The goal of an informational conversation is not to walk away with a job lead. It's to walk away with two or three more names, people they think you should talk to. That's how the network actually grows, not from one big connection that opens every door, but from a series of small conversations that compound over time. And if you're feeling really bold, you can start a project along this line that I do a few times a year. I got it from Rob Lawless, who went viral for this very thing. He set out to meet 10,000 people back in 2015. And as of 2025, that number was in the hundreds of thousands. And Rob, he's a professional human connector. Me, I made a goal of meeting 100 people in 90 days, all online, based on introductions from others in my network. Now I fell short of the overall goal a number of times. I've done this a few times, but what I do get is incredible. No agenda, no expectation meetings with people from across the world who I had no other tangible connection to. And more than that, I found that the connections to be made across those meetings, even for others, not myself, was some of the most rewarding work I had done in that time. But I'll admit the process can be uncomfortable. Especially for a lot of veterans, reaching out to people you don't know it triggers something. Maybe it feels presumptuous. But remember, you have something that others don't. You've operated in environments of genuine pressure. You've led people through things that most hiring managers will never face. You're not showing up empty-handed, you're showing up differently resourced. And the right civilian professionals, the ones worth building relationships with, will recognize that. And just one more thing, because this always comes up. Expanding doesn't mean leaving. The veterans you've connected to are not a consolation prize you move on from once you've built the civilian network. Some of the best introductions into civilian spaces come through veterans who got there first. So keep in mind that your military network and your civilian network feed each other constantly. So, where do you go from here? Well, start with your LinkedIn profile. Read it like a civilian who's never met you. Does it make sense? Does it tell them who you are and what you're building? Whatever doesn't land, fix it. Then pick one industry, function, or type of role that you're genuinely interested in. Find five people who are doing that work. Follow them, read what they write, engage with it genuinely. Do that for 30 days before you reach out to anyone directly. Then reach out to one person. Write a message that's three sentences long, says something specific about what you're reaching out to them in particular for, and asks one question that you actually want answered. Then send it. See what happens. Oh, and then do it again tomorrow and again the next day. That's the start. It's not complicated, but it does require consistency, and most people will quit before it compounds. Remember, you don't have to choose between the community that knows you and the world you're building toward. You just have to keep showing up in both and let the network grow just as it was designed to do.

SPEAKER_00 9:53

Most transition programs assume you already know what you want. But if you don't, then what? At the Recon Network, we run free events year-round to meet you where you are. From our annual VET Summit to online workshops and even in-person local events, we provide real training, real conversations, and practical insights you can use the same day. With a goal to get you the tools you need to find direction and meaning now. So if you don't know what you want or where you want to go, don't worry. There's no cost, no pressure. Just support when you need it. So find your next event at recon.bet and join us for something new.