VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — As many as 200,000 veterans hang up their uniforms and join the civilian workforce each year. It's a transition that can be a battle all on its own for some veterans. Some said it's because jobs in the military don’t translate into civilian life.
Sean Ofeldt said his decision to enter the military came after a dark day in American history
"I went to college, was working in the real world, and 9/11 happened," he said. "I enlisted in the Navy. I just really wanted to serve my country and fight the fight."
But after being in the military for some time, he said he wanted to transition out. He discovered how difficult it was to go from a Navy SEAL uniform to an office building.
Ofeldt said it's a challenge many service men and women face as they try to figure out how their skills fit into the workforce.
"Sometimes there is no translation," he said. "Other times it's how does what you were doing or what you were working on correlate to teamwork or towards operations and development? So it’s very difficult for both sides to correlate 'this is how I can support your organization' and 'this is how you can help support me'."
Sometimes veterans don’t want to do the jobs they did in the military; they want to start from scratch.
Ofeldt and a few other veterans created Transition Overwatch. It's a remote military apprenticeship that operates in four locations across the country including Virginia Beach.
"We set up programs to launch individuals into what we call new-collar careers," he said. The goal is that they don't really need the hard skills developed we will develop that through the program."
Ofeldt said the company wastes no time and works with people while they’re still on active duty. That way when they come out, they’ve gone through training, and are ready to meet potential employers.
"That's with the goal of starting an apprenticeship right at transition so we try to minimize any kind of gap," said Ofeldt.
Transition Overwatch helps provide coaching and networking for careers in IT support, project management, software development and leadership in operations. Ofeldt hopes to show veterans that the barrier of a college degree barrier can be broken with a new-collar career pathway.
Transition Overwatch’s hub in Virginia Beach is looking for local veterans to try out the apprenticeship. You can find more details by clicking the link here
