There was a time when civilian employers hadn't yet learned to see the U.S. military as a reliable source of good workers, said Army Career and Alumni Program 6th Region Chief Roger Sherman.  Many tended to look at job applicants just coming out of the military as inherently less flexible, less able to think outside the box.  But that mind-set began to change with the realization that military service often serves to incubate many of the personal traits that civilian employers look for in their workers - and too seldom find.  Included in the skills that soldiers who shift to the civilian workforce can use to market themselves to employers are a strong set of old-fashioned military manners.

"First impressions are critical, especially when going for an interview," said former Madigan Command Sgt. Maj. Lourdes E. "Alfie" Alvarado-Ramos, who now serves as deputy director for the Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs.  "An interview is like a promotion board.  You have to show yourself at your best ... to make a good impression and show that you stand out."

ACAP manager Bill Bettyas would generally agree, but points out that not all mainstays of military etiquette translate equally to civilian settings.  For example, job interviews and promotion boards are similar but not identical events, he explains.  While soldiers are expected to sit quietly before the board, waiting to be asked to speak, civilian job interviewers might misinterpret such silence.

"You don't want to give them the idea that you're too inflexible, too structured," ACAP Region 6 chief Sherman added.

Other habits also might not work as well in civilian settings, ACAP suggests.  For example, newly separated soldiers often retain a tendency to call everyone sir or ma'am, Bettyas explains.

"And that annoys some people," he said.

Similarly, military dialog is replete with acronyms and with standardized responses as soldiers "roger" this or "check" that.  It's these habits that separating soldiers might consider breaking, suggests ACAP counselor Julie Porter.

With that said, there are as many or more habits that soldiers can and should use to their advantage in the civilian world.

"Supervisors appreciate and find refreshing the military bearing that veterans bring to the workplace," Alvarado-Ramos said.  Sometimes, too, employers notice the little things that become second nature in soldiers' lives.

"As small as it may sound," Alvarado-Ramos said, "a good shoe shine can make any pair of shoes look great.  I still do a modified spit shine on most of my shoes, and people do notice."

But transferable military manners aren't confined to what soldiers do but extend also to how soldiers think.  Military members are taught to think routinely about the good of their organization and about the good of the mission, said ACAP counselor Lonnie Spikes.  Soldiers thus see themselves as members of a team.  And they learn to look for ways to help the team succeed, often finding "things that are not normally in a job description," Spikes explained.  "Then they do them just to make things right."
Retired Command Sgt. Maj. Alvarado-Ramos agrees.

"The expression ‘it is not my job' does not exist in our vocabulary," she said.  
And civilian employers have to love that.