Latest / The Elevator Careers Podcast / Air Force Recruiter to the Elevator Industry: Finding Purpose in Civilian Life | Josh Gray

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Air Force Recruiter to the Elevator Industry: Finding Purpose in Civilian Life | Josh Gray · The Elevator Careers Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_03: Um, helping people.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_03: Uh at some point you realize that what you're doing is changing lives.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_03: Um, now there's a version of that thought that is pretty cheesy thought, like it's silly to think about, but people are making decisions that are going to affect the rest of their lives, and you're part of that process.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, so you can lead them the right way, you can lead them down the wrong way they don't know.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Hello, and welcome to the Elevator Careers Podcast, sponsored by the Allred Group.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: I am your host, Matt Allred.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: In this podcast, we talk to the people whose lives and careers are dedicated to the vertical transportation industry to inform and share lessons learned, building upon the foundation of those who have gone before to inspire the next generation of elevator careers.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: Today our guest is Josh Gray, senior recruiter with the Allred Group, a leader in elevator industry recruiting.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Josh spent 24 years serving his country in the U.S.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: Air Force, with 15 of those years working as an Air Force recruiter.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: Although the transition from military to civilian life can be a challenge for many people, Josh has been successful and has many insights to share on that process.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: Josh is loving his work recruiting elevator professionals and has found some of the same camaraderie he enjoyed in the military.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Josh, welcome to the show.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you for having me.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, I'm excited.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: This is uh it's gonna be fun.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: And uh obviously I want to learn a little bit about your your military career and transition, but uh you know, obviously uh you know your your recruiting career as well.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: So um what was it that that inspired you to get into the military?
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_03: Um you know, growing up in the uh in the time that you and I did, um there was a couple movies out there that were really motivating, uh Top Gun, uh full metal jacket.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_03: I think I just I saw things in those that you know kind of fired me up and you know got me one to serve.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_03: Um and then I I I actually um actually went to an air show uh when I was in high school.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_03: Um had never been to one before.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_03: My um saw some guys walking around on the flight line, they're in camo.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_03: Looked really put together.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_03: Like I'm out like that's what you see on TV, like what you saw in the movie.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_03: I'm looking at them working hard, a lot of sweat, and and uh, but they're smiling, having a good time, high-fiving.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_03: And I was like, something's wrong here.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_03: There's no way, I mean, jobs are supposed to be horrible.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_03: You know, you're not supposed to have a good time, right?
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_03: So uh I just I just gravitated towards that.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_03: I had um I had told to a recruiter in the past.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: You mean like a so in high school you'd already talked to somebody?
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, um, so when you take um it's called the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery Test.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_01: As bad.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, thank you.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_03: Um they uh when you take that, most high schools have it obviously on record because the branch of service, that's how they find individuals that may have the aptitude to serve.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_03: Um the recruiters get a hold of that, they'll reach out to you.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_03: I took it, everybody started calling.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_03: Marine Corps called, Army called, the Navy called, the Air Force called.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_03: I had different conversations.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_03: They're like knocking on your door saying, Well, I gotta be straight, we uh man, I actually was um, you know, we used to have the PA system.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_03: Came over the the PA and said, anybody that wants to take the ASVAB.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_03: All I heard was an opportunity to get out of geometry.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: Anybody that wants to get out of geometry, please go take the ASVAB.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so I go down to the lunchroom, I sit down, I have absolutely no idea.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_03: This guy's in uniform walking around.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't care, you know?
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_03: And uh I just I tried, uh, but it's not a uh, it wasn't like I was giving my all prepared to take it.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_03: Took it, recruiters called, like I said, I turned them all down.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_03: Um and uh ended up going to this air show.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_03: Like I said, I see some things, end up talking with my dad.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_03: I said, There's something not right here.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_03: These guys are having a good time, and you know, they're getting paid.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_03: Why are they smiling?
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_03: And we had that conversation that, you know, I guess it was time for me to have as a teenager, which was, you know, there are things you can enjoy doing and get paid.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_03: It doesn't have to be miserable.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_03: As a matter of fact, I'd suggest you not do that because you know, life would be pretty, pretty rough that way.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I called the recruiter back and he's like, you know, said, Hey, I don't know if you remember me.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_03: He's like, Yeah, I remember you.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_03: And uh we connected and and and things just started, you know, doors just started opening up.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_03: Um and uh we talked to this day.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_03: As a matter of fact, he lives in Vegas.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: Wow, okay.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_03: He works for a company that um if you go to any kind of events, concerts, whatever, you see these guys with yellow and black security.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_03: So he's like some type of vice president in it, you know, it's he's he's really done well.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_03: Um but uh you know, matter of fact, he's talking to me about you know, you need to become a recruiter, and I'm like, I'm never doing that.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_03: There's no way I'm ever doing that.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: So this is after you joined.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: So you you ended up joining, yeah, and he was still involved.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh somehow you were still acquainted, and and he was like, Hey, you need to be on this side of the branch.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, this side of the branch.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, like no, that's not gonna happen.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_03: So, no, yeah.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, some people you connect with, and no matter where your career takes you, um, you know, I I still talk to people today after retirement.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I talked to them probably at least anywhere from once a week to once a month.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and so uh anyway, he was he was kind of a mentor, you know.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_03: Um he was basically everything that um I had heard a recruiter was not gonna be.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_03: He was straight with me.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_03: He told me things I didn't like to hear, but I needed to hear.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_03: He helped prepare me for boot camp and things like that.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: And what what had you heard about recruiters, right?
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_03: What what uh you can you can hear about it now, you can find it um online.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_03: As a matter of fact, uh they have um they have there have been some internet sites that would lead you away from joining the military by telling you every bad thing a recruiter is or will do.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and obviously back then we didn't have the internet, but it was uh it was very be careful what they tell you, they'll be dishonest.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_03: This guy was completely straight with me.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_03: Like everything he said that was gonna happen and how it would go is is how it happened.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_03: And and frankly, if I'm thinking about it the right way, it probably is why I became a recruiter.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_03: It's because I had a good recruiter.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_03: He took care of me.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, tell tell me a little bit about.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you sound like initially you were like, heck, no, there's no way I'm gonna I'm gonna and so for the first several years of your career, you were you were doing something top secret that you can never reveal, as I understand it.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_03: I did something for about 10 years that um that I don't I don't really talk about a whole lot just because of the um the nature of it and and and it's uh uh just what it is to do that.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_03: And there's certain careers like that, obviously, that you you you acknowledge you did, but you don't you don't really talk a whole lot about.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_03: Um I was a little burnt out on that.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_03: And and uh the Air Force was going through a time to where they wanted you to branch out and do other things.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_03: There are certain career fields like recruiting that are considered special duty assignments that you would request to be a part of.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I chose to do that, so I had to go meet with a local recruiter near at near or where the base I was at.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_03: They interviewed me.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um how did you get over the initial hump?
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: Because it sounds like you were like, heck no, right?
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: What was it that kind of made you rethink that?
• 8:39
  SPEAKER_03: I called him.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_03: I said, hey, well, I called him to talk about it.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_03: Uh not that I was going to do it.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I I felt like he uh would be straight with me, which he was.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and when I sat down with um the flight chief, which is the term for um basically on a team, the individual that pushes the recruiters to do their mission and and and is the boss.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_03: Um he said, you know, Josh, what questions do you have?
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_03: I said, I I don't feel comfortable being dishonest.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_03: You know, what is your take on that when I say that?
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_03: And he said, Well, um, being dishonest in recruiting here and now will get you fired and will ruin your career.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_03: It's like, okay.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_03: Uh and he was right.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_03: I watched it happen too.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_03: So um I applied, um, lengthy application.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_03: Had to take a picture of myself, you know, I had to get a official photo of myself in blues.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_03: Um, one of the only career fields truly that how you look probably does matter.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_03: You're an ambassador to what the perception is of the branch of service that you are in.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and that would be by the public or by or by fellow service members.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_03: So um, if you're not gonna wear your uniform correctly or whatever, uh, or you have a hard time doing that, you're not gonna be selected in the same uh cat, you know, you're not in the same category of selection as somebody who's um there's a kind of a crude term of poster boy, poster girl for whatever.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_03: That's what that term is.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_03: Like that's I know I've got friends that got slapped on a poster, was everywhere.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_03: We made fun of them.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_03: It's not cool to us.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I mean, yeah, it's not it's cool on the outside.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, you know, I want to be that guy or her, I want to I want to get my pick.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_03: Nah, you you get that.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_03: That's uh somebody's everybody's gonna call you and go, must be nice.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: So what the what would you I mean, what would be the what was the hardest part of kind of wrapping your head around this this thing we call recruiting?
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: What was the uh I mean there's a lot of uncertainty, right?
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of uh, hey, you need to go find, you know, we call it sometimes a purple unicorn, right?
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: The just the the exact you know ideal I have in my mind, and you I need to go find that.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I'm just curious, what what was the hardest part of kind of learning learning the trade, if you will?
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_03: Um so um you go to a schoolhouse, so actually brick and mortar structure, recruiting school.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_03: Um I think I took one written test the whole time I was there.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_03: Um, or computer, yeah, written actually with pencils and everything.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_03: The rest of it was scenario-based.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_03: So when I say that, I'm talking about it was like a go-no-go.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_03: Thumbs up, thumbs down.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_03: Either you can do it or you can't.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_03: And they put you in uncompromising, uncomfortable situations, speeches.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_03: That was probably the hardest thing was tapping into that part of me that will flip a switch and have this podcast with you.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_03: And then get old, and then after we're done, unless it's work-related, I may not speak to anybody but my family the rest of the day.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_03: Um and I think that's natural for some.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_03: For me, I I don't um professionally I'm one way.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_03: Obviously, I've been doing it a long time, and then I have a different version of my um of my um personal life.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: So you're you're not a social butterfly that just goes out and and no talks to everybody and every about everything.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: And yet when you, like you say, you you hit the switch and it's like, hey, we have a mission.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: I need to go find such and such.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_03: If we were looking for elevator mechanics today, I'll call anyone, I'll talk them to death.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_03: I I yeah, I know that seems kind of crude, but that's really it.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_03: And when I'm done, other than speaking to my family about their day, I may just sit and be quiet the rest of the time.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: What did you enjoy most about recruiting once you really got into it?
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_03: Um, helping people.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_03: Uh at some point you realize that what you're doing is changing lives.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_03: Um, now there's a version of that thought that is pretty cheesy thought, like it's silly to think about.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_03: But people are making decisions that are gonna affect the rest of their lives, and you're part of that process.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_03: Uh so you can lead them the right way, you can lead them down the wrong way.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_03: They don't know.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_03: Um there are sisters, mama's brothers, cousin who tell them how it was back in 1975.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_03: They may think they know a lot.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_03: So much has changed since then.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_03: So you're really leading individuals into saying, like a career path.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_03: Do you want to take this career path?
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_03: Do you qualify for this career path?
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_03: And how can I help you get started?
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_03: I absolutely loved learned.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_03: I I say learn because I didn't know it, but I actually loved helping people.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_03: Um feeling like I was a part of their process because at the end of the day, um, you know, I had a career.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_03: Well, somebody replaced me.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_03: That's kind of the one of the things I was mentored up front is um when it came to my career.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_03: Um, no one's gonna take care of you better than you.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_03: That doesn't, that's not a selfish thing, but make sure you're taking care of yourself and your career.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_03: Two is leave it better than the way you found it.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_03: And to do that is the training, the mentoring of others, because one day, and it happened, I leave, I fade away.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_03: Um, the people that were in my circle, I was in their circle, those are the only people I talked to.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_03: Right now, I'm just I'm not even a memory to most, it's just that way, but somebody replaced me.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_03: And that's how that's how a branch of service, as an example, um, is over a hundred years old.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so it's somebody's turn.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: So in addition, I mean you've you've I always assumed that that uh military recruiters only recruited 18-year-olds out of high school and and had them do push-ups or climb a little rock wall or whatever.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but you've told me it's it's obviously a lot more, it's doctors, nurses, probably everybody on base.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: Were you also recruiting other other recruiters that would kind of come into your program?
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: Or what is that?
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_03: Um so just to touch on what you said, yes, your your your baseline start in recruiting, your entry level into recruiting would be high school uh individuals, students, uh, that are either getting ready to re to uh graduate um or at the summer after graduation and even beyond up to a certain age.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_03: And then we also would bring in individuals who were called prior service.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_03: They had served, they had honorably left, and then they decide to come back.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_03: You know, maybe the grass wasn't greener on the other side or whatever their plan was, whatever.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_03: They missed it, they would come back and you would put them back in under their previous, most times under their previous um job code to do the same job they were doing before.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but as you progress, uh um, the longer you stay in recruiting, um, there's offs recession.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_03: So certain career fields are really driven uh by individuals who have a certain type of degree.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_03: Um and um then you've got health professions.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_03: I did uh I recruited doctors and dentists, um, nurses who have not only a certain degree, but they have a certain certification or license to do the job.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_03: Um and then we also had recruiters that if you were on active duty and you were leaving, you had to talk to this recruiter to make sure you didn't want to continue your service on a part-time basis.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_03: So you've let's say you did a six-year enlistment.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_03: All of this training that has been put into you, you completed.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_03: Are you sure you want to just go to the house and be done?
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_03: Because we have a certain percentage that comes back to us.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_01: Interesting.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_03: So if we catch them at the door, we help them transition to a reserve side wherever they're going to call home.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_03: They go home, and then in that case, they would participate one week in a month, two weeks a year, um minimum, and they would keep their service active, but just in a part-time role.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: Interesting.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: So kind of, yeah, kind of recruiting as they're walking out the door is is another part of it, which I mean it makes sense, right?
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: You got a huge organization, but you got to keep the talent flowing in and make sure it continues to to function.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's that's really your job as a recruiter, is just breathing in that life, that talent, yeah, to make sure that they can can fulfill fulfill the mission, basically.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_03: And and and you had mentioned about recruiting recruiters.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_03: Once you got to the level of uh senior recruiter or what we call flight chief, which is the same individual that I interviewed with, we have a recruiter for the leadership level that's called Recruit the Recruiter Program.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_03: Oddly enough, and you actually um go out on base, find service members that might want to have interest in being recruiters, and you recruit them.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_03: You interview them, you put their package together, their picture together, you send it to headquarters.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_03: And so even as a even as a boss, I had a um certain amount of um package submittals that I had to give each year, um, in hopes of getting a you know, if it was three to get one of them to actually become a recruiter in our program.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: So you only recruit from within the you don't you don't go out on the open market and and find a recruiter and say, hey, you want to join the military?
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_03: Some of them, as long as they're as long as they're serving with us, let's say they had been in a different branch of service as a recruiter.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_03: We we do consider that as a previous experience, but majority of uh what I'm talking about are individuals that were just like me.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_03: They're like, uh, I need to change some.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_03: I had somebody said, I've always wanted to be a recruiter.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_03: I'm just I'm just trying to get all the pieces in place to make myself competitive towards being chosen.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_03: And then they go to an evaluation course for about a week uh where they, if anything, try to explain what recruiting is going to be like, but also dissuade you from doing it.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, because it's it's a tough um, it's it's a tough, there are no set hours.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_03: There, there, there's there's time away from family.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_03: There's um I have recruited while on vacation in a port in the Caribbean when I shouldn't have been, but that's what I had to do.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_03: Um that was on my anniversary one year.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_03: It it didn't go over well, yeah.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_03: But but um also what put us in that position to be there is keeping keeping the pipeline moving forward.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: Sure, sure.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_03: So it was an issue.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_03: I felt the need to take care of it.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_03: I took care of it.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_03: Um and and and but that's a part of understanding that there are jobs where at 4 30, 5 o'clock, you you're done.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_03: You go home every day.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_03: Recruiting is not that way.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's fascinating.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's interesting that too that you you would, I guess, look internally.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: You know, somebody could be jumping out of a plane one month and then a few months later they're they're working as a recruiter.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: And and I guess the just the it's you you have to be, sounds like you have to be you gotta be a soldier first.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if that's the right term, right?
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: You gotta be in the military first.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: And then it's like, okay, then you can then you can add this special duty on.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_03: Well, this will you'll probably agree with this, Matt.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_03: Um, how can you sell what you don't know?
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: True.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, you're you I have no credibility with you of joining the Air Force if I'm not sitting in a uniform, really sitting in a uniform showing that I've been here for a number of years and I can speak um speak about it to a, you know, to a certain degree.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_03: Um, your your sales opportunity there is not going to be very high.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_03: There's gonna be people that join, but more often than not, you probably let them astray with something that you didn't even know what you're talking about.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_03: You know, that's the worst thing.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_03: You can do.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_03: You can go find the information, but don't give it until you know what it is, because they're they're going to latch onto that and go, Sergeant Gray said this.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_03: So whatever Sergeant Gray saying is going to be, to the best of my knowledge, the way it is.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: So um having having made the transition from military to civilian life, um what are what are some of the challenges that you uh you faced?
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_03: I think um you know you for me, I I served for 24 years and I think you um the civilian lifestyle and the military lifestyle are different.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_03: One's not better than the other, I don't think.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_03: I just think I just think it's different.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_03: And the military is made to be different than the civilian lifestyle.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_03: That's why they they do things just the expectation is different and and and such.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_03: When you've been doing that for whatever amount of time you've been doing it, and then you transition to the civilian side professionally, um the language is different as far as um you know, you may have a job in the Air Force that has no brother or sister comparable in the civilian side of the house.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_03: Um so what do you go do?
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_03: Um, or um how do you take your skill set, um, put it on paper, uh, get in front of the right person and then verbalize it to an employer, right, in front of you that you're the person they should choose and spend resource and time on to um to better their company.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_03: So um, and even you know, the assertiveness, um, you know, in the military world, assertiveness is required or or you're not gonna make it.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, time frames, many of them are you can't you can't bust a time frame.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_03: You can't be late, you know, on things.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_03: Um it could it could it could cost lives and and and and resources.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_03: So sometimes in the civilian world, they don't function that way.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_03: If you miss it, you miss it.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_03: You get it when you get done.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_03: It's hard to transition to that.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_03: It's hard to it's hard to mesh in sometimes.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_03: So I think I think um I think it's said to be hard.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_03: We talk about it being hard, but a lot of things uh you might agree until you do them, you don't realize really how hard it is for you to transition uh to doing something else.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and especially like you said, 24 years, right?
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: Really from from high school on and to to make that shift.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I I've I've just known some people that that hey, that's that's a tough maybe tough to find your place in the world.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: And and yeah, if my job doesn't translate, how do I then find a find a place, find a new social network?
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: Because everybody I knew is uh is no longer you know in my in my day-to-day.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um so now I gotta find new friends, I gotta find maybe I'm even relocating, coming home from a different country, and um it seems like there's a a lot involved there.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: And um certainly some programs.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, go ahead.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I I didn't mean to cut you off there.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_03: I I I just what you said is perfect.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_03: Uh they veterans also don't necessarily know what they're applying for.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, they they don't they don't have uh if you if you did 20 years, for example, and you're late 30s, early 40s, and you've not ever had to answer a I mean, apply to a job post, write a resume.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_03: Would you not agree that most employers are probably going, you should already know how to do that?
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: For sure.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_03: But they never had to.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it's just something like that is just a one example of you know stress about, oh, it's easy, just find it on the internet and and fill it out.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, we can do that, but we still don't know.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_03: We've not had the you know 10 job interviews just to get the 11th one.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_03: They've not had any, and they did a job now, they're making a transition now under certain constraints and things like that.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_03: So um, you're absolutely right.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_03: It's there there are um probably just unthought-of struggles that are taking place every day with individuals that are leaving a branch of service to go back out into the subpoena world.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: What what are some of the programs available to those who are getting out?
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_00: And and is that something that you participated in?
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_03: Um, one thing they do, it's called Transition Assistance Program.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and that is a that is a government-driven program, takes individuals um that have decided to leave and tries to put them through a course of understanding how to how to write a resume, how to use the acronyms we use, but don't put them on a resume and you know, type out, verbalize what you're trying to say that a civilian employer um or human resources would understand.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_03: Um, things about your insurance is being different.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_03: Um you know, your medical care.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_03: Um when you're when you're serving on duty, you don't pay for medical care.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_03: Now you do.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_03: And and and and how does that affect how much uh what what type of chunk is coming out of your check wherever you're going to work?
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_03: How does that work?
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_03: So they just pretty helpful from that aspect.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_03: You can't cover everything, but it gives you kind of a uh kind of a nudge and a head start towards getting out.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_03: Uh one program that I utilized um uh it's called the Skill Bridge program.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_03: So the it allows you to apply well before basically your last six months of separation or retirement.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_03: You apply, uh you establish yourself with a company that wants to basically sponsor you, they're going to train you for six months.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_03: The last six months you're there.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_03: You continue to get paid by your branch of service.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_03: The employer does not have to pay you.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_03: So they win in that.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_03: They get a trainee, they provide resources and training, get them ready for a position that they would not want them to do for their company.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_03: The government continues to pay them.
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_03: Um, at that six-month mark, they get someone that was already highly trained, structured, regimented, disciplined.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_03: They taught them something.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_03: Now they can use them as an employee if both sides agree.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_03: What the veteran gets is not such a um culture shock or a shock of any type, and a little bit of a slower transition to the civilian world.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_03: Um an example of that might be for 24 years, the Air Force supplied me, issued me a uniform, boots, what to wear, when to wear it.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe in that six-month time frame of Skill Bridge, you can learn that you have a wardrobe or you have to go get one to go to work every day.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_03: And so uh it's a lot easier to do that then than to be trying to find a job.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_03: You've already been separated, you've already been retired, or you have retired.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_03: Now you're trying to find a job, you don't know what to wear.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_03: There's some stresses in that um that maybe you don't have to go through.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_03: And it's kind of a win-win situation for both parties involved.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, especially if the employer doesn't have to pay because the military's paying, then they they really have no risk to to bring on somebody, try them out, you know, maybe maybe love them, you know, maybe not, but but they weren't paying.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: So so we can bring somebody on, see how it goes, and uh, and like I say, it gives somebody a chance to to get to know uh you know this job, this company, this, you know, some of the civilian life.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_00: So having uh having landed in the elevator industry and doing some elevator recruiting, what what's your assessment so far?
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: What are your thoughts?
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_03: So I love it.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_03: I think why is um I find similarities to my military career.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_03: Um, so part of my struggle in leaving was I was fine, I was prepared myself as well as I could.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_03: Um I wasn't fully prepared.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_03: Things happened I didn't know about.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_03: Um my family and I were able to overcome those, no matter how great or small.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_03: Um tried a few things out work-wise, able to do it, but something was missing the whole time.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_03: Like there was a piece of me missing.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_03: So I think what that was um that I have figured out with the elevator industry is that I need to be somewhere where I am serving and of value.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_03: I I I may serving, you know, I still want to change lives.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_03: So if I'm going to do it, I I I want it to be the, you know, that we're recruiting the right people.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_03: Um, when I told individuals on the phone, even today, you know, about the all-red group, I say we're trying to find elite talent and put them in positions to make the industry better, not just your company, the industry better.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_03: Um, the people I've come to find out are super passionate about what they do in this industry.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_03: Um, they care that they come across like they care about each other.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I'm having some really great conversations that lead me to believe that I'm being allowed into the circle of this industry.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but it kind of goes back to, I mean, it's funny you ask that.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_03: It kind of goes back to being a teenager and and feeling like you want to be a part of something bigger than you are and complete a mission.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm getting to do that again in my elevator industry career um with bringing all this skill set and stuff.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_03: So if we look back on what you're asking, the skill bridge and everything that I had accomplished, I'm getting to bring into the elevator industry and make it better.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_03: And if I'm making it better, then selfishly at some point it's better for me and my family.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, we all have to do what our part of this industry to keep it strong and to keep putting food on the table, you know, and and and at or whatever you have going on, um, and it's allowed me to do that, and it's nothing against what I did before, but it just felt like more like a job.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_01: Sure, sure.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_03: And and the military is not punching a clock, like I never ever punched a clock.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_03: You you you usually show up very early, you stay late if need be, you get the job done, and you have a good time with the best people in the world.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_03: And and I'm trying to duplicate that in this industry, and I really feel like it's there.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_03: Um, and it's been that way thus far.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's awesome.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thank you.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I've I've noticed it, you know, since I started working in the the elevator industry, that there is a camaraderie, there is a something special, and that's part of the we reason I have these conversations because I I I feel it myself.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, we need to talk about that.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you for for bringing it up.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for being here with me today.
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I I enjoy working with you.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_00: So thanks, thanks again.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_03: I'm I'm happy to be here.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_03: I appreciate the opportunity too.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_03: Um, because there are guys like me out there, just to be honest with you, that that that um the industry may not know how to get to them, but they also don't know how to get to the industry.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, and and and and on a side note, you know, just the way that you and I, you know, I I kind of pulled another AzVab getting out of geometry.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_03: I saw this job post and said, elevators, that's hilarious.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_03: I thought it was funny.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna apply for that.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_03: Uh Matt all red called, and here I am.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, my intent was not to go get this job.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_03: It it turned out to be the absolute best thing I could have done.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_03: And it's funny, just in life, I think I think that's how things happen.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_03: It usually happens when you're not paying attention or you're not trying so hard.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but I mean, it's it's kind of like finding that niche.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_03: Like you said, I have finally found mine, but albeit it took me three years to find.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_00: Sure, sure.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and you talked about, you know, they don't know how to find the industry, or the industry know no find find them.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_00: That's our job, right?
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: Our job is to to make that magic happen, make that connection, and um that's why we're here.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_00: So thank you again, Josh.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: Enjoyed it and uh appreciate your time.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to the Elevator Careers Podcast, sponsored by the All Red Group, a leader in elevator industry recruiting.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_00: Please visit our YouTube channel at Elevator Careers or check us out online at elevatorcareers.net.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_00: Please like and subscribe.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_00: And until next time, stay safe.