Time to move on

Brian Gineo, 32, served in the Air Force for six years. He achieved the rank of Captain. He lives in Hartford, Conn., where he is a manager in Accounting Operations. He shares his story about his career with Aetna.

Brian was in the first class to enter the Air Force Academy after 9/11. During his service, he served as a financial manager. He deployed to Afghanistan with the Marines, and managed the budgets for electronic systems (such as Early Warning Radars and Command and Control systems).

When Brian decided to leave the Air Force in 2013, his resume included an Air Force Academy degree, an MBA and six years of military leadership.

No sweat, right? Wrong. “The thought of having no job gave me a lot of anxiety and sleepless nights,” he says.

But Brian wanted to move closer to his roots. He started networking and took advantage of a military transition assistance program. In addition, he talked to mentors.

Networking and good advice

One of his buddies showed Brian how to translate his military experience into skill descriptions that would apply to civilian positions.

“For example, when I was moving equipment around Afghanistan, that job not only involved moving generators or vehicles, but more importantly involved logistics, security, project planning and coordinating of multinational teams to get the job done,” Brian says.

Interviewing was new to him, and Brian crashed and burned at first. “A lot of companies use behavioral interviewing,” he says. “For instance, I was once asked to tell the interviewer about a time when I failed. I was speechless because I had no idea how to answer.”

Brian networked and researched, and it paid off. Four months before he separated from the military, Aetna offered him a spot in a leadership program for experienced finance professionals. He rotated through different jobs to learn the business areas and health care industry. He now manages accounting programs that were affected by the Affordable Care Act.

Brian’s advice: “Use the resources, organizations and volunteers who are there to help you get a job. There are so many places you can turn to for help; make sure you use them!”