Season 2 Episode 62: 

Making the Transition Look Easy with Rich Pelletier

Have you ever looked at someone’s military transition success and thought to yourself, they are so lucky? After retiring from the USAF as a Chief Master Sergeant, Rich Pelletier seemingly had an easy transition.

In his own words, from the outside it looks like he rode a unicorn over a rainbow and landed in a pot of gold in a field of four leaf clovers. In reality, he really put in the work behind the scenes and truly MADE his own luck.

Rich landed at Amazon as an Operations Manager, and he shares candidly about his experience there and the company culture. If Amazon is a company you are considering, tune in to hear his thoughts.

Rich and I taught a Lessons Learned for military transition at Luke Air Force Base back in 2021 where we shared our top 3 lessons for success in the military transition process.

Here are Rich’s top 3 lessons:

- Don’t allow your previous rank or role determine where you go next. Rich was in the armament career field in the USAF, but he focused on the relevant leadership, communication and employee development skills to land his role at Amazon.

- He started off by communicating with his family, to ensure everyone was on board with the actual retirement from the military the location where they wanted to live. Rich shares how he evaluated the 4 job offers he received during his interview process, which you will find very useful.

- Rich built a network on LinkedIn and started networking strategically with people in the industry and organizations where he wanted to work. He also gained support strategically where he didn’t have expertise, such as resume writing.

Here are my top 3 lessons:

- Find your focus! This one won’t be much of a surprise to anyone who has listened to me talk about the transition process. Listen in to why this is what I consider the MOST important first step in your military transition.

- Don’t be afraid to self-market. You are the only one that knows your value and you have to be willing to take ownership and take credit of what role YOU played in your accomplishments in the military.

- Network with purpose. We discuss who to connect with, where to network and how to approach your networking efforts in a strategic manner. Rich’s example of how to post your career target on LinkedIn to gain focused networking connections is PURE GOLD!

You can connect with Rich on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/richardpelletier/

You can sign up for a FREE mentorship session with Rich on Veterati at www.veterati.com

SUBSCRIBE & LEAVE A FIVE-STAR REVIEW and share this to other veterans who might need help as they transition from the military!

Connect with me on Facebook and LinkedIn! Or check out our website at www.llforvets.com and listen to the previous episodes here!