Starting in July of 2017 (Cohort 7) Tech Qualled, will begin offering two tracks: the Account Executive (AE) Track and the Virtual Account Executive (VAE) Track. All of this is provided at no cost to the candidate.

The VAE Track prepares our candidates for careers in virtual sales roles in the B2B tech industry. Being on a virtual sales team carries a lot of benefits including greater predictability, a more collegial environment and no travel. For transitioning veterans that want to be in a competitive account executive role with closer leadership support but are looking for a bit more stability in their life, the VAE Track is a great option.

For more information or to talk to a Tech Qualled recruiter, please visit Get Qualled.

I first learned about Tech Qualled staging.techqualled.flywheelsites.com at the Savannah SACC. I was immediately impressed by the incredible opportunity that Tech Qualled gives to transitioning vets and are considering technology sales. My background, USCGA 88′, Duke MBA, and 12 years as an MBA admissions director, gives me some insights into helping you pick your best path if you are deciding between an MBA or Sales.

First, getting out of the service is scary, because no one is going to tell you where to go and what to do next in your career. This apprehension is even higher for people who attend service academies because we basically ‘grew up’ in the military and almost all of our closest friends are in the service. We lack a large network of friends in the business world who can give advice and act as examples. There are so many career fields and companies to consider – it can be bewildering.

Due to this apprehension, going back to school is a comfortable path – You likely have the GI Bill. You’re good at standardized tests(GMAT, GRE, LSAT). You know you get good grades in school. Your friends and family will be impressed that you are going to a great school. Your business school is going to help you find a job. You know that school without uniforms, a huge book of regulations and Reveille will be a lot of fun!

Boom! Done! Easy Choice.

Before going to school know your options. There are career paths for which the MBA is practically essential for a transitioning service member to enter; Investment Banking, Consulting, and Brand Marketing. However, if you want to do high-level technology sales, a full-time MBA program is not a good path to get there for the following reasons:

•   Traditional two-year Full-time MBA Programs are very expensive.   Tuition + Opportunity cost (lost salary) = can be over $300K

•   Upon graduating with an MBA you will have two fewer years of civilian work experience than if you did not go to school.

•   MBA Programs teach a lot of business skills. Very few MBA programs teach sales skills. MBA programs rarely teach anything about new and developing technology.

•   Having an MBA without sales experience can preclude you from getting a job in sales. Sales managers might perceive you as a very smart and capable person, an analyst type, who should be back in the office, not in front of customers. They will likely not take a chance on you.

•   If you skip the full-time MBA format and go straight into sales, an MBA might still be in your future. Salespeople moving into leadership roles will often enroll in a part-time or executive MBA with company support. Also, with new online education formats developing, like Udacity, you will have options for continued business education besides a total MBA program. Giving you the right tools at the right time.

Since I want my fellow veterans to do well and have great opportunities, I’m very pleased that Tech Qualled has been created to help veterans enter technology sales. If you like technology and think that being in front of customers is something you will enjoy, this is a tremendous opportunity. Technology sales can be a very lucrative career path. As technology is changing so rapidly and has high complexity, it is an intellectually rich area for a sales professional. You will have to be a life-long learner to stay current and competitive.

I would expect that the vast majority of people that do well in technology sales will never change career fields. However, If after you are in technology sales for a few years, and you would like to move into marketing, operations, or some other field, those paths can still be open to you. Though you will likely make less money moving out of sales, sales skills and understanding customers have value throughout organizations. An MBA is always still possible if you want to get the degree later in your career. The average age for good Executive MBA for programs is 37 and many students are in their 40’s. I even admitted one student in his 60’s. He was also a combat veteran and the most accomplished student I ever admitted. Because he wants to, he is still working now in his early 70’s.

A good MBA program gives you three things – training, career assistance, and an alumni network. Tech Qualled provides you training to get started and career assistance to help you land your initial position after the training. While Tech Qualled is new and lacks an extensive alumni network, I can envision that as it continues it will develop an alumni network which will assist those in the program in getting hired and program alumni will be a strong network during their careers.

You also already have a strong network – your fellow veterans who will be glad to assist you. Veterans will take your call. I’ll take your call too. If you want to chat with me – connect with me on LinkedIn and send me an email at pgforan@gmail.com

Thanks for your service – I wish you well in your career,

Patrick Foran

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MBA Note – The Duke MBA Program was a great experience and it gave me the opportunity to start a career in marketing. It was a good choice for my path.

Law School Note – The things that are true about business school are more true about law school. Do not go to law school because you are not sure what you want to do and being in law school impresses people.  Going to law school is great. The law is a fascinating thing to study. Being a lawyer is often not so great. Talk to a lot of ex-military practicing lawyers before you go down this path.

BreakLine and investors help former service members transition into tech startups

After serving as a rear-detachment commander in the U.S. Army, Kymberly Penson wanted a job at one of the Silicon Valley tech startups

But the University of North Carolina business school graduate didn’t have a network on the West Coast, and explaining her military background to a tech recruiter was all new to her.

“I didn’t know everything from storytelling to personal branding,” she said. “I didn’t quite register how important that was.”

Ms. Penson was one of the first veterans to participate in BreakLine, an initiative founded by a former Stanford University administrator that aims to help veterans find work in tech companies. In July, Ms. Penson started her job as a customer success manager at Box.

BreakLine is one of several recent initiatives in Silicon Valley to retrain veterans leaving the military for roles in the technology industry. Conventional recruiting software and procedures often leave veterans out or fail to account for the years of work experience they have in the military. BreakLine, venture-backed company Shift and some investors are working to help startups and more established tech companies understand the value that veterans can bring to their workforces. This month, Betts Recruiting and Sandboxx will partner to help connect veterans with sales jobs at technology companies through an app and emails.

As tech companies strive to attract more diverse talent, some of their initiatives include recruiting veterans. Several companies include veteran statistics in the diversity reports that they release that also show the percentage of women and minorities the companies employ. However, Bethany Coates, BreakLine’s founder, says it is inconsistent across companies.

“When you work in the military, you don’t get to choose your boss or the team you work with, but you’ve got to get the job done,” she said. “They tend to be really effective and outcome-oriented.”

Stereotyping is often a barrier. Ms. Coates said some employers think veterans won’t be able to adapt to Silicon Valley’s culture or work well independently after working in the military’s regimented environment.

But Ms. Coates wants to highlight the skills veterans bring to the table. She said many recognize veterans have strong leadership skills and can work well as part of a team.

Don Dixon, managing director of Trident Capital Cybersecurity, learned of the myriad challenges that veterans face when watching his two sons, Andrew and Peter, trying to find jobs at technology companies after leaving the Marine Corps. He saw how difficult it was for them to navigate the job search—even with family connections and degrees from Princeton University and the University of North Carolina.

“It changed the lens of how I look at my past experiences,” he said. “It gave me the confidence that I can succeed in this field.”

Don Dixon, Andrew’s father, said certain sectors in technology have been more receptive to veterans. He noted cybersecurity is an area where veterans can thrive because the companies’ missions are often aligned with national security interests, and there are more direct applications for military experience. Peter Dixon had a security clearance that proved helpful when he started his first technology job at cybersecurity startup ThreatMetrix.

The Dixon family has recently launched Veterans Hire Veterans, an initiative that seeks to identify best practices for hiring veterans. They’re working with a range of companies, from the technology sector to more established companies like McKesson .

Another organization that is gaining traction in the industry is Shift, which is backed by the startup accelerator Expa. The company has talent advocates that try to translate military skills into experience that makes sense to private sector recruiters.

Shift Chief Executive Mike Slagh said veterans are especially challenged when moving into growth-stage startups that may be preparing for an initial public offering. He said because those companies have little margin of error for who they hire, they tend to recruit candidates who resemble other employee profiles and that may omit veterans.

“Paradoxically those are the companies where veterans can have the most impact,” Mr. Slagh said.

Mr. Slagh said growth-stage companies can allow veterans to use their leadership skills. He also said leadership changes rapidly at these companies, but veterans are used to getting assignments that frequently change.

Some veterans say they are seeing more buy-in by some executives. After serving in the Navy, Don Faul came to Silicon Valley to attend Stanford and wanted to break into the tech sector. When he joined Google in 2005, he knew only one other veteran there.

At Google, he was involved in starting the company’s first group for veterans and went on to develop similar initiatives in the early years of Facebook . After being hired as one of the first 50 employees at Pinterest, he helped the company consider recruiting veterans. Today he is chief executive of the wearables startup Athos.
“There are so many more veterans today in the technology industry,” Mr. Faul said. “The more people we have, the easier it is for a new crop of veterans to find a job.”

Correction: Stanford Ignite is a veterans program at Stanford Graduate School of Business. An earlier version incorrectly described Ignite as a predecessor of BreakLine. (April 10, 2017)

Article originally published in the WSJ. See full article here.

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Tech Qualled and Venture Technologies are creating opportunities in the tech industry for US Veterans

Building on to Venture Tech’s investment in the US, we recruit from Tech Qualled to find the best and brightest –America’s own military veterans who are bringing the leadership and problem solving skills they learned in the service, into the tech industry.

“We understand returning veterans have a drive to continue serving our country and they bring the dedication, focus and drive that aligns with their military background,” said Venture Technologies Business Applications Group President Paul Demes. “They’re able to thrive in high pressure environments, build solid customer relationships and motivate those around them.”

The US tech industry is extremely challenging for service members to break into if they don’t have deep experience; however, the lingering shortage of high quality, high tech B2B salespeople has created a talent gap.

Co-Founder and CEO of Tech Qualled, Jim Sherriff, started the company in 2015 as a way to give veterans the skills they needed to assimilate back into the workforce in an industry that many didn’t have access to due to lack of experience or training. Sherriff spent more than 30 years in executive leadership roles at both HP and Cisco.

While Jim and his wife Karen were participating in the Fellowship Program at Harvard’s Advanced Leadership Initiative, they met Nick Breedlove and Justin Ossola, both graduates of the United States Naval Academy and Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Together they partnered to develop the innovative, mission-driven company.

Tech Qualled’s mission is to enhance the lives of military veterans by training and placing them into rewarding customer-facing careers in high technology.

“We made a commitment to create this program for veterans, providing them with a customized learning environment and access to new, previously barricaded career paths in high technology,” said Tech Qualled Co-Founder Justin Ossola. “Venture Technologies has hired more candidates than any of our other partners. Their enthusiasm and involvement with our Launchpad Academy is a testimony to their dedication and commitment in getting our returning service members hired in fulfilling, lucrative roles.”

The Tech industry’s approach to hiring and training Veterans

I recently read an interesting book called the Speed of Trust that outlines the impact of trust in organizations. Coveting trust as the single greatest asset any company can have, the author, Stephen Covey, argues that without trust an organization cannot operate at optimal speed and will therefore lose efficiencies and increase costs. Think about it — trust is critical to almost any relationship we have: in the office or at home, with our doctor or our elected officials. Naturally, certain relationships require more trust than others, however, the absence of trust is disabling.  I’m sure most of us have experienced how difficult it can be to lose the trust of someone else. Decisions become fraught with suspicion, simple communication turns complicated and everything slows down. This made me wonder how trust plays a part for military veterans that are taking off the uniform and assimilating into civilian life.

Having conducted thousands of informational calls with veterans and assisted them with various aspects of their transition, I’ve come to realize that building trust is a critical factor for them. Trust acts like glue, and just like in the military, relationships that lack trust can severely hamper your chances of success. I’ve found that veterans are not only perceived as being highly trustworthy, but they are usually very trusting of others as well. Here are a few tips for veterans on how to show (and not just say) to others that you value trust and, in the process, build trust with key stakeholders.

Get Better

Continuous improvement is not just a buzzword. If an organization is going to stay competitive in today’s environment, constant self-evaluation, market adaptation, and retooling talent are common practices. Resultantly, companies look for employees that take serious their commitment to self-improvement. The military’s commitment to providing its service members with continuous training and education allows veterans the opportunity to invest in getting better. And when you can display to others that you care about learning and growing professionally, you are signaling to them that you acknowledge the challenges of a rapidly changing environment. Taking an online course, working on a technical certification and getting involved with a mentorship program are all ways to actively get better. This shows that you care and that you are aligned with the dynamics that drive the market. Ultimately, it will help build high trust relationships with important stakeholders (and gatekeepers).

Confront Reality

Many would agree that the unique experience and, at times, brutal reality that many veterans have endured during their military service makes them easier to trust. One piece of advice I find myself repeatedly giving to veterans is to not rest on your laurels. As someone transitioning away from one ecosystem and into another, the reality is that there will most likely be a lot of gaps in knowledge and experience. People who don’t fully understand the mission and lifestyle of the military may not be able to fully understand where you are coming from. Don’t shy away from this. When developing relationships, it’s important to hit these gaps head-on. Turn areas of concern into trust-building mechanisms. Addressing the elephant in the room signals to others that you 1) are genuine and have the courage to tackle the “undiscussable”, and 2) you are comfortable opening up and see value in receiving input from others to solve problems. When I speak with veterans that are completely honest about their weaknesses and challenges, my stance immediately shifts toward “this person could really use my help” and “they clearly care about my input”. Being able to humbly and appropriately speak to past failures, current deficiencies and future concerns and fears can build immediate trust with others.

Keep Commitments

When I met my current business partner – who has hired many veterans over his 35-year career as a high- tech executive – I asked him why he felt military veterans made great employees. Now, that’s a tricky question to answer, especially when the question is coming from a veteran and directed toward someone who isn’t. What surprised (and impressed) me most was the simplicity and confidence in his answer: “veterans do what they say they are going to do”. He followed up with a number of other qualities, but it was clear his primary message was that he felt veterans are very good at keeping their commitment.

Several studies have shown that keeping promises is the number one contributing factor in creating an ethical culture. Not surprisingly, breaking promises is the leading contributor to distrust in an organization. If you say you are going to forward your resume to someone by close of business, do it. If you promise to connect a fellow veteran with a professional connection you have, do it. Being a committed person means you can be trusted. Whether you are job hunting, networking or it’s your first day on the job, successful people find a value-added reason to make a commitment – and then keep it.

Justin Ossola is the co-founder of Tech Qualled, a boutique recruiting company dedicated to training and preparing transitioning veterans for success in the high tech space. He is a 13-year Navy veteran, U.S. Naval Academy and Harvard graduate and a former Oracle sales consultant.