In this two-part series, Darrin Tangeman writes about the challenges facing veterans, and then, how veterans can find a home in local government.
Darrin Tangeman (Linkedin and Twitter) serves as District Manager and Chief Administrative Officer for Pueblo West Metropolitan District, a general purpose local government in Pueblo County, Colorado.
Prior to his career with Pueblo West, Darrin retired from the United States Army after almost 22 years of service.
I retired from the U.S. Army after completing 22 years of service and spending over half of my life in the military. My abrupt transition to civilian life made me uneasy as I began my seven month journey into the local government job market. Eight years prior to my transition, I established my post-military career goals and conducted research to identify the skills and education that were valued in local government management. Despite being deployed overseas for four out of eight years, I set out and completed my Masters in Public Administration and learned the language of local government.
Like most service members transitioning from the military, the largest obstacle that I faced was translating my military skills and experience to those that would be transferable and valued by local governments. To resolve this issue, I decided to search for a mentor who would provide candid advice on where my skills, education, and experience provided the best career fit for local government.
With my ultimate goal being to serve as a city manager, I searched for respected city managers that were also military veterans. During my search, I was fortunate enough to find retired U.S. Army officer, Bill Ebel who currently serves as the City Manager for Overland Park, Kansas. Bill was gracious enough to meet with me on short notice during the holidays and provided the critical guidance and feedback I needed to move forward with my job search. I attribute much of my current success to finding a mentor like Bill and I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to find a mentor prior to the transition process.
Despite feeling that my best management and leadership attributes were derived from my military combat experience, I came to realize that it was the elephant in the room during my job search. There is undoubtedly a perception in the U.S. that a great majority of combat veterans transitioning from the military have PTSD or are battled damaged. Although having PTSD or anxiety from the memories of combat is nothing to be ashamed of, I found myself removing any mention of combat experience from my resume. Instead, I concentrated only on those skills and attributes that were directly relevant to local government. I also subtly hinted to my interviewers that my leadership style was not the abrasive style popularized by Clint Eastwood in the movie Heartbreak Ridge and that I didn’t cuss like a Sailor. The approach seemed to work…
The next big lesson that I learned during my transition was finding patience and humility. As a retired Green Beret, I was not prepared for the level of rejection, hundreds of applications, and my inability to secure interviews during my seven month job search. It wasn’t until I spoke to other veterans in local government that I found that I wasn’t alone. Amusingly, our shared failures as veterans allowed us to commiserate and recharge my batteries to continue to towards my career goals.
It was during this period of rejection that I realized how important it was to build a network of likeminded and equally jaded local government professionals. The opportunity to gain new friends, discuss our failures and successes, exchange new ideas and practices, and offer a helping hand was more than enough to validate the need for extending my network. I recommend that any veteran planning to transition to local government start building their network before they leave the military and don’t be afraid to approach those that you feel are rock stars in the profession.
Supplemental Reading
- Counter-Lord’s Resistance Army Logistics In Central Africa
- Master’s Thesis: Intelligence Collection, Targeting and Interdiction of Dark Networks
- New Pueblo West manager looks forward to challenges
- New general manager’s door open to all
- Pueblo West’s new priority: Communication
- Meet, greet PW metro manager finalists