Mentoring provides great insight and joy
The WELCOME HOME Association was founded in 2016 and, annually, it helps more than 100 veterans transform experience and training from the Armed Forces into useful qualifications in civil business. We have been in dialogue with Søren Amund Henriksen, Executive Vice President of KMD and co-founder of WELCOME HOME, and Per Frey, Vice President of KMD – one of the association's most experienced mentors. They both give their take on why mentoring is an important and very rewarding purpose to veterans, the companies involved, and the community as a whole – and finally for the employees appointed to the mentoring role.
What do you do as a veteran with many years of experience from the Armed Forces and the desire for a civil career? You can contact the WELCOME HOME Association, which, through an intensive kick-off seminar followed by a six-month mentoring program, helps to map the veterans' competencies and otherwise equips them for the meeting with future civilian employment.
Søren Amund Henriksen, Executive Vice President of KMD says that KMD became a co-founder of WELCOME HOME as it just made such good sense to help Danish veterans get a civil job after completing service in the Danish Armed Forces and because it was clear that the transition from the Armed Forces to the civil business community was very difficult.
"Yes, in fact, we did a pilot test on the concept here at KMD with the Vice President of KMD, Per Frey, as the association's first mentor," Søren Amund Henriksen explains. "It went beyond all expectations and, thus, became the decision to establish WELCOME HOME as an association together with a number of other companies – back then under the name: Resourceful Veterans.
At the same time, the pilot test showed us that the crucial ingredient in the transition for a returning veteran to success in a civilian job was precisely the collaboration between mentor and veteran."
Mentoring eight veterans
Per Frey has now been a mentor for six years and during that time he has worked with eight veterans, the majority of whom now work within the civil sector. We have asked him a few questions about the mentoring role:
What does a typical mentoring course look like?
"As a starting point, a standard mentoring program lasts six months, where we spend time mapping professional and personal competencies and pinpoint what type of job each veteran wishes to acquire. In the process, we must map and translate all their skills into a ‘language’, so that ‘civilians’ such as myself can understand how they can contribute. I am not familiar with the environment they come from and the ‘language’ they speak. The 'translation' of wishes and competencies is for me one of the most interesting and relevant tasks as a mentor. Of course, it takes some time to find out what they would like to do and put together a suitable CV and to write some applications directed at the different types of jobs they would like to apply for.
Once that's in place, we'll start looking at job ads and I'm trying to involve my own network. Among other things, I try to open my network by using LinkedIn or by calling relevant contacts saying: 'I have a mentee who has these skills, would you have a chat with him?'. In that way, I can help open some doors."
As a starting point, a standard mentoring program lasts six months, where we spend time mapping professional and personal competencies and pinpoint what type of job each veteran wishes to acquire. In the process, we must map and translate all their skills into a ‘language’, so that ‘civilians’ such as myself can understand how they can contribute.
Do the veterans need training or are they ready for a job in the civil sector after a mentoring program?
"It is very different whether there is a need for further training. Some come out with skills that fit nicely with the jobs they would like to apply for in the civil job market, e.g., a project management training course from the Danish Armed Forces, which is only called something other than Prince2, but is fully in line with this. Others can go straight into business with the basic competencies they have from the Danish Armed Forces. Finally, the Danish Armed Forces sometimes use 'civil training', which is intended to prepare defense personnel for a civil career after service. One of my mentees, for example, came with a master's degree from Aalborg University. If you come completely without relevant continuing training, I may encourage my mentee to take a Prince2 basic course."
Many have the idea that it is only officers who receive help through mentoring. Is that correct?
"Our mentees come from different backgrounds in the Armed Forces – one may have worked with logistics, for example in a camp in Afghanistan – some have been officers and others have been on outright patrol. So, it ranges from constable to officer. Personally, I think it is very exciting that they have such different backgrounds. It challenges us as mentors to find out: 'What are their qualifications and what do they want?
Personally, I think it is very exciting that they have such different backgrounds. It challenges us as mentors to find out: 'What are their qualifications and what do they want?
What was your own background for going into the role of a mentor?
"I had been a mentor to leaders and managers in KMD for many years. We had an arrangement whereby new leaders in KMD were assigned to one of us 'old rats' as mentees so that they could quickly gain insight into how the management system in KMD works. And I thought it was a really relevant task and that it could be very interesting to help the veterans into civil jobs."
How much time would you think you spend on the task – working time, free time?
"For my part, I typically meet with my mentees at the end of the afternoon. Whether it's working hours or personal time, may be a little blurry. The time spent is between five and seven hours a month – that's probably very realistic. A lot of the time I spend will probably be outside what you might call 'normal' working hours. It's easier for me to plan my mentee hours outside office hours because I usually attend a lot of meetings. But that is my choice. It also suits my mentees, who sometimes still work in the Armed Forces, are on unemployment benefits, or in training. In addition to the meetings, we also email, text and call each other from time to time, e.g., about relevant job postings and the like."
Why are you a mentor and what do you get out of it?
"I am primarily a mentor because I think it is an incredibly important task that benefits both the veterans themselves and the companies where they eventually will be hired. In addition, the mentoring role gives me a lot of knowledge and inspiration in relation to the things I work with in my everyday life. It gives me a lot of energy to talk to people about what they've been working with, what challenges and strengths they have, and then try to match these with something I can see would work. It's extremely inspiring to me and I'm always looking forward to those conversations. When they manage to get a job, you feel that you have helped make a huge difference.
There's nothing better than receiving a text message from your mentee that says: 'I want you to know, that I got the job. Thank you, I could never have managed it without your help.'
The mentoring role also gives me a whole lot of knowledge about how the army works and allows me to meet a lot of exciting people. That way, I also expand my own network. I get some contacts I would otherwise never have met and that I might be able to use to get more of my mentees into work. In fact, I don't see any downsides in going into the mentoring role at all – if you feel like you have the time and the energy to do it. Because it does take a little extra, but I think it gives back a lot, too."
There's nothing better than receiving a text message from your mentee that says: 'I want you to know, that I got the job. Thank you, I could never have managed it without your help.'
Why should one choose to become a mentor, and what does it require of the individual?
"You should only become a mentor if you are really passionate about it! You have to decide with yourself: 'I want to do this, and I want to make a difference. And I know it does. You have to decide with yourself: 'I want to be a mentor and I want to make a difference. And I know it costs a little extra time and effort compared to my regular busy job.' I have no doubt that this investment will repay with the amount of insight you gain, while at the same time helping and expanding your network.
I feel intensely happy each time I get a message from one of my mentees saying that he's got a good job. And it only gets better when I talk to the company who hired him or her and they say that they are super happy that my mentee ended up with them."
Is there a flip side to the medal?
"Yes, at times the mentoring role can be quite challenging. Especially, if we don't succeed in making things happen. Then it can be as hard for me as it is for the mentee who receives refusal after refusal or isn’t invited to a job interview. I've had one or two of them say, 'I think I'm actually going to stay in the Army.' And that's a decision, too. Then he or she has been out trying out some things. So, even if it didn't end up in civil careers, they have gotten a clarification.
The people we work with are occupational veterans who don't have severe diagnoses or severe disabilities. We can work with people who has a physical disability due to their deployment. But as a general rule, we don't work with people who have severe diagnoses, such as PTSD. It takes mentors with a completely different toolbox than the one I have. Fortunately, very few veterans come home with severe diagnoses."
Do you get personal ties?
"An added bonus with mentoring veterans is the many new friendships – both with my mentees and within the WELCOME HOME network. So selfishly, you get a lot out of the effort on a human level."
An added bonus with mentoring veterans is the many new friendships – both with my mentees and within the WELCOME HOME network. So selfishly, you get a lot out of the effort on a human level.
A basic premise of management work
In conclusion, Søren Amund Henriksen would like to call for more managers to sign up as mentors:
"Being a mentor, I see a bit as a basic premise for management work. It's taking responsibility for the people you lead. That ability and competencies are also used and developed when a manager signs up to be a mentor in WELCOME HOME and to the veterans. The same competence used for two purposes. It just makes perfect sense."
