Resignation
You Might Need Extra Cash When You Leave the Navy
If you are leaving the Navy, you might need extra cash on hand as your separation date approaches. There are a few reasons for this, discussed below.
You May Lose Special Pays or Allowances
My 6-year retention bonus expired at the 24 year mark, so my income dropped by $59K the last year I was active duty. Something similar may happen to you. If you are reliant on this income, you may have issues if you don’t plan for it.
I was receiving extra money for being stationed in Guam, including COLA and a housing allowance for both my dependents’ location and Guam. When I went on terminal leave, I lost my Guam allowances. These were largely eaten up by Guam expenses I no longer had and therefore were a wash, but my paycheck dropped by thousands of dollars when I left Guam and went on terminal leave. Again, if you are reliant on this extra money for some reason, when it disappears you could have issues if you don’t plan for it.
Your Last Paycheck May Be Late
DFAS holds your final paycheck so they can conduct an audit to make sure you don’t have any debts to the government.
My final paycheck hit on time, but it wasn’t clear if that was going to happen until the very last day. If you are reliant on that paycheck hitting on time, you may need to have some cash to cover your bills. I know people who had their final pay delayed for weeks.
Your Job Hunt May Not Go Quickly
It is a good thing I don’t need a job, because if I did I probably wouldn’t have one! My experience with applying for jobs is that any type of federal hiring is an absolute mess and moves at a snail’s pace. The only type of person who can put up with federal hiring is those who don’t actually need the job.
When it comes to civilian jobs, I think that if I was willing to pull shifts in an ER somewhere that I could have a job an hour from now. Since I’m not interested in primarily clinical jobs, the positions I’ve applied for as a civilian executive have not gone beyond initial interviews. To be fair, I’m not trying that hard to get a civilian position, so that could be a contributing factor.
The bottom line, though, is that if you NEED a job you may want to save up some extra cash in case your job search does not move at the pace you are expecting.
Your VA Disability Payments Don’t Start for 2 Months
I retired June 1st, but my first VA disability payment won’t start until August 1st. There is a 2 month delay, and this is assuming that you get your determination on time like I did. I got mine a day or two after I retired, but I filed 6 months before my retirement date and was able to complete everything in Guam and after I returned CONUS.
If you are delayed in filing, your disability payments (if you warrant any) will be at least 2 months late, and perhaps more.
Conclusion
For all the reasons above (and perhaps others I missed), you may need to plan for extra cash when you retire or otherwise separate from the Navy.
MOAA – How far out should I start planning my career transition when leaving service, and what are some good first steps?
This article says to start 12-18 months from your desired service date. I COMPLETELY agree. I decided at 9 months, and the only reason that is enough time for me is because I don’t need a job:
Critical Retirement Step – The LinkedIn Profile Update
If you are retiring or separating and you have any interest in a civilian position, you probably need to update your LinkedIn profile. My profile was reasonably up-to-date and accurate, but as you’ll see it didn’t incorporate many of the best practices of a professional profile. Here is a brief story of my LinkedIn profile update…
First, I got some feedback from the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA). I think MOAA is a great organization. They lobby for military and veterans, they keep you informed about what is going on (many of the articles on MCCareer.org are from MOAA), and they offer a lot of services you may need, like LinkedIn profile reviews! I value my MOAA membership so much that even though basic membership is free, I’m a lifetime member.
The MOAA professional that did my LinkedIn review is Pat L. Williams, PhD, PHR, Captain, U.S. Navy (Ret.), Program Director, Engagement and Career Transition Services. She was very thorough, as you are about to read. Here is a summary of her feedback.
The e-mail she sent me made these points:
- Keep your profile up-to-date.
- Make sure your background photo is appropriate. If you Google for LinkedIn background photos, you’ll find thousands you can use. She though my photo was fine as it advertised my blog (and was my may to make sure the DoW social media disclaimer is there).
- Maintain a relationship with your contacts by sharing and liking their posts on the site. It just takes 2-3 “touches” a year.
- Don’t be afraid to reach out to people. That is why they are on the site, to cultivate and maintain strong professional networks. Today 80-85% of people get their next job via networking!
- Participate in MOAA’s LinkedIn Career Networking Group, which has 47K professionals/participants.
But the money was in this document:
You really need to read the above document if you want the full flavor of the review. Some highlights include:
- You can get 1 year of LinkedIn Premium for free if you are military affiliated (active duty, reserves, veteran, spouse). Here is an article that discusses the value of LinkedIn Premium.
- I needed a new headshot, so I had some professional headshots done when I was home on leave for Thanksgiving. I tried the AI tools, but the free ones didn’t work well for me. I just paid $100 and got them done by a local photographer. Boom!
- My headline needed to be revised. “CEO of US Naval Hospital Guam” was what it used to say. This was my attempt to follow current DoW guidance and not used military titles like “Commanding Officer” or “MTF Director.” Instead, it now says, “Chief Executive Officer | Experienced Senior Healthcare Executive Specializing in Medical Education, Communication, and Leading with Humor | Educating Physicians to Develop Their Careers | Veteran”.
- My LinkedIn profile URL had a bunch of random letters and numbers after my name. It now is https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-schofer/. This looks much more professional on a resume or CV.
- I already had a lot of connections and activity from blog posts I was posting on LinkedIn, so I was good there.
- I needed to rewrite my summary.
- I had 7 skills, but I now have the maximum of 100. These took me a whole weekend to add. Skills are what gets you to pop when recruiters search for people.
- I now belong to a few groups.
- I have liked all the companies I’m interested in working for and have job alerts set up for them.
Seriously, download the Word document above and give it a look. It was a thorough review.
There were other LinkedIn resources shared including a multiple webinars on LinkedIn branding on this page, but they all require you to be a premium MOAA member (not the basic free membership).
She also tipped me off to a former Army Sergeant Major and LinkedIn expert named Michael Quinn who offers “The Ultimate LinkedIn Cheat Sheet” and “How To Set Up an Effective LinkedIn Profile” on his LinkedIn profile. The are both good resources I’m working through.
If you are a MOAA member and want a resume (more to follow on that fun) or LinkedIn profile review, Pat said to e-mail transition@moaa.org. If you want to join, and remember that basic membership is free, you can read all about joining MOAA here: