“I had been given good advice that it didn't matter the first job I did as long as I was learning from it and seeking out opportunities in the first job to be able to figure out what I wanted to do next. And so I went into it with the mindset that I would pick  everyone's brains who I worked with even if not on my team and build these relationships so i could figure out what the next step was." – RaeAnne Pae

RaeAnne Pae is a Client Solution Manager at Facebook, where she helps Financial Technology marketers grow their audience and business through Facebook. RaeAnne started out at doing ROTC at Morehead State University, where she earned her Bachelor of Science in Psychology. After that she served for over 7 years in the Army as an Intelligence Officer, where she was awarded the Bronze Star - the military’s fourth-highest individual military award - not once but twice: first for Combat operations in Iraq while assigned to 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division; second for combat operations in southern Afghanistan with assigned to the 2nd Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division. When RaeAnne transitioned to a civilian career she started out at the NYSE as an Event Marketing Specialist. She then worked as a Sales & Business Development member first at Tradecraft and then at Addy before joining Facebook.

In this conversation, we cover a lot of topics, including:

• Tradecraft and how to get an MBA equivalent experience in 3 months
• How RaeAnne's transition straight to industry compared with her husband's transition to business school
• Advice for those applying to Facebook and common veteran paths
• Two concrete examples of explaining in a veteran background to a Facebook interviewer
• And much, much more…

• • Listen to it on iTunes.
  • Stream by clicking here.
  • Download as an MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “save as.”

QUESTION OF THE DAY: How can I make these episodes more valuable to active duty military personnel considering transitioning to the civilian world? Please let me know in the comments.

Scroll below for links and show notes…

Selected Links from the Episode

• Another interview I did between a husband and wife veteran combo where one went to business school and the other directly to industry are my interviews with Jimmy & Shaunnah interview
• Tradecraft - 12 week tech immersion program. Tracts include Sales & BD, User Experience, and Growth
• Another interview that references Coding Academies and other efficient education sources is my interview with Johannes & Maggi on Career Offroading
• Other programs similar to Tradcraft - GrowthX / Growth Academy

Show Notes

• 1:31 - RaeAnne's background
• 4:58 - How RaeAnne approached her decision to leave the Army
• 8:26 - How RaeAnne and her husband approached the Reserves
• 10:23 - The most surpsing aspects of RaeAnne's transition to civilian life
• 13:45 - How RaeAnne approached her initial job search
• 25:38 - An overview of Tradecraft
• 35:00 - RaeAnne's second job search and how she improved - great advice to all veterans
• 44:40 - Advice for those applying to Facebook and common veteran paths
• 47:00 - RaeAnne explains why her background is applicable at Facebook - this is a great example of how veterans could explain their story in an interview
• 49:33 - RaeAnne explains how her background relates to sales and relationship building
• 51:45 - How RaeAnne's journey directly to industry compared with her husband's choice to go to business school