Sometimes all a transitioning service member needs is advice from someone who’s been there.
TopBlocked!, a volunteer-based website for transitioning junior military officers, aims to connect JMOs with mentors.
Capt. Orlando Gonzalez, who’s transitioning out of the Army this year, said he came up with the idea because he had friends who were getting pulled out of the military after years of service who needed help with the transitioning process.
More than 30 veterans have agreed to volunteer their time to help JMOs with what to expect during the process and how to make a smooth crossover to the civilian world and workforce.
Gonzalez said he knows some of the volunteers from Officer Candidate School, but others were connections he made on LinkedIn.
“I asked, ‘Hey are you interested in doing this?’ ” he said. “I told them they’d be helping out their brothers and sisters.”
Gonzalez, who said he got his notice last year to leave the Army, checked out some JMO recruiters but said his age was a disadvantage.
“I decided to go ahead and create the website so these mentors can actually tell the real deal,” said Gonzalez, who’s 40. “They can give advice on recruiting firms — ‘This one’s great, try to stay away from this area.’ “
Trista Budzynski, an Army captain who transitioned out in 2013 then chose to go Active Guard Reserve, now serving full-time in the Army Reserve, said most recruiting services that look for JMOs are sponsored by a civilian corporation.
“Oftentimes, that one person you’re working with is working with multiple people, and it can be based off financial gains,” said Budzynski, who is a mentor on the site.
With TopBlocked!, she said, it’s peers helping peers who aren’t going to make money off each other.
“We really understand it’s a scary time, and we want to step in and assist and provide guidance,” she said.
JMOs can schedule a time through the website to chat with a mentor, and they’re usually connected based on availability and industry of interest.
Gonzalez reached out to Army veteran Brooke Jones on LinkedIn to see if she’d be interested in mentoring through the website — she was.
“Of course, it’s a difficult process whenever you’re making a career change, especially when it’s very different than any industry in the world,” said Jones, who transitioned in 2015 after six years in the Army. “It would have been nice to talk to someone who had transitioned and faced the unknown and came out on the other side.”
Jones, who works at JPMorgan Chase, was matched with Paul Savanuck, an Army captain who has been out for a few months.
“I still consider it transitioning because I’m still looking for a new career field,” Savanuck said.
JPMorgan is one of the companies he’s interested in, and he said Jones helped him with résumé advice as well as networking opportunities.
“[TopBlocked!] is a great community of transitioning military officers who are willing to help out and network,” he said.
Jones said it would have been helpful to have an objective person to talk with during her transition out of the Army.
“It would have been nice to have a soundboard to talk to about other opportunities that I hadn’t thought about,” she said. “You might have tunnel vision on a job you think you might want to do, but you close yourself off to other opportunities.”
Jones said she helped tweak Savanuck’s résumé and offered him interview tips.
“Veterans should help veterans,” she said. “They’re our brothers and sisters in arms … why not help them?”
Charlsy Panzino covers veterans education, employment and transition issues, as well as travel, entertainment and fitness. Email her at cpanzino@militarytimes.com.
