Read about how our current Veterans have transitioned their military skills and experience into successful business careers.
Submitted by: Theodore Helgesen, Chief Operating Officer and Former Army Persian Farsi Linguist
I am a champion of our Veterans Hiring Commitment, TMX Project SERV. I am a U.S. Army Veteran, with four years in the Army Reserve as a Crew Chief on OH -58 and UH-1 helicopters and four years active duty as an Airborne Military Intelligence Linguist in the 18th Airborne Corp in Fort Bragg North Carolina and the 2nd Armored Calvary Unit in Fort Polk Louisiana.
When I began my transition, here is what I quickly learned. No one was looking for the specific skill set of jumping out of a perfectly good airplane while speaking Persian Farsi, particularly not in Denver, Colorado. I had no idea what I was going to do with a skillset I had invested so much time, passion, energy, and effort into learning and perfecting. It appeared to have had absolutely no civilian translation whatsoever. It was a very scary realization for me because I had a wife and two children who depended on me. I reentered the civilian world without knowing whether a company would value the things I’d been doing successfully for the last 8 years . . . there was a lot of uncertainty.
Through a mentor, I landed a job at Best Buy where I began to experience how my military skills benefited me in a civilian job. I gained discipline in the military, I learned the value of a talented team, I acquired a full understanding of commitment, and I learned the virtues of great leadership. My military experience wasn’t just jumping out of planes and speaking a different language, it also instilled in me an incredibly strong work ethic and a willingness to learn and improve every day. Those are the characteristics that are very often found in veterans and are highly valued in any organization.
I want all of the veterans out there to know that we are proud of our Company and we want them to join us, so that they can come here and thrive. We will value their strong work ethic, feed their passion, teach them new skills, and welcome their commitment to a team. Those values are a constant in the team members throughout this Company. That’s what makes us a great Landing Zone for Veterans.
TMX PROJECT SERV – Supporting the communities we serve, and more importantly, supporting those who have served us.
To learn more about TMX PROJECT SERV, visit our Veteran Careers page.