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Mike Bradley is no stranger to miracles. A combat medic in the Army since 2001, he survived a traumatic brain injury while deployed to Iraq in 2004. After being medically retired from the Army with a brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other health issues, it seemed Mike would need another miracle to get his career back on track.
Although Mike sent his resume to several companies, he didn’t hear back from any of them. "I was completely lost," says Mike. "I had a great resume and a lot of experience, but still I wasn't getting in touch with the right people. The jobs that I was applying for were things that I would do just so I had work. Not things I really wanted to do," remembers Mike.
Determined not to give in to frustration, Mike, an outdoorsman who loves golf and photography, decided to take a break, enjoy the Christmas holidays, and start job-hunting again at the beginning of the year. It was then that the second miracle happened!
An email from the program director for Wounded Warrior Project's Warriors to Work program connected Mike with Halfaker and Associates, a strategic consulting and national security service company, which happened to be looking for an employee with his unique experience and skills.
Mike knew it was the right job as soon as he walked in for his interview at Halfaker. "The CEO, she was wounded in Iraq. There were things we had in common that we could relate to with each other," he says. The biggest challenge lies in connecting job-seeking veterans with the companies who want to hire them. Mike explains, "I think what the Warriors to Work program is doing is being the middle man and saying, 'Hey, I've got people, and you are looking for people.'"
The effective networking that Warriors to Work promotes can make a huge difference to a veteran's job search. "I am still getting phone calls from [employers]. A couple of weeks ago I got a phone call from the U.S. Senate—they wanted me to do an internship. All the people who had received my resume from the program manager for Warriors to Work were also forwarding it to people they knew."
Mike Bradley has some final words of advice for veterans looking for a new start in the civilian world. "Don't get frustrated. Use the resources that are available," he urges. "I was trying to do it all on my own, but then when I opened up to letting people help me out, it really opened up a lot more doors.
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