01
Determine your direction
Talk to veterans at your target companies. We analyze those conversations and find the signal in the noise. You're through when you're a nine or ten out of ten on the role and the industry you're going after.
Live nowFind a post-military career you'd actually pick.
You've been told defense program management is the only thing you're qualified for. Civilian Compass is a free platform for finding the right role and industry for you, built by a veteran who was told the same thing.
Get startedFree for veterans. No recruiter on the other end.
Same three decisions. New words.
- What you doBillet maps to Cross-functional role
- Who you do it forWing maps to Industry
- Where you do itInstallation maps to Location
In the military, asking for help is a sign of weakness. Out here, it's a sign of strength.
Reaching out to a stranger feels like admitting you don't have a plan. It isn't. It's the plan.
Nobody figures out what they want from a job board. They figure it out in a conversation with someone already doing the work. There are more than 16 million veterans in this country, and a lot of them are sitting inside the companies you'd want to work for.
Here's the part nobody tells you. They'll take your call. Not because your resume is good. Because they remember what this part felt like, and somebody took theirs.
What this actually is
From a hypothesis to an application you actually believe in.
Civilian Compass is free, and it runs in three phases.
02
Pressure-test your fit
Check your real fit against roles posted today, and find future versions of yourself, veterans already doing that job, so you know how to approach it.
Coming this fall03
Apply with confidence
Track every application in one system, so the process is scientific instead of demoralizing.
Coming this fallStaying connected pays dividends. Civilian Compass helps you keep up the relationships from those conversations, so by the time you're applying, there's a veteran inside ready to advocate for you.
Phase 1, in the product
Every conversation you have, working for you.
You track who you've reached out to, you rate each conversation one to ten, and after fifteen of them your own scores say something you couldn't have said at the start.
Contacts
Your contacts
Fifteen people, wherever they work. Pull a company file to filter the board.
To contact3
Riley C.Product · SalesforceSame college
Grace P.Operations · AppleShared a mentor
Lauren J.Data · MetaMet at a conference
Reached out2
Omar S.Program mgmt · AdobeNavy
Bill L.Finance · AdobeSame college
Responded1
Dana W.Product · AlphabetMarine Corps
Meeting set2
Ray O.Program mgmt · MetaMarine Corps
Marcus C.Operations · AppleArmy
Connected7
Silvia M.Finance · SalesforceNavy
Ted P.Marketing · AdobeNaval Academy
+ 5 more
Sample data
Trend analysis
Trend analysis
Report 3 · based on 15 conversationsYou set out toward Product Manager in Technology & Software.
Roles
Technical Program ManagerLow sample10.02 · 13% of 15
Data AnalystLow sample8.52 · 13% of 15
Product ManagerYour pick8.33 · 20% of 15
Program / Project ManagerLow sample6.52 · 13% of 15
Sales / Account ExecutiveLow sample6.02 · 13% of 15
Business Development / CaptureLow sample3.01 · 7% of 15
Three more roles below the cut.
Low sample size
A high score on a small sample isn't a conclusion, it's a lead. Book more conversations there to confirm it.
Companies
Meta · 39.0
Alphabet · 38.7
Apple · 37.7
Salesforce · 37.3
Adobe · 36.0
In your own words
He came in through a veterans program here and offered to walk my resume in when I'm ready.
Ray · program management, MetaTold me my deployment ops experience maps closer to supply chain than program management. Never occurred to me.
Marcus · operations, AppleSaid the PM title is a trap at big companies. Go somewhere the PM actually writes the spec.
Dana · product, AlphabetSpent most of it pitching a req that isn't open yet. Didn't learn much about the work.
Christine · talent, AdobeAsked what I'd do if the money were the same either way. I didn't have an answer, which was the point.
Silvia · finance, SalesforceThe read
This report draws on 15 rated meetings.
Your stated role group appears in 3 of them, with an average of 8.3.
Treat this as a direction for your next conversation, not a verdict.
Sample data
Who it's for
This isn't for everybody.
It's for you if
- You've got a few months of runway and you want to spend them well.
- You don't want another degree, you want the right next role.
- You're not sure what you want, or you're sure and quietly suspect you defaulted into it.
- You're willing to have the conversations. This works. It isn't passive.
It's not for you if
- You need income in the next 30 days. Speed beats fit right now, and there are organizations better at speed than we are.
- You already know the role, the industry, and the company, and you just need to execute.
- You want someone to place you. Nobody here gets paid when you take a job.
Why it's free
My day job is helping build user-friendly software, so I decided to use those skills to create the platform I wished I had when I was getting out. I fund it myself. No sponsors, no employers, no placement firms, so nobody is paying me to point you toward a particular company.
Who's behind this
I spent just over five years in the Navy. First ship out of Norfolk, then Navigator on a destroyer in San Diego. Somewhere in the middle of that I stopped wanting the career I'd planned on, and I didn't say it out loud to anyone for a long time.
Then at a Fourth of July party, an older guy who'd been in the Navy asked me if I was staying in. I said no. It was the first time I'd said it. He took me to lunch a week later, gave me two books and three names, and that was the whole beginning.
Nobody handed me a list of twenty companies. I built the spreadsheet myself, rated every conversation out of ten, and sorted it until a pattern showed up. It took two years. Civilian Compass is that process, without the two years.
You've got a year, maybe less. Start with one conversation.
Six questions to set your direction. No account until you've seen something worth saving, no card ever, and no recruiter waiting on the other end.
Get startedFree for veterans. No recruiter on the other end.
Still deciding? I host office hours every week. Bring the questions you don't want to ask your chain of command. Save a seat →