The VetsConnection Podcast
Join host Scott McLean, a veteran and also a passionate advocate for veterans' well-being. Each week Scott will bring you an episode that will feature insightful conversations with representatives from non-profit organizations dedicated to supporting veterans, as well as experts discussing programs within the Veterans Affairs (V.A.) aimed at assisting veterans with their needs. From discussing innovative therapies to highlighting community resources, this podcast sheds light on the myriad of ways veterans can find support and healing thru nonprofit organizations and also to connect nonprofits with each other in hopes of creating a network that will be beneficial to all.
The VetsConnection Podcast
Ep. 68 - Natalie Schibell, Veteran Transitions Made Clear With Mission To Commission
We open the year with a candid look at veteran transition, from hard knocks to a practical roadmap that turns service into civilian success. Natalie Schibell, Navy veteran and founder of Mission to Commission, shares how a 60-page playbook, secure tools, and “always care” support veterans, spouses, and even students.
• origin story in Navy medicine and recruiting
• painful transition lessons and repeated resets
• why “everyone hires veterans” is a myth
• translating rank and billets into business outcomes
• the 50–60 page career strategy playbook
• certifications, ATS keywords and targeted outreach
• TAP strengths and limits for personalization
• AI as a research and resume ally with guardrails
• virtual reach, secure portal and weekly content
• donations, employer matching and merch on the way
• “always care” approach beyond first job offer
Give Natalie a call at 877-622-7473 (RISE)
“If you liked it, share it. If you didn’t like it, well, thanks for watching and listening for one hour and 27 seconds.”
Like, Subscribe and Share. If you have comments or suggestions email us at: vetsconnectionpodcast@gmail.com. You can also find the video of this podcast on our YouTube Channel - Vetsconnection Podcast
Welcome to the podcast. I'm Scott McLean. Doing this episode from my home studio, I took a little time off from before Thanksgiving till after the new year. I think I deserved that. And uh it was a good rest, but it's time to get back to business and back to promoting all these great nonprofits that we bring to you each week. And we're starting the new year off with uh Natalie Shabel. Natalie is the uh she's the president and founder of Mission to Commission. And you know, I learned this uh a long time ago. I am not gonna butcher what they do. It's best to let the expert talk about their foundation, and we will get to that. And with all that said, how are you today, Natalie?
Natalie Schibell:Wonderful. Thanks for having us, Scott, and happy new year.
Scott McLean:You also, and this is round two. We we tried this yesterday, and it was a Monday, and everything, it was a Murphy's Law. Everything that could go wrong went wrong. We started with bad connection, and then right when we started recording, the dog just erupted in the background and wouldn't stop. And so you you kind of pulled the plug uh and said, let's just do this tomorrow. And I'm more than willing. More than willing. So yeah, that that that was it was kind of funny. So um, all right, Natalie, let's get let's get to you. Um, where are you from originally?
Natalie Schibell:I'm originally from a little town called West Lawn Branch, New Jersey in Monmouth County. So most of you may know it from you know, you might see the Jersey Shore, that terrible TV show. Um, you know, the everyone's familiar with the beaches at Belmar and Avon and Bradley Beach. So I grew up not too far away from there and lifeguarding actually on those uh those beaches as well.
Scott McLean:So okay, great. Uh, when did you go into you're in you're a navy veteran?
Natalie Schibell:Yep.
Scott McLean:Right? You were a captain.
Natalie Schibell:I was uh got out as a lieutenant commander.
Scott McLean:Lieutenant commander. I'm sorry. I see, I'm a bad podcaster.
Natalie Schibell:I didn't promoted me a few clicks, so I appreciate it.
Scott McLean:Well, I'm in the Air Force. I never understood Navy rank, anyways, so that's my excuse. It is its own thing in in the in the big picture of ranks. Uh, so what made you go in the Navy? When did you go in?
Natalie Schibell:Uh I went in, boy, I, you know, everybody remembers the day, March 15, 2011. Uh, I came in through the Health Services Collegiate Program, which was a wonderful program that allowed you to focus on your graduate studies at the time I was a student at New York Medical College. And your job is to really do well in school. You know, show up to your PRTs, make sure you're not, of course, uh taking any uh, you know, partaking in any extracurricular activities that are illegal and all that. And uh when you're done with your schooling, you become commissioned as a lieutenant junior grade and uh go off to your first tour. So that afforded me the opportunity to really focus on my studies and and to uh you know join the Navy Medical Service Corps. And I chose Navy medicine. I originally started out actually as a GW midshipman, you know, thinking I was going, you know, gonna go maybe do EOD, which my my athletic background, I passed everything and I was suited for it. But my major and my love was medicine. So that afforded me the opportunity years later because I wasn't knowledgeable on all the different programs that the Navy had. So it took me base basically six years to discover there's a whole nother side of the military. There's the staff corps and the lovely medical support professions that that we have, 33 in the 80 total. So um, I was glad to finally figure that out. It just took too long, which is what ultimately led to you know finding this nonprofit to help educate individuals who are interested in serving, they just don't know what's out there and and what they want to do.
Scott McLean:That's the truth. So you served for how long?
Natalie Schibell:12 years total. So a combination of active and reserve.
Scott McLean:Okay. And so the the question that I always ask veterans uh the transition, uh it's uh it's very like you can tell active duty about it, like you say, hey, you know, you should probably be ready for that. And I myself, I blew it off when I was getting ready to get out of the Air Force after 10, and I was just punched right in the face.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Scott McLean:With this is this is reality. There's like, what do you mean I have to put a first, last in deposit just to rent the house? And and you know, just everything starts. You have to pay the electric bill now. You know, you have to pay the water bill now. Like it was really um it was tough. And I and I I am not alone in that uh before or after. What was your transition like?
Natalie Schibell:Pretty terrible. Um, I was a pretty stellar officer, but to the point where I put myself aside when I was transitioning out. I was still focused on the mission, taking care of my sailors, taking care of the of the mission. Uh at the time I was running um public health programs, eight different programs across preventive medicine, uh, industrial hygiene. It was rigorous. And I was the only environmental health officer on base of 30,000 people. There was no one I was turning over to. And so I felt obligated at the time to focus on that. And I figured, you know, I've got all this great experience, I'll get a job, everything's gonna be fine. And it wasn't, and I found that out pretty quickly. Uh 10 months into uh my transition, still wasn't able to get a job, came across an amazing program that the Navy has called Canvasier Recruiter, and it allowed you to recall yourself to active duty at the time. I was reservist, so I was able to do that as a uh division officer as a recruiter. And so uh I ended up doing that for a whole two years at uh Navy Recruiting District, New York. Now it's Navy Talent Acquisition Empire State, became recruiter of the year, diversity recruiter of the year, absolutely loved it. Um, but then when I got out, I thought, okay, this is terrific. I was a rock star recruiter. I really learned a lot about all different facets of HR, uh, even a little bit of marketing, of course, because what are you doing? You're you're selling a brand, you're selling a lifestyle uh that's marketing, lead generation, um, you know, networking, all that. Got out, fell on my face again. Uh I got responses like, wouldn't you be bored in this role? Recruiting different um interviews that I was going on with recruiting. Um, they they couldn't really see the connect between recruiting a surface warfare officer or pilot and a business analyst. Um, and you know, I recruited Intel officers and information warfare professionals and all sorts of you know analytical types, but they they didn't weren't able to make that connection and saw too much of a disconnect between how the civilian conducts uh recruiting and onboarding and how the military does it, which you are end-to-end as a recruiter, bringing them in, bringing the leads in, processing them, onboarding them uh into service. So that was a disconnect um struggle. And a couple months went by and I got a um request to join Commander Navy Recruiting Command as uh someone who ran helps helped to run medical officer recruiting. So I took that opportunity. I was very privileged to have the opportunity. Um uh there I had one civilian job offer, but it wasn't it wasn't quite the right fit. As in, they didn't want to pay me until six months on board.
Scott McLean:I don't know what kind of job that was. And survive on your own for six months. Yeah, work for free.
Natalie Schibell:Yep, I was like, oh, you'll get paid once you earn the the badge. I won't name I won't name the company, but I was like, um, yeah, who's gonna pay for my rent? Yeah, my insurance. So, you know, I I took this amazing opportunity. Um, I remember telling my friend at the time, I I hope that barbecue in Memphis is good. Uh, I had to tell him within 24 hours, give a response, and off I went to Millington, Tennessee, where I uh did another recruiting tour where I oversaw, I did a couple different jobs. First, I was uh overseeing medical accessions, making sure that these kits were getting across the line, and then shifted to uh the director of the Navy's newest region, Region Three. So uh again, got incredible, incredible experience. I think we had 102 officer candidate school uh graduation rate, which was the highest in a decade. And um, you know, so again, did did very well. Attempted to get out again, tried, tried some consulting gigs, um, other jobs, lots of applications, fell flat on my face again. Uh, and then luckily, I say this with hesitation, something called the pandemic happened. And all of a sudden, there was a need for public health professionals. And by the grace of God, I was able to get this wonderful job at the Centers for Disease Control. Wouldn't you know it? The hiring manager was an Army veteran, a salty army veteran, and he wanted veterans because he knew their work ethic and he knew they would be okay under pressure and perform well. And he was right. He hired myself and another Army vet who I still talk to today, um, as his two public health analysts, and I helped run the uh National Wastewater Surveillance System Digital Transformation, helping onboard all of the individuals and scientists who are deployed and had a had a blast there for a year. Uh, also did some contracting as well. Um, but that was, you know, again, in into the the federal sector. But I I really wanted, I really wanted the corporate sector. I wanted that, I had that entrepreneurial spirit, and I didn't want to be held back by you know GS structures, ranks anymore, pay scales, and and that's what led me uh into my next venture, which was uh heading into the corporate world at Forester Research.
Scott McLean:So going back to something you said earlier, there is a misconception of uh when people get out of the military, when individuals get out of the military. There's this misconception that it's like, oh, everybody wants to hire a veteran, oh, because they know they need you know, oh, they know they got discipline, and they doesn't always translate like that, as you found out. You know, it's it's great that you're a veteran, and I'm a veteran, and uh but it's not a perfect fit in a lot of places. Like, I know a lot of uh I was security police, which is now security forces. It's good when you go into the career field I went into law enforcement, right? It's a follow-through, right? It's just that's your backup, that's your training, and then they like that you have that knowledge and that discipline, and uh, but it doesn't translate into a lot of the civilian sector, yeah, you know, and uh I think that's one of those things that uh again, active duty uh members should know that they should be aware of that, you know.
Natalie Schibell:Absolutely, and then that's that's what Mission and Commission was created for. When you're uh we believe that the transition starts the moment you raise your right hand. It's not it's months before, a year before, year and a half before, even five years before. It's I know what I'm getting into. I'm gonna select, you know, becoming an environmental health officer and fortunately get get appointed. But I'm gonna know the jobs that equate to that specific role, which for me was U.S. Public Health Service. I I didn't know. Um, you know, environmental health and safety and in laboratories in these different environments. I I I wasn't I wasn't educated on that. In fact, nobody was ever even able to connect me with multiple environmental health officers when I was going through the program. So here I was trying to figure out what exactly an environmental health officer did, let alone what they do when they get out. So that is key. You know, whether you serve three years or 20 years, you've got to know the certifications that you're gonna need, the education that you might need, those gaps, the technology that they use in the civilian sector that may or may not be the same as in the military. You know, we all had used different platforms. And, you know, there's things that align absolutely the leadership, the empowerment, um, the sense of being able to adapt to multiple different uh regulatory authorities and what they require, state, local levels, federal, dod requirements. Um, you learn fast, but the the protocols of military are very different. And the types of platforms that you're working on, ships, subs, NOAA vessels, are very different than what you would do in the civilian sector, which is a lot a lot of the times pharmaceutical companies, uh, you know, their laboratories monitoring or cosmetics factories and different things. Very, very different. And, you know, civilian is going to be very rigid with OSHA protocols, whereas an environmental health officer that may not have been their bread and butter. They may have been spent most of their career, you know, working with Marines and helping to protect them from disease. So, you know, and it's like that across every MOS. You know, you're not gonna you're not gonna have an apples to apples situation, even if you're an engineer. You know, you're gonna be working on these different weapons platforms, um, you know, regulations work differently, workflows are different, the words are different, lots of different acronyms. And I I even see resumes where I don't even understand some of these, some of these service members are submitting to me. If I can't understand it, well, that's a problem. You know, and they put their words on there, which are lovely. Put them on the back, you know, on the wall. Don't don't put them in your resume. Things that not that not that the civilian world doesn't respect, but they don't understand. And what they don't understand, they ignore. What they can't fit into a box confuses them, and they ultimately say, well, you're not the right fit. Meanwhile, you've got all the attributes, you have the resourcefulness, the ability to learn. Um, you know, you're good with technology, it just might not be the exact technology that you're using in that particular job, but you can certainly learn.
Scott McLean:You have the aptitude to do it. Yeah. You're blinded. Yeah.
Natalie Schibell:They're blindsided because they don't understand that that particular job on your resume isn't written in the language that they understand and can interpret into revenue. You know, in the military, you're you're not working to make revenue, right? Shifting into the business world, that's priority number one. And if those bullets don't translate into how you improve the company's ability to make money and be profitable, you're not going to be number one on their list. They're going to get confused. The ATS won't pick you up, uh, and you won't even get your foot in the door for a conversation. And that's where a lot of veterans, that's where I went wrong as well. As soon as I had that keyword, public health analyst, the word analyst, that opened up doors before it was environmental health officer. Nobody knew what that was. Yeah.
Scott McLean:Um, so how long did it take you total to get your footing? And okay, boom, I landed this and I'm good. I'm leveling off now.
Natalie Schibell:And you know, that's a great, that's a great question. And I I toy with this every day. I think about the transition is not a year or two or even five. It's it's forever. You know, you you have to keep growing and evolving. And many of us, and the statistics show that most veterans leave their first role within the first year just because it's not a right fit. But and I don't want to, you know, encourage people not to hire veterans, but when it's the right fit, it's a beautiful thing. But when it's not, it's really tough. And it's tough on the employer, it's tough on the veteran, of course, because now they're pivoting again, because it, you know, it wasn't the right alignment of their skills or what they wanted to do. And you have to continuously uh get that education, that expression.
Scott McLean:We just had a little glitch and Natalie's back.
Natalie Schibell:We're back. So you have to continuously focus on that transition. And it's going to mean switching jobs a few times, switching roles, switching companies, because once you get the experience that you need, you you you find that well, uh this quite isn't the right area that I should be in to then catapult my career to the next level.
Scott McLean:Let me let me touch on that. There's there's there's a lot here that I want to touch on. Uh, first, it's leaving the military and going into the civilian sector. There's there's a big difference for the and and you can talk about it, we can talk about it. It's experiencing it that really wakes you up. You go from this pretty structured environment where everything is pretty much cut and dry. Uh it is what it is, follow the rules. You know, you can joke around, you can have fun at work, but you really are in an environment where you can't really cross over a boundary, like stay in the lane. Right. Right. Um, and that's off duty, that's off work also. So now they go into an environment, maybe an office environment, which I experienced when I I was a canine handler for U.S. Customs Border Protection for like 18 years. And then I hung up the leash and I went and I worked in a back office job in international trade. You like you said earlier, I'm I put it as they might as well have been speaking Russian to me. Like I I really didn't get that, right? And I had already been out. This is just a transition from job to job. So then they get into this office environment where it's a little lax, maybe, and there's different rules, and people can act out, and and I can see how a veteran might look at it and go, This this is messed up. Like, because you're conditioned after at least a minimum of four years to stay in the lane, whereas you go into this, it could be kind of a Wild West situation, and sometimes veterans don't like that, they can't handle that the lack of structure. Some might flourish in it, you know, we're we're all different people. And so let me ask you this, and we're gonna get into the foundation and all that, but while it's fresh in my mind, you you deal with all different age groups in what you do with your foundation. And and I guess in recruiting also. Um you have younger, we'll just say veterans that get out. They went in when they were 19 and they get out when they're 23. Right. Uh, they have this worldly experience, especially if they went overseas or they were, you know, and they met people from all over the place. And so you deal with that kind of mentality of a younger individual. And then you get the people that serve 20. Right? And they might only be what, 38. Years old. Right? 39 years old. Then you get the people like me, the 10. And like, so you you deal with and how do you handle that kind of dichotomy of this the younger individuals? And I'm not being like an old guy, but today kids, younger individuals, younger adults think differently. They're in a different society, they're in a different culture. Uh, they have that poison dot called a cell phone, you know. Um, and then you get the person that's been in for 20 years, but they're still only 38, 39 years old, maybe, you know.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Scott McLean:How how is that a real balancing act for you, or is everything kind of like I have this and this is how we're gonna do it?
Natalie Schibell:Explain that if you actually help individuals as young as you know, 14, 13, family members, right? Uh we we actually help individuals joining. So young as you know, teenagers who are pre-high school or or in high school and they're thinking about uh you know joining the military. For example, I want to be a navy SEAL, you know, I see it all the time, young guys. And um, you know, so we you know, it's really the same to answer your question. You know, someone has a goal, whether it be I want to be a navy SEAL or you know, I I want to be a pilot or I I want to be uh you know a business analyst, maybe not as a common, but the the the methodology is the same, right? There's a roadmap, there's a path to get there, there's boxes you need to check, there's you know, accepted norms uh in in education that you need. Um, and and then there's you know all the steps that they need to physically take to get them there, whether it be I need this degree, I need this certification, I need this many years of experience, I need this kind of a network. And so obviously someone who is getting out after 20 years, you know, 06 level, they're they're going to have you know a bit of an advantage and experience than someone who comes out three years, you know, maybe in their their late 20s or early 30s. But the methodology is the same. So what we do is something very analytical, and it plays off of my analyst background. We're not coaches, um, we're pseudo-mentors, I would say, but more, we're more analysts. So I will take a person's resume. So we'll just we'll just say working with someone who is in their in their 30s, say, kind of in, you know, middle of the road. Um, and I will take their interests. Sometimes they'll they'll know exactly what they want to do. You know, I want to become a marketer, for example. Um, and marketing's huge, but we'll we'll play with the marketing. And they'll they'll provide me their resume, the best form that they can possibly put together. No worries, I'll rip it apart. And and based on what their preferences are, and they might have, you know, what we call an exceptional family member. So uh, you know, someone that they need to provide support to. Some might want a you know, a decent work-life balance, others don't care, others don't care where they live, what zip code they want the best opportunity. Others say, well, no, my my spouse, you know, is a teacher or whatever it might be. I need to be in this zip code. And so you you take all those parameters and you do a complete analysis. So we do what's called a career strategy playbook, which is between 50 and 60 pages, depending on you know the level of experience that the person has. The more jobs that they have, obviously, the longer the resumes become. We do a resume rewrite, we identify five possible career tracks that may or may not include, you know, the ones, well, we always include the ones that they desire, but sometimes the ones that we build on were things that they've never thought of. And then we provide the different role types. So you have the career track, which is you know the industry, and then you have the specific role types, the actual titles they know when they're applying, go for that job. That's that's the translated job. Um, and we we go into uh outreach with with link, different LinkedIn messages that they need to have, um, gaps in in certifications, as well as education and a roadmap, a reasonable roadmap on how long it should take to get that. Um, certain certifications are an absolute priority. I we we analyze a ton of cybersecurity IT individuals and you know, all the different the certifications. There's there's so many depending on what area of IT you're in and and um you know how senior you are. Some of these, most of these individuals I work with have top secret security clearances and a lot of great experience, but they're lacking the certifications which we need in the civilian world. So we do a whole certification and education gap analysis. And by the time you're done, this is 50, 60 pages, and it's a clear roadmap of exactly where they are, how they need to translate their skills and the steps they need to take to get there, in addition to the outreach that they need to conduct. So it's it's the full package, no one's doing it.
Scott McLean:So you decided one day that, like, you know, and I say, like, you know, we all do, and we look back and we're like, was I crazy to do this? It's fun, but you know what I'm talking about. You decided to start a nonprofit. It sounds like a great idea until you have to start the nonprofit.
Natalie Schibell:That's right, and maintain it and pay for it. Yep.
Scott McLean:Yeah, and I and I said this to you yesterday, and I say it to every nonprofit I talk to. You are not a real nonprofit until you came out of pocket, right? That's right to get it started. Time, in money, in wet equity.
Natalie Schibell:Yep.
Scott McLean:So what what clicked? What what just like instead of just and I know that there's a business arm to it, which is very smart because it it provides funds for the nonprofit. A lot of nonprofits have that, but the nonprofit specifically, what clicked? Like what where where did it come from? What insanity were you in at that moment?
Natalie Schibell:Yeah, the the first level of insanity was I I left my recruiting job, obviously. You know, my tour was up, it was time to go, and I still had candidates following me. Help me, LT, help me. Yeah and I couldn't turn them away. Yeah, um, I I wanted to help them, and some of these individuals were sailors overseas deployed, and they were getting their grad degrees. Amazing individuals, super squared away. And you know, they would ask me to be their interviewing officer, and I said, absolutely. And that was so inspiring, and I would never turn them down. Um, and I said, you know, I'm doing all this and I'm I'm helping individuals, family members that want to join. Why don't I just make this official? So for the first few years, it was helping individuals who had an interest in officer programs in the Navy, and then it expanded because obviously the Navy's not the only branch. So now, now here we go. I'm taking on more. And then with my own trials and tribulations of transitioning, it became well, this is not enough either. The whole the whole problem is, you know, the difficulty with transitioning is you join and you just you don't have that transparency or knowledge to know how hard it's going to be to transition out and what you need to do to be successful. The successful transition starts the moment you raise your right hand. And I realize this. And then, you know, I had people asking me to help their children, and I said, Well, darn, you know, the the children and the spouses pay a price too, you know, they their lives uh move all around the world for the sake of service of their loved one, and they're serving in a way too, so why not serve them? So I've helped children of you know, former OIC I helped, and how could I turn them down? And and and he got he got a job with with my help. So um it it's really service back to the veteran, their spouse, their children, those who who serve right alongside them and took those sacrifices. And like I said, the the concept is the same. Someone's looking for a new opportunity, whether it be joining, whether it be going into the civilian sector, there's steps they need to take, there's information that they need and knowledge to make an informed, informed decision. And that's what we provide.
Scott McLean:Well, you have, um, in my opinion, in my professional opinion, since I interview a lot of nonprofits and they're all wonderful, and they're all veteran nonprofits, you have that uh that that that thing, and and I I can relate to it where you just can't say no. If you if you have a nonprofit and the and the president and founder is that person, while you're in good hands.
Natalie Schibell:I I I help everyone is myself, and I I'll do it until I can't do it anymore.
Scott McLean:Right.
Natalie Schibell:It's it's I'll do it until it exhausts me, but it also energizes me, you know, when when when someone comes asking for help and it might take five minutes, it might take two hours, and they might come back again. You know, they're the the relief that they experience, the success that they experience, it's just I mean, there's there's no amount of there's no other job that can compare. You know, I guess I love it.
Scott McLean:I think you fall into this category, and and I relate it to me, and I don't like talking about me too much on this, but it's kind of relative. Um, and I've said this before. At 20, I found my calling in life, and that was working with dogs, and I worked with dogs for 35 years, an amazing career, unbelievable career that I thought I'd never get from a canine science degree, right? But at 60, I found my purpose in life. There's a difference, yeah. And you sound like you found your purpose. That's you talk just like a lot of nonprofit founders, it's your purpose in life now, is to help other veterans. And how do you say, like, how do you stop doing that? You said the words, I I'll do this until I can't do it anymore, which means I'm dead.
Natalie Schibell:But that's that's my whole, you know, I'm I'm a person of faith, and I I believe that where there's a will, there's a way. Yeah, and I think that I believe in a higher power that you know, when I'm tired, what when I have a something terrible that happens to me, a loss of job or going through something difficult, there's there's someone there who's kind of grabbed me by my arms and you know helps carry me through it so I can continue this mission. No matter what what I come across, you know, as long as there the motivation is there and the work ethic is there, they'll there'll be a way. And this past year we applied to our first grants. So we're we're we got the popcorn out. We're we're hoping biting our nails here.
Scott McLean:That's a whole nother conversation, my friend.
Natalie Schibell:We're hoping it comes through and I'm sure it will come out and we'll get to reach more people. But um, you know, it takes a while to it takes a village to to build this up. Um, and it takes a lot of funds to build up to do it the right way. No, it's when you're when you're helping a vulnerable population, there's protocols that need to be followed. There's lots of ethics that need to be followed, and there's lots of IT protocols that need to be followed. So I did not go with at this, you know, halfway.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Natalie Schibell:Whatever was the best, I procured because veterans deserve that. They deserve security, they they deserve um dignity, and the way that we go about our charity makes sure that if they really need the help and they can't afford it, they're gonna get the help and they don't have to explain themselves. So that's that's what we do.
Scott McLean:So let me ask you this if a veteran has been so if a veteran's been in a job for 15 years and they either get laid off or they quit or whatever, can they come to you and say, hey, I need to start fresh again? It's because it's an it is a transition again.
Natalie Schibell:That's precisely who we help. You know, it's not just those transitioning out. That that's definitely a misnomer. It's those who are we've helped 15, 20 years out of the transition. They need a fresh look on their resume, they're making a career pivot, or perhaps they want to go into woodworking or be an entrepreneur, and you know, they're they're seeking different, you know, guidance for what they need to do. Um, we help all those individuals. And as I said, we'll keep helping them until for some reason we're just out of band bandwidth and we could just focus on those transitioning out. But like I said, the transition, it's not just a couple of years, it's a lifetime because you're you're you're up against other individuals who you know came out of school or or college at 22, say a marketer. They've they've got 20 years of marketing. You've come out, I'll use myself as an example. I come out, hit the ground, sprinting, uh, hyperfuel, work my way up in five years. My goodness, the 90 hours of work weeks that I've had to do to get there, the learning on the job, the growing and developing, moving mountains. But at the end of the day, if you take my resume and you put it up against someone who's been in marketing for 20 years, there's no way I can say that I have 20 years of marketing experience. I've got 20 years of experience, but it's not all in marketing. So as a veteran, competing for these roles, these senior executive roles, it's tough, right? You know, you've got a network, you have to show the value on paper of what you did do in those 20 years and how those skills relate to marketing, although they might not be exactly, you know, demand gen or market strategy or product marketing. But everything that you did, you have to show how it led up to who you are today and what you're capable of and what you have done. It's just in that industry, you know, you've shown it for the past five years, but you've shown those skills for 20.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Natalie Schibell:And it takes a it takes an employer who can look past, oh, this person's got 20 years of marketing and this person's got five years of marketing. But look at what they've done and look at the skills, look at the leadership and operational uh abilities that they have, the the work with federal contracts, the the work running teams of hundreds of people. That's what this organization sets out to do, to translate that for employers, uh, to help veterans one-on-one to have their resumes exhibit those qualities so that they're put into that language that that industry understands.
Scott McLean:Mission to commission. Where did the name come from? I'm always curious about how nonprofits come up with their names.
Natalie Schibell:Commission means the begin. Uh, whether you're enlisting, you know, you're still commissioning yourself, you're you're starting. Um, it originally the word commission was commissioning programs, to be honest. But when you really look into the what the meaning of the word is, it's to begin, to soar. And that applies at every stage of your military career when you join, when you're in, when you're getting out, and beyond. You know, we're we're giving you the tools to succeed so that you know you can start fresh and anew, uh, you know, with the with the right knowledge uh and skill sets uh so that you can you know succeed in in in within and beyond the uniform. That's the meaning of the word.
Scott McLean:Is this done in person, virtually, or both?
Natalie Schibell:Yeah, so uh mostly virtually. Now I'll attend conferences and I'll go. I'm actually a US Naval Academy blue and gold officer, so I go to uh different congressional events that you know for high school students. Um, but I serve people all over the country. So it would be impossible to have like one office. And now with technology, it's super easy to have a Zoom call and talk to someone one-on-one. Um, asynchronous messaging, I have a toll-free number, I have the ability to, I'll soon have the ability to text message. A lot of people contact me via LinkedIn for the for the most part, but able to help someone synchronously or asynchronously via email, Zoom calls, uh, and in person, if if we, you know, if they're in the local area, if if not, you know, perhaps, perhaps one day I'll be more mobile. But there's that would prevent me from helping more people if I'm always on the road and on foot. Um, I make it so that regardless of where you are, even if you are serving overseas, and and I, you know, we help we help actually uh GS workers too. I I I expand here. Someone like me who was out of a job, and I say, Darn it, I gotta help a person.
Scott McLean:It's such a huge uh advantage and somewhat of a rare bird in the nonprofit world. Um, and here's my cheap plug the one man with Mike Foundation has basically the same uh uh setup as you where you can reach veterans all over the country, all over the world. Um, there's a lot of nonprofits in their local and they do great work. Again, I would never disparage a nonprofit, but when you have the ability to reach veterans across the country, and again, potentially across the world, that is a huge, huge advantage to be able to do that. And like you said, technology brings us that ability. Yeah, um, and it's it's I think it's it's a little easier on us, also. I just sit down here and I do what I do, and it can be a full day. Like it can be a full day dealing working with veterans, but it's it's a little more convenient to be able to do it this way, but the ability to reach everybody uh anytime, anywhere is is a really, really good uh uh prop for your nonprofit. Um do you have a website?
Natalie Schibell:It is almost done, and I'll get a little techie as a marketer. An ordinary WordPress website would not do permission to commission. I I did a custom Drupal website coded in PHP, and I did that for a reason because we're gonna have account registrations and I want people to be able to sign on securely. A lot of people share their, you know, their resumes, of course. They might share DD214, and I wanted to make sure that I was infrastructure-wise set up to do that work. If we eventually have partnerships with the government, I wanted to make sure that they don't play around with WordPress. So I want to make sure that we were set up to do that. It is an extremely um extensive website. We are a content powerhouse. Many people have seen already what we produce through our newsletter, which goes out every Monday at 8 a.m. called Formation Forward. And you'll see many, many, many civilian uh industries featured. Everything from woodworking and pet hospitality to cybersecurity, um, business analysis. Most of these careers have been have been covered. I won't stop until all of them are, but um, they'll be in art, there's articles every week. And so these will be shifted onto the website uh and then shared through later on. I'm launching something called a beehive newsletter. So the single source of truth, they'll be posted on the website, and then they'll also be available through uh a free subscription to uh my Beehive, a newsletter that we'll be launching in about a couple of weeks. We're moving fast, but uh it's been a long time in the making. So it might the point of that is to reach as many people as possible. We believe that anyone who wants to join the military or anyone that has served should not, you know, should have access to these resources that they're not essentially getting through uh other programs. You know, um there's the TAP program that we're all familiar with. Um, I I won't speak against that, but I think we can all agree that I was gonna talk about that. Yeah, we'll review the program, it has its limitations. People do their best. Um I mean I'm not knocking anybody who works with the TAP program. You you do the best with what you have and and it it provides a service.
Scott McLean:But excuse me, for the for the non-military, uh, non-veteran audience, can you explain to them what TAP?
Natalie Schibell:Sure. It's uh transition assistance program. It's a few days. Uh once you're getting ready to uh transition from the military, that's a requirement that you must attend. And you can attend more than once. It's certainly a fire hose of information over the course of a few days. And it's good information, it's just not personalized to that specific veteran. Like no one sits with you and says, Okay, Lieutenant Chabelle, you're getting out of the military. You know, what do you want to do? Let's let's take a look at your resume, let's analyze it.
Scott McLean:It's not that.
Natalie Schibell:Yeah, it's not that. Like, have you thought about this career, that career? It's all right, guys, you're gonna go through your exercise, you're gonna produce your resume, do tomorrow, and we're gonna look at it. Uh, take the MOS crosswalk. You know, you you look at your MOS, you see the jobs it translates into the civilian sector. As you know, Scott, you've explained it's not it's not cut and dry like that. Apples don't always equal an apple on a banana thrown in there. You got my corpsman who are PMTs, like several of them have become realtors. Reason for that, right? It doesn't always align. Um and there's no one really there at TAP class breaking that down for you. So that's that's what we helped with.
Scott McLean:Let me ask you about um how does AI play a part now in what you do? Because I know it plays a part in what I do with the one man foundation. Uh it's amazing, it's it's a blessing, it's a curse, just like anything, any of this technology. So, how does AI uh play into what you do?
Natalie Schibell:It it helps my productivity 400%, I would say. So when I'm dealing with, and and I I'll I'll just throw out cybersecurity. I'm not a cybersecurity expert, I don't claim to be, um, but I'm learning, I've certainly learned, I've learned a lot, and I've worked with a lot of cybersecurity professionals. But AI is great in that it will help me identify the key certifications, um, salary ranges, um, identify employers in that specific veterans area that of course I wouldn't normally be familiar with, some of the smaller companies. Um, so when I give them targeted roles and I give them specific companies, like literally tables of companies, who's the company, what roles they typically hire for, what the salary range is. This is all information that generative AI can pull through a variety of different resources, Bureau of Labor and Statistics. It does that work for you. Now, granted, there's disclaimers, right? Anytime you're using AI, you need to check, double check, check. I always tell my applicants use AI as a guide for your resumes, but say you speak Spanish, but you're not fluent. Make sure AI doesn't put Spanish fluency. But that's a no-brainer, you know. And any anyone who I work for software companies, anyone who says AI is is the complete answer is wrong, garbage in, garbage out, there must be human in the loop. And I you know encourage everyone to use AI, but check your work and check it thrice. Um, don't don't solely rely on AI.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Natalie Schibell:Stay awake, stay awake at the wheel, and um, you know, take take responsibility. So we we put, you know, I I I have that disclaimer when it comes to using AI.
Scott McLean:I look at it in what I do teaching veterans how to podcast, and I tell them AI is not your boss, but it's it's not your worker, it can be a collaborator. And that's how you look at it. Don't look at it like it is the because I've had just what you said, it's not always right the first time.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Scott McLean:People have to understand you have to train your AI because now it's locked into your algorithm and how you operate and how you know, how you think, what you're telling it. Um it's it's an amazing uh assistant, collaborator, but it is not the end all by any means. Correct. But you know what it is good for? Finding grants.
Natalie Schibell:Oh, yes. Yes, there's so many use cases for AI. I mean, over the past few years, and I get giddy over this as an analyst who studied emerging technologies and works with healthcare companies, and to see all the advances in AI happen. I mean, we moved it to over a decade with COVID alone in healthcare. And to see the the capability of AI to augment professionals, not replace, but augment, especially when we're talking about healthcare, it's just truly tremendous. It's mind-blowing and it's moving at the speed of light, it's moving faster than regulations can keep up with, which is the downside when it comes to being a uh, you know, someone who develops apps and such for things like mental health and and all those things, digital therapeutics. But it it is fascinating. And the job seeker is at a much bigger advantage now than they ever were before. I didn't have these things when I was getting out. I had to play with the cover letter. Now you can with the right prompts produce beautiful cover letters that are very targeted to the role and to the company's mission. You know, you can you know tweak your resume to make sure you make those surgical corrections to have the right core competencies in there. Um, again, never embellish, always always double check right the amount of research that you can do. So you want to get into a field that you weren't even aware of. AI can help you figure that out and figure out how to get fill those gaps. And so it it helps a lot, especially when it comes to a particular field that I'm not familiar with or something foreign to me, like you know, an Air Force uh service member who I'm what is this? Like I'm I'm familiar with Navy platforms, but not so much Air Force. And it's been wonderful when I see something on a resume and I have to I have to figure it out myself. Okay, I got it. And then you can then go back to tweaking the resume to make sure it resonates.
Scott McLean:So if a veteran wanted to um reach out, how would they how would they get in touch with that?
Natalie Schibell:Yeah, so on natalyshabelle.com there is um a contact form that they can fill out. And it is a very extensive contact form, and it's extensive for a reason. So I can figure out exactly how to help them and what they need. Um I I look at those daily and kudos to HubSpot for all you marketers out there. I use HubSpot contact forms and have a HubSpot CRM. So we're able to log all those uh individuals reaching out, and I essentially triage them. Sometimes it's emergency, sometimes somebody's transitioning in a year, so there's a little bit of time, and I just handle all those requests. Sometimes people reach out to me on LinkedIn. I prefer I prefer the contact form because LinkedIn, you know, so many, so many messages on LinkedIn and they they sometimes can get buried, but I'll I'll answer it.
Scott McLean:Um how do you spell it?
Natalie Schibell:Spell what?
Scott McLean:Uh the website.
Natalie Schibell:It's it's my first and last name, nataliechabelle.com, N-A-T-A-L-I-E, S-C-H-I-B as in Bravo E-L-L. And I I do it that way because it's a good way to triage. Um, it's like the the quarter deck, I'll call it. It's a good way to triage uh where they need to go. If if they need charitable help, they'll be helped through mission to commission. If there's someone that needs super hyper personalized service, then they're gonna go to commission at transition.
Scott McLean:And what is that? Let's talk about that for a minute.
Natalie Schibell:So that's the for-profit. Um, like I said, mission to commission is extremely expensive to run with the platforms and making sure that you know we we meet all those protocols and requirements, we're following all the rules. I've got a marketer, I've got uh someone that helps out with PR, I've got a designer, I've got SharePoints, um, developers, all sorts of individuals that make this possible. Um, and I do not take a salary, and my board members do not take a salary. I'd like to make that clear.
Scott McLean:That's very good to yeah. A lot of people ask that question now. Yeah.
Natalie Schibell:Correct.
Scott McLean:Yeah.
Natalie Schibell:So this is an expensive endeavor. And there's got to be a way, you know, to aside.
Scott McLean:To keep it afloat. You got to keep it afloat.
Natalie Schibell:But to keep it afloat, keep things moving, and to provide more and more services. So that's the for-profit. The mission is exactly the same. The only difference is that people are paying, they can afford to pay, yeah. Uh, and they want more personalized services. Not to say that I won't give someone uh on the mission and commission side, I give them personalized services every day. But the uh there's a little bit more uh more services provided for the for-profit. For example, if someone's getting ready for an interview and they need help vetting a company, they need help sitting in one-on-one interview prep. That's something that the for-profit will do. Um, they they're preparing for presentation. Um, and they need to understand how to how to get ready. What's the best way to go about completing this project that's required for this job interview? That's the for-profit. Uh, when it comes to referring individuals to firms that can hire them, uh, I do that on the nonprofit side, but there's also that on the for-profit side. So that's that's how the the two divide.
Scott McLean:So mission to commission. Um what is your favorite story? Doesn't necessarily have to be the biggest success story or the, but is there a story like of a veteran that you help that kind of stands out to you?
Natalie Schibell:Um, a lot of them have similar responses. You know, recently someone said what you're providing to veterans is surreal. And that kind of gave me chills. And I get similar responses, but that word surreal was it was just that veteran expressing disbelief. Like, is this real? Is this how could this be true? And those are the comments that I love. Yeah, and and I again, this person didn't pay anything, didn't donate. To me, that's not what matters.
Scott McLean:No, yeah, not when you're dealing with I always tell the if you want to donate, you don't have to.
Natalie Schibell:So don't feel like a lot of individuals are honestly, they're not they're in a true inability to to donate. And a lot of them come back and say, I'm gonna help one day as soon as I get a get a job, as soon as I get on my feet. That's beautiful. It's okay. You know, we're not here to to to get donations. They're nice to have, don't get me wrong.
Scott McLean:Their donation is their success.
Natalie Schibell:We're not we're not expecting you to donate. You know, we're expecting you to get value from what we're giving you. And if if you don't for some reason, we're gonna work to get you there. But those types of comments, and and you could see some of the reviews on on um on my LinkedIn page, they'll they'll be posted on the website. I have a booking page where I've archived lots of reviews. I I save them because they're like my happy place. When things get tough or when you know I encounter something that's difficult, you know, from a nonprofit perspective, uh, or Bill. I I look, I look at those things and and it's like, yeah, this this means something. You know, this is helping a lot of people, and they're incredibly grateful for the services that we provide. So whether it's this made me get that job interview, uh, it opened up the door for me, or I landed this job because of your help. Um, you've opened my eyes to things I've never thought of. These types of statements are all representative of the different success stories. And of course, there's individuals I've helped who have uh were able to join the military. Sometimes they reach out, hey ma'am, I got my wings. And sounds a little cheesy, but sometimes you know brings a tear to your eye.
Scott McLean:No, it should always, yeah. That's not cheesy at all.
Natalie Schibell:They they keep in touch. You know, I asked my my EDO board, that's engineering duty officer. Um, you know, can can you come speak at my commissioning?
Scott McLean:That's the best feedback. Yeah, it really is. Yeah, yeah. You can kind of go to sleep with a smile on your face like that. Oh, yeah, no matter what happened. Exactly. You help that person and you continue to help them. And now, after, so in the nonprofit world, a lot of uh other nonprofits um there's some do, some don't, offer like an aftercare. Like I always say in mind, like, once you start your podcast, I'm always there. You call me, text me, email me, questions. You want you know, whatever you need from me, don't hesitate. And this is forever, like you know, as long as you're doing whatever you're doing. What is the aftercare with yeah?
Natalie Schibell:I wouldn't even say it's aftercare, it's something like always care. Transactional.
Scott McLean:Very good. I like that. Can I steal that?
Natalie Schibell:Sure can. I mean, they're they're not transactional. They might come to us in a moment of crisis or a moment where they need clarity. And for example, when they're transitioning out, and so we help them, we help, you know, revise their resume, you know, answer their questions. Then they might come back. I got the interview, you know. Uh, can you, you know, this is the company. Can you help me prepare? Absolutely. So they're gonna come back over the next, you know, several months. Uh, and then they might a couple years later say, All right, I'm ready for my next company. I've you know, had had a nice run here, but it's limiting, you know, my my career trajectory. So I want to move on to my next role. Can you help me? All the way up to joining through, hey, I'm retiring or I am 20 years, I I transitioned 20 years ago. You know, can can you help me pivot into this new field? What is it that you do in marketing? How do I get how do I get involved with that? How do I change? So it it's it's everlasting. It's not just helping.
Scott McLean:I love that. I I I am going to I'm stealing it, I'm saying it in front of the podcast universe. It's not after care, it's always care. I love that. Why didn't I think of that?
Speaker 2:Damn.
Natalie Schibell:You gotta be a marker.
Scott McLean:You're a marker. That's right. That's right. Bravo, bravo to you. Um, okay, uh, fundraisers and donations. Uh, how would somebody donate to mission to commission?
Natalie Schibell:Yep. Um, on my LinkedIn page, there's a donate on social media, there's a donate link. Um, when we have the website, obviously there'll be a donation page. Anytime I help someone, I offer them the ability or you know, the option to donate if they like if they'd like to.
Scott McLean:Um so they can I always say, I and I'm sorry to interrupt, but I I say this every episode. If you're out there and you like what you hear and you like what you see, and you love what mission to commission is doing, give them your money. Give them your money. They need it. It's a nonprofit. Every penny helps. Every penny helps. Yes.
Natalie Schibell:They can they can sponsor someone they love. Maybe they have a son or daughter, brother, sister that that needs some help. Um, we sponsor individuals. Um, they can also, uh, we're we're in all the systems. We've been verified and all that. If you're at a company that has a portal where you can go look up a charity, you can donate, and a lot of times the companies will match that donation. So you'll you'll be able to find mission to commission in the portal. It's another way to donate.
Scott McLean:You can Google it too, mission to commission. Uh, it's it's in there, right?
Natalie Schibell:Yes. We we our uh Google Business page just went live, and that that's a process too. It takes time to go live. So we're we're we're looking forward to getting the website out over the next month or so. Um, that that'll be a big help to increase awareness and to make this a little more online. But if anyone's ever confused, they can reach out to me directly uh through my website, through LinkedIn. Uh I have a 1-800 number that appears on my Google business page.
Scott McLean:Do you want to give it up?
Natalie Schibell:Uh I can.
Scott McLean:Yeah. What is it?
Natalie Schibell:Uh I haven't memorized it. It's a free number. Uh one one moment.
Scott McLean:Sorry, I put you on the spot. That's a trip question right there. I should have warned you.
Natalie Schibell:One moment, please. It is 877-622-7473. And 7473, it spells out Rise.
Scott McLean:Ah.
Natalie Schibell:Sorry to get that number. Again, that's 877-622-7473. Rise.
Scott McLean:Hold on, please. That was good. Um, all right. Do you do fundraisers? Do you uh have you started that yet?
Natalie Schibell:Or eventually we will. Yeah. Um, and we'll we'll do t-shirt fundraisers. Uh, we've already designed the t-shirts, and nice prototypes will arrive in it next within the next few days. And then, yeah, we'll have the ability to buy merchandise.
Scott McLean:Yeah, the merch store.
Natalie Schibell:The website, uh, I might do a separate campaign. The the darn website was a beast, though.
Scott McLean:So it's taking away you're covering all of the bases. This wasn't like a GoDaddy website where look what I did in 17 minutes.
Natalie Schibell:Pages and pages, yeah, pages and pages um of information. Yeah. Uh so I'll be excited when that finally goes live.
Scott McLean:Excellent. Excellent. Did we miss anything? Is this something you want to touch on that I might not have mentioned?
Natalie Schibell:I think we pretty much covered it, but don't be shy. Reach out. I have never turned anyone away.
Speaker 2:There you go.
Natalie Schibell:That's the truth. I've never not responded to someone. Um, and if for some reason I haven't responded within 48 hours, you know, feel free to anyone can find me on LinkedIn. Um, you can use a toll-free number. It actually goes to a voicemail uh that I can check. So I I you can you can access me in many different ways.
Scott McLean:Well, this is a very uh valuable asset to a veteran uh who's transitioning, or a veteran. Uh it doesn't matter at what point you're transitioning, or to someone who's going in the military, a family member. I think this is a very valuable service, and I thank you for doing that. Um, I think it's it's only the beginning, but I think you're onto something really special there. Uh, it's very intricate, it's very personal, it's very up close, which gives that person that that kind of warm feeling, you know, that they're getting that special treatment, not just like the tap, like, hey, all right, we're doing this for the next two days. So lunch is at noon and be back by 1245. You know. So, Natalie, um, I want to thank you for coming on the podcast. Uh, it's been a pleasure. Hold on one second, I do my outro, and then we'll go off and I'll talk to you a little bit afterwards. So well, there you go. We built another bridge today. This is a nice big transition bridge. I think if you're out there and this is interesting to you or somebody you know or a family member, uh definitely uh reach out and take advantage of this very valuable service that they're offering for free. If you go and you try to price this stuff, I I I think it's pretty it's pretty expensive for the amount of uh uh attention you're going to get. So take advantage of it. Uh you're getting a From an expert, somebody that knows the firsthand the trials and tribulations of transition and getting your footing and finding your groove. So get it, get out there, uh, get and get it. Just go get it. And uh also I want to thank you for watching. Thank you for listening. If you liked it, share it. If you didn't like it, well, thanks for watching and listening for one hour and 27 seconds. I appreciate that. And now that I'm back from my holiday break, uh you will hear me or see me or hear me and see me for another episode next week.
