A new option has surfaced for veterans transitioning to the private sector after their military service is completed — and it’s a promising one. The global accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has found that the skills and mindset that military personnel use while serving the country dovetail with the skills sought for professions in the cybersecurity world.

“Veterans come from a culture of both humility and excellence,” Chris Crace, former Marine Corps captain and veterans advocacy leader for the cybersecurity team at PwC, told LifeZette. “And most veterans have a natural leadership style.”

Last month, PwC started a cybersecurity boot camp to give veterans training in the cybersecurity field. The class of 41 former military personnel began learning computer fundamentals, how to secure a network, and how to test it for weaknesses.

What exactly is cybersecurity, however? The term “hacking” may come to mind.

“In the cybersecurity field, we design, implement and operate both technology and processes that mitigate the risk of different cyber threats,” said David Burg, PwC’s Global and U.S. Cybersecurity leader. PwC’s clients include multi-national businesses, private organizations and governments.

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“We figure out when there is a violation of trust, how it happened, and ensure it doesn’t happen again,” said Burg. “We look at so-called ‘bad actors’ in the cyber world, and we are interested in how they think. Hacking and other cyber threats are performed by very smart and well-organized people, as a part of an extremely methodical process. Their playbook is always changing, always evolving.”

Cybersecurity needs veterans — and veterans need good jobs. While overall unemployment figures for veterans have dropped, according to the Bureau for Labor Statistics the unemployment rate for younger, post-9/11 veterans increased to 5.7 percent in December of 2015. Younger veterans have not had as much time post-service to gain the skills necessary for good private-sector employment.

“Vets need to work,” said Burg. “In our program, a veteran doesn’t need a degree to participate, which is big. That stumbling block is removed.”

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Hiring Vets
The cybersecurity field is exploding and needs talented individuals. There are expected to be 1.5 million unfilled jobs in cybersecurity by 2020, according to the 2015 (ISC)2 Global Information Security Workforce Study.

Said Crace, “Vets bring great experience to cybersecurity. We have a vast body of knowledge, and we already have the mindset of solving problems as efficiently as possible. That’s our military training. We also have a ‘security mindset.’ It’s not only a physical awareness, but mental, too; we are constantly surveilling. We are always ready.”

How is PwC’s program different? Crace applauds the process for hiring veterans.

“Sometimes it’s a ‘last man standing’ mentality when a company is hiring. They cast a wide net and whoever is left standing at the end of the hiring process gets the job. Not us,” he explained. “We screen candidates heavily right up front, and then once hired, we support them with training. As I talked with veterans, I could tell that PwC had their back. PwC’s thinking with that veteran is, ‘Where do you want to be in five years?’ Hopefully with us.”

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The program PwC offers could be the key factor in long-term job stability for veteran employees — allowing them the time and support needed to assume the role of private sector employee. Once acclimated, veterans are as valuable an employee as any non-service member, perhaps even more so, thanks to their unique skillsets.

“Young veterans, by definition, leave a stable job and enter what is to them a strange new world — American capitalism,” wrote Thomas E. Ricks in an article in Foreign Policy, citing a 2014 RAND study, “Why Is Veteran Unemployment So High?”

Said Ricks, “The key evidence is that the unemployment difference between veterans and nonveterans evaporates over time. It decreases by almost half a percentage point each month after the average individual leaves the service.”

After the PwC bootcamp, veteran trainees will get a battle buddy for support, another veteran already working for the firm who can provide advice and guidance as the newbie settles into his role.

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“This program is not a veteran outreach in the conventional way. It is not charity, or training that doesn’t end up with opportunity,” Crace told LifeZette. “Similar firms train veterans, but don’t hire them. Our program is all about meeting the needs of this firm.”

What does Burg like about working with veterans at PwC?

“I have so much admiration for our veteran colleagues,” he said. “They are very, very smart, extremely respectful, and they make our team better.”

He added, “And I love to see how they approach a problem.”