Obtaining and retaining employment post military service: A qualitative analysis of challenges experienced by Australian veterans

Abstract

A qualitative investigation utilizing a phenomenology approach via one‐on‐one interviews with 35 veterans was conducted to explore the challenges Australian military veterans have experienced in civilian employment settings. Thematic analysis developed four major themes: starting over, mental health, interpersonal cultural difficulties, and organizational differences. Initiatives aimed at addressing unemployment and underemployment for veterans should focus on preparedness, education, and expectation management for both veterans and civilian employers/colleagues and focus on interpersonal and organizational cultural differences, including structure, teamwork, role clarity and feedback, an understanding of military skills, and reduction of mental health stigma and discriminatory practices.

Knowledge management during emergency remote teaching: an interpretative phenomenological analysis of the transition experiences of faculty members

“…Prior scholars have also used a similar approach for reporting their studies (e.g. see Romaniuk et al , 2022; Singh and Srivastava, 2023). Booth et al (2014) have suggested that COREQ favors a more realistic and pragmatic paradigm for reporting qualitative findings.…”

Development and psychometric evaluation of the mental readiness for military transition scale (MT-Ready)

“…More than an administrative process, separating from the military involves reconciling changes within individual, interpersonal, community, and societal domains [1]. Practical considerations and challenges of military transition often include re-location and securing housing, financial and healthcare changes, adjustments to children's schooling and education, as well as securing new employment for both transitioning service members and their partners [2][3][4][5].…”

“…A systematic review examining transition across international military contexts found that a profound sense of loss of culture and community, identity, and purpose, were central themes related to psychological adjustment post-service [10]. Additional research has also identified psychosocial stressors during transition including adapting to new familial or marital dynamics [11,12], navigating new social relationships and community connections [13], managing mental health conditions [14,15], reconciling one's sense of personal and social identity [7,16] and re-adapting to aspects of civilian culture that may be at odds with military culture [2,5,17].…”