Navy veteran Mark Steinhoff joined me on the Earmark Podcast to talk about why accounting is a great career for veterans.
Mark broke it down - everyone knows the military is structured. You've got hierarchy, chain of command, procedural compliance, following rules. You wear a uniform, show up on time. Accounting? Very similar.
Mark initially thought he wanted to do finance after reading some stock market books. But his first accounting class changed everything. It felt familiar - all those processes, how everything works together, how a company is just one big process.
Mark said he was able to exceed his peers because he came from a different background with a different thought process. The military structure prepared him for accounting's rules, processes, guidelines, and regulatory compliance.
But here's the challenge Mark pointed out - there's this uncertainty around veterans and business. Many organizations have never hired a veteran or don't know how their experience translates. Mark worked on a submarine - looking at his resume, you'd wonder how that applies to business needs. It can be a hard story to translate.
Yet the numbers tell a compelling story: accounting faces a 70,000-person annual deficit while 200,000 service members transition to civilian life each year.
Mark believes in giving veterans a chance, and statistics back him up - veterans do well in the workplace and can be real assets for companies.
Veterans bring precision, process orientation, and attention to detail - exactly what accounting needs.
