An Unlikely DoD Career Civilian

Yanelle Gaviña is from Pasadena, CA and currently resides in Arlington, VA. A “Double Trojan”, Yanelle attended the University of Southern California for her Bachelor’s Degree in Creative Writing (2010) and Master’s Degree in Business Administration

(2016). Yanelle has worked as a DoD Civilian for five years across three branches - Army, Air Force, and currently as a Digital Information Manger for HQ Space Force. A natural innovator with a high tolerance for risk, Yanelle prefers fast paced working environments with frequent change and opportunities to learn. In her free time, she loves to find adventures outdoors.

I am not your typical Department of Defense (DoD) Civilian employee. I am not a “prior service” employee, which is the term used to describe Active-Duty military members who retire and take a Civilian role. I am not a spouse or dependent of someone currently serving in the military. None of my family members served in the military—in fact, I am in the first generation of my family to be born in the United States of America.

I found out about civilian roles in the military from a college friend I met at the University of Southern California. After two years of managing a restaurant had left me desperate for a slower paced job, my friend Kevin lured me into DoD Civilian applications with the promise of more vacation time and a 40-hour work week. Cautiously hopeful, I began to apply to any job that would fit my resume. After a few months, I accepted a Permanent Change of Station (PCS) paid relocation from Pasadena, CA to White Sands Missile Range, NM. 

I never could have guessed I would love working for the military. I thought the military would be extremely conservative and strict with little opportunity for innovation. I aspired to lead, innovate, and grow small businesses with big ideas - NOT to win the next war. I saw this move to White Sands as a kind of sabbatical after a decade of working in the private sector. After a few years I planned to head back to the private sector with fresh eyes. 

That was over five years ago. The DoD successfully converted me to a career civilian – here are the top reasons why.

1. The DoD treasures innovators more than any employer I’ve come across. There will still be opposition from your classic “we’ve always done it this way” crowd, but most leaders are very supportive of the innovators that fall under their chain of command. It’s almost shocking how quickly you meet top-level leaders when you are consistently leading change.

   
   

2. Leaders in the military "provide top cover" and "remove barriers" so innovators can do their job without resistance. Resistance in the DoD most frequently comes in the form of legal red tape, which can’t be helped. When resistance is in the form of internal processes that have become outdated, however, leaders will support your effort to remove barriers by protecting your projects from attacks that come from above or laterally. If you hit a barrier you can’t remove through your own effort, leaders will work with their peers to try to remove the barriers from above.

   
   

3. You're allowed to "choose the hill you want to die on." There are some projects your first or second-line supervisor will recognize as nearly impossible to accomplish, whether because the barriers are immovable or because their leadership has other priorities. In these cases, they’ll check how much you care about the project by asking some form of “is this really the hill you want to die on?” If the project isn’t that important, this is a great reality check to go ahead and drop it. If, however, you feel very strongly about the project and you’re willing to suffer through it, a great leader will support your project as much as possible.

   
   

4. Trust is extremely valuable in the DoD. When you are working side by side with military members who need to be able to trust each other implicitly in a combat environment, that trust is baked into the culture even when they are on home soil. Don’t get me wrong, trust is still earned in the DoD like at every other employer. Once you have that trust though, your leaders and teammates will have your back in the rooms you aren’t in.

   
   

5. Professional Development is so highly encouraged it’s almost mandatory. I have to give a shout out to the Department of the Air Force (DAF) in particular for offering a wealth of on-demand development opportunities to their Civilians as well as annual applications for in-person training opportunities. The DAF’s dedication to investing in my professional development through opportunities in career broadening, education, skill-building, and leadership development was what truly sold me as a career civilian.

   
   

While the DoD isn’t perfect and I have certainly come across supervisors that were horrible to work for, the great majority of my career has been filled with inspiring leaders at every level of the organization. Every leader sets the tone for the people who follow them no matter where they work or how many people they supervise. If you lead in your organization, consider what kind of tone you set for the people you lead and remember - not all leaders are supervisors and not all supervisors lead.