Ashlee Lolkus ⋅ Washington , DC U.S. Army National Guard, Sergeant First Class ⋅ 13 years served

Great advice, Tom!

I think your ideas are great! I'm in a number of public affairs related groups and have been a PRSA member for a few years now. They both offer some really great tools to help peers throughout the field. I would highly recommend being involved with PRSA and following the following groups on LinkedIn: PRSA, IABC, Military PAO, DINFOS trained killers alumni assn., just to name a few. I hadn't given much thought to creating a new group, but for my intentions, I think it might be a great idea!

I'll let you know how it all turns out! Thanks for the suggestion!

Tom Cal, CFA ⋅ San Francisco , CA Army Veteran, Investment Manager ⋅ 25 years experience

Re" "what are you doing to sharpen your skills", maybe see http://www.prsa.org/Learning/

Tom Cal, CFA ⋅ San Francisco , CA Army Veteran, Investment Manager ⋅ 25 years experience

Ashlee,
First, I applaud your initiative in posting the question. This should be a forum where we are open to asking questions that may or may not get answered. You never know when someone will see a question and what the answer may lead to.

This is not a direct answer, but I'd like to hear what you think of this idea:

Research if there is a LinkedIn group for Veterans in Public Relations. (I could not find one, but maybe I missed it.) If there is not, create a group on LinkedIn called "Military Veterans in Public Relations." Use social media, email, word-of-mouth, business-cards (you can award yourself the title of "Founder"), etc. to promote it. See what happens.

The downside is that it takes perhaps 30-minutes of your time and maybe $20 for business cards. The upside is you create a great resource for yourself and others. Over time, you can develop formal posting guidelines, etc, but don't worry to much about that at first. Just try something.

(So you know where I am coming from, I often let "the perfect" be the "enemy of the good". Sometimes, there is really no harm in trying. You might be surprised what you start. )

Ashlee Lolkus ⋅ Washington , DC U.S. Army National Guard, Sergeant First Class ⋅ 13 years served

Thanks, John!

Perhaps a different forum may have been more appropriate, but I thought I'd give it a shot! I appreciate your forwarding of my request!

Respectfully,

Ashlee

John Stevens ⋅ Middletown , MD ⋅ 20 years experience

Ashlee,

I've asked some veterans that have made this transition to see if they can advise you. I'll let you know about their responses. I hope to connect you with them.

Thanks - John