The journey from military service to civilian career success can be one of the most challenging transitions many veterans and military spouses face. In this enlightening conversation with Victoria Thompson from American Corporate Partners (ACP), we uncover a powerful resource that's transforming thousands of veterans' lives through personalized mentorship.
Victoria shares her own compelling journey – from joining the Army at 17 and serving in Psychological Operations to navigating college as a veteran and building a career while supporting her military spouse lifestyle. Her firsthand experience with the "otherness" many veterans feel when reentering civilian life provides authentic context for the work she now does helping others bridge that gap.
At the heart of this episode is the remarkable story of ACP, a nonprofit founded in 2008 that has grown from serving 300 veterans to maintaining approximately 5,000 mentorship pairs at any given time. The program pairs veterans and military spouses with corporate professionals who guide them through the complexities of career transition – from translating military skills on resumes to navigating salary negotiations and professional networking.
What makes ACP unique? Unlike many resources, they focus on meaningful employment rather than just job placement. Their comprehensive human-driven approach (no AI here!) includes one-on-one mentorship lasting a full year with regular check-ins and personalized support. Perhaps most impressive is their track record: proteges who find jobs during mentorship average starting salaries exceeding $90,000, and remarkably, only about 45% have four-year degrees.
The conversation explores how networking has become increasingly critical in today's job market, where AI screening systems often filter out qualified candidates. Victoria shares practical insights about how veterans can overcome common transition challenges, from imposter syndrome to difficulty articulating military experience in civilian terms.
Ready to transform your own transition or support a veteran in your life? Discover how ACP's free mentorship program is building bridges to meaningful careers and restoring hope for the military community. Visit acp-usa.org to learn more or volunteer as a mentor yourself.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Scott McLean (00:00):
Welcome to the podcast.
I'm Scott McLean.
My guest today is VictoriaThompson.
Victoria is with AmericanCorporate Partners, or ACP.
Acp helps veterans and spousesfind their next career.
How you doing, victoria?
Victoria Thompson (00:17):
I'm doing really well.
How are you?
Scott McLean (00:19):
I'm doing good.
Thank you for coming on thepodcast.
Victoria Thompson (00:21):
Thanks for having me.
Scott McLean (00:23):
Yeah, so let's get into it.
Tell us a little about yourself.
Victoria Thompson (00:28):
I joined the Army when I was 17.
Out of high school I went anddid psychological operations.
I got to go to airborne seerschool, language school, did all
the fun stuff.
I left the service and I knew Iwanted to go to college.
I had that GI Bill burning inmy pocket so I went ahead and
pursued public or publicrelations was the career that,
the degree that I got.
So I went to college at theUniversity of Akron and I
(00:51):
actually ended up being in aplace where no one wants to step
up.
I feel like volunteering andit's a very common theme.
Everyone wants the services.
No one wants to step up and dothe stuff.
So our veteran serviceorganization for the university,
our president, was leaving andno, I wanted to do it.
So I did it and I got to dothat for a year and I was the
speaker at my college graduation.
Before leaving that I marriedmy husband, who was also.
(01:15):
He was prior service but hewent back in.
He did the green and goldprogram.
He has a couple years left andhe'll be retired.
So I've been in around andserving the military space since
2006.
It's been a wild ride.
Scott McLean (01:27):
Wow, jumped in at 17 years old, turned 18 in basic
training.
Is that what you said?
Victoria Thompson (01:33):
I did.
I am the third generation ofairborne in my family.
Scott McLean (01:36):
Wow, yep, that's pretty cool actually.
Victoria Thompson (01:40):
Yeah, it was my mom and my grandpa.
So it wasn't my dad, it was mymom who was airborne.
Scott McLean (01:44):
Well, there you go .
That's a little twist.
I'm sure the average person wasthinking oh wow, your mom set
that standard for you.
Very cool Military intelligenceshe must have been over the
moon with that.
Victoria Thompson (01:57):
She was excited.
Scott McLean (01:58):
Yeah, yeah, that's pretty cool.
That's pretty cool.
My husband is still a leg, so Ihave that over him.
American corporate partners.
What's the background?
What's the history of ACP?
Victoria Thompson (02:12):
Yeah.
So Sid Gottfried is our founder.
He was there when the TwinTowers went down and he wanted
to find a way to give back.
He was too old to go into theservice and he was thinking
about ways that he someone whowas in business, banking could
give back to the veteranpopulation.
So in 2008, he was looking atwhat is it that veterans are
struggling with the most, andone of the things that he saw
was unemployment.
So to give back in a moremeaningful way, he wanted to
(02:34):
help people find meaningfulemployment.
That's the whole program is tohelp people find meaningful
employment, because one of thethings we notice a lot when
we're looking at the veterancommunity, it's not that we're
not getting jobs.
I have plenty of friends who aregetting jobs, but they're
bouncing around.
How many friends do you havethat are just going from one job
to the next?
It's not the right culture,it's not the right fit, it
doesn't meet their needs.
So, finding a job where you'reappreciated, you enjoy what
(02:56):
you're doing, you're paid enough, there's benefits, that work
for your family, it's hard right.
So we're there to fill that gapand we do it through mentorship
.
We pair someone with thatprotege based on what it is they
want to achieve.
And every time we get a grantand we're able to grow, we grow
Because we are a nonprofit.
Everything we do is free forour proteges.
So we didn't used to offermentorship for spouses, but
(03:20):
because we got a grant we wereable to start offering
mentorship for active dutyspouses.
And every time we get a littlebit more money, we open it up a
little bit more.
So we're constantly trying tosee how many people we can serve
in the population, because themilitary community really
deserves meaningful employment.
Scott McLean (03:34):
So where did the thought process of adding active
duty military spouses, becausethat's a pretty unique niche
right there?
Victoria Thompson (03:43):
It is, and one of the things I'm really
proud of is the fact that ifyou're a military spouses
because that's a pretty uniqueniche right there it is, and one
of the things I'm really proudof is the fact that if you're a
military spouse, you come to ourprogram.
We treat you just like ourveterans.
You have the same level ofservice and care.
But at the end of the day itwas because we're seeing so much
the underemployment right ofmilitary spouses.
So many have degrees, haveeducation, but because of moving
all the time and a lot ofdifferent constraints with
family and deployments, it'sreally hard for them to get jobs
(04:05):
.
And we had a lot of spousegroups come and advocate hey,
could ACP look at doing this,because it would be really
helpful.
Mentorship is transformationalfor a lot of people.
So that was something that wewanted to do.
But again, everything we do isgrant funded and donation funded
.
So when we got the donation todo it, it was actually for
specifically spouses that grant.
(04:27):
That's when we were able toopen that piece up and start
serving after duty spouses.
Scott McLean (04:32):
Let me jump back a little bit.
How was your transition fromthe military into?
Victoria Thompson (04:37):
the civilian life.
Because you said transitionaland I said I got to know your
story behind that.
So I think everyone's transitionis different and I was lucky
that I knew I wanted to go tocollege.
But a lot of people don't havethat.
They don't know what they wantto do when they get out.
Even if they have a GI bill,some people never use it, and
for me, college was.
(04:57):
It was scary because I feellike I was behind.
You know, you have all theseyoung people.
You're going through college atthe same time as them.
You're five years behind whatthey've already started.
Some of them are, you know, 18in the same class as you.
Scott McLean (05:11):
And how old were you when you went in, when you
went into college?
Victoria Thompson (05:14):
So I was 20, 21.
Scott McLean (05:19):
Okay.
Victoria Thompson (05:20):
Around there 21.
Yeah, and it was just, I feltsad, different world, different
world.
Scott McLean (05:27):
So you grew up in that military world where they
grew up.
Just, I'm not going to say youweren't a regular teenager,
right or regular, you know,young adult.
But that reminds me of a storywhen I was stationed in the
Philippines.
I went in when I was 23.
I went to college first, then Iwent into the military and
(05:48):
there was this kid from Chicago,18 years old.
He was going home on leavebecause at mid-tour you could go
home Like you're there for twoyears.
And I told him.
I said, Brian, it's going to bea different world when you go
back.
You've been hanging around in adifferent mindset, with
different age groups.
You could be with an NCO,that's 27, or you're with
(06:11):
another kid, that's 18.
So you're going to go home andyour friends are probably still
going to be drinking in thewoods and trying to get someone
to buy beer for them and so on.
I said so just be ready forthat.
It's not going to be the sameas when you left.
You've been gone for a year andyou don't realize how much you
grew up in that one year,considering being halfway across
(06:35):
the planet right he goes on his.
It takes his whole 30 days.
He comes back and he's like youwere absolutely right, he goes.
That's exactly what they weredoing.
I ended up going to the barswith my father like hanging out
with him and his friends.
Even though he wasn't evasive,like he's in the military, it's
like in somewhere in likeIllinois, this small town like
(06:57):
yeah come on in, kid, we don'tcare, we know the cops type deal
right, and so I can onlyimagine it was the same, with
you going from four years ofdoing what you did and growing
up faster than you probablythought you were, and then you
go into that world.
Was that something?
Victoria Thompson (07:18):
So when I was in, that was right after 9-11,
well, not right after, but veryclose to 9-11.
So we were on a very high tempodeployment pace.
Psyop is underneath the specialoperations umbrella, so we
deploy and they try not to makeus deploy for a year because
they don't want you to bestabilized, they want you to be
able to go back out.
So I missed every holiday forthe three years.
I was shippable and I went toAfghanistan, I went to Qatar, I
(07:41):
went to Yemen, I was a programmanager.
So at 18, I was in Afghanistanrunning two national programs.
Because PSYOP is kind of likemarketing, right.
So we're doing billboards,advertising, marketing for these
different programs and I'mrunning it.
I'm creating the things, I'mworking with the graphic
designers, I'm working with thepublishing and everything,
talking to the embassy, workingwith the FBI guys.
(08:02):
And then I go to college andit's like you know nothing, you
start over.
And I had some college creditalready.
I took AP classes in highschool and my military
background gave me, so I didn'thave to take language in college
, which was great.
So I got those things, but Iwas still starting over at the
same level as teenagers andbeing treated the same way and
(08:23):
their level of experience andunderstanding of the world was
so small and it just gave youthat feeling of otherness, you
know.
So we created some differentsupports at the college and I
was very proud of the supportswe were able to set up.
We had a veterans lounge so wecould get away from it, all you
know, and you weren't studyingat the library with the kids and
(08:43):
stuff.
But I think that the people whoretired out when I went through
college the people that wereretired and going through
college were the ones that hadthe biggest transition shock,
right, Because they're, you know, 40 something going through
college with 18 year olds and itwas difficult.
So we had a large drop off ratefor our veteran population in
the college and we were workingon ways to fix that and to make
(09:06):
it better and let them know whatresources they had.
But a lot of people aren'twilling to ask for help.
You know that mindset that I doit myself, so getting people to
accept help was just likepulling teeth.
I even offered if you wanted tocome to the bar because we're
all older you can come and havea free beer on me to sit and
help talk about resources andwe'll have a good time.
(09:26):
But no one wanted to have oneperson come, so just finding
ways to get those resources tothem in a way that wasn't, you
know, forcing them in a way todo things they weren't
comfortable with.
So we ended up doing videos andwe would record one resource a
week and just email it out tothem so they could have it and
hopefully they would use it, andwe had a little bit of a drop
(09:48):
in our rate of dropouts.
But it was still pretty sad tosee the number of veterans who
just don't make it in collegebecause they don't feel like
they have support and they feelvery othered because they're
older, because they have thatlived experience, and it can be
a little bit overwhelming to tryand fit in when you already
look very different becauseyou're so much older than the
average population and there'salso the part of that whereas if
(10:13):
they were a combat veteran,that's a whole, nother element
yeah, add into the equation youknow of going back and dealing
I'm not saying dealing with, butbeing around that demographic
who has no, I mean zero clueabout what you went through.
Yeah.
Scott McLean (10:34):
And that goes for men and women.
Victoria Thompson (10:36):
It does.
Scott McLean (10:37):
And so I could see how that is a a hard transition
, but good on you for trying touh and and somewhat succeeding
and knocking down a little bitof that barrier, you know.
And so, okay, you graduate, yougraduate college, right?
Yep, I hope I didn't jump aheadof that.
I thought when I said thatquestion I'm like, well, what if
(10:57):
she didn't?
Victoria Thompson (10:58):
I did.
Scott McLean (10:59):
I got my bachelor's degree there you go I
think you would actuallymention that yeah, so you get
your bachelor's degree and yousay, all right, now I'm going
out into this world.
Right, yeah, and where did thattake you?
Victoria Thompson (11:12):
I'm a military spouse, so wherever my
husband goes, so okay.
So we went to Korea for alittle bit.
It was really cool.
I got to go on the subway,which is in English and Korean
it subway, which is in Englishand Korean.
It was a really neat experience, highly recommended if you ever
get a chance to go.
It was very cool.
I love the food.
And then after Korea we went toGermany.
(11:33):
Getting jobs while you'restationed overseas as a spouse
is very difficult.
I know they just had somedifferent requirements dropped
for people.
The SOFA agreements were justchanged, so hopefully that means
more spouses are able to workoverseas.
But when I was going throughand we were living in Germany,
we were only in Korea for a year, so it wasn't long enough to
really care about getting a jobIn Germany.
We were there for three yearsand getting a job there was if
(11:54):
it was on post I could get it.
If it was off post it'd be anightmare to work on the
paperwork just to get a job, andthen it wouldn't pay enough for
daycare and I ended up havingtwo kids while we were in
Germany.
I'm like I'm not going to paymore in daycare than I make you
know.
So I ended up volunteering,which is my.
(12:14):
One of my passions isvolunteering, so I did that for
the Red Cross.
I served as the programdirector's co-part, so I got to
do that.
We led a lot of differentresource fairs and taught people
about emergency messages andthe different resources that the
Red Cross offers.
I still volunteer with them.
And then I also volunteeredwith American Forces Network, so
our armed forces- armed forcesnetwork.
So I got to volunteer DJ and goon and you know, tell people
(12:38):
military Mondays a little bitmore military facts and jargon
and fun things, which was areally new experience for me.
And then I worked with thegarrison chaplain to do some
suicide prevention because thatwas something that we were
seeing.
I think we had four suicides intwo months, which was alarming.
You know that's a lot, and itwas really mostly younger men
who were just staying in theirbarracks room playing video
(12:58):
games.
So finding ways to get peopleto be engaged, working with the
better opportunities for singlesoldiers and creating different
ways to get people to be engaged, working with the Better
Opportunities for SingleSoldiers and creating different
ways to get people to ask thoseuncomfortable questions was a
big part of my time there.
Then we moved.
I got a job.
I worked for hospice and I wasa volunteer coordinator there to
help people be comfortablesitting with someone who's
(13:21):
passing, and I love that.
I actually really enjoyed.
Scott McLean (13:24):
God bless you for that.
Victoria Thompson (13:26):
It's a beautiful thing to be able to
help someone, because we are allgoing to be there at some point
.
But to have your last days withyour loved ones is special and
not everyone gets that.
So I got to do that and I gotto stand up a veteran support
system within that organization.
So Affinist Hospice is now ableto put the vets I forget what
(13:47):
it's called honoring veterans.
We honor veterans, so it's alittle logo that you get after
you start a veteran recognitionprogram within your hospice.
You have to do training on whatit is to means to serve
veterans.
You have to do a differentprogram.
So on Veterans Day we'd go andmeet with different patients who
were veterans in some of thenursing homes not just our
patients but all the veteransmake sure they got recognized
(14:09):
and celebrated.
We learned about retiring flags.
We created a new program calledRetire your Flag with Honor and
basically people could bringtheir flag in because one of the
ways you can have your flag getappropriately disposed of is
burning it.
So, helping it get cremated witha veteran who's passing was
like a last way to honor itright.
Scott McLean (14:28):
Wow, that's pretty interesting.
Victoria Thompson (14:30):
Yeah, so people gave their flags to us.
We would make sure that theveterans who wanted those that
were in the nursing homes weserved, would be able to request
that flag, and one of myvolunteers was a chaplain so he
would go and deliver it to thefamily.
So it's a really neat way tokind of touch on a lot of the
different points and make thefamily feel special too.
Scott McLean (14:46):
What a great idea.
Victoria Thompson (14:48):
Yeah, so we got to do that, and then we
moved, and we moved.
I feel like that's a commontheme.
Scott McLean (14:55):
Hence the military spouse.
Then we moved.
Victoria Thompson (14:58):
Yeah.
Then we moved and I got to workfor the Red Cross as a program
manager.
So I was the regional programmanager for Georgia's Southeast
region.
I covered four differentinstallations, mostly Fort
Stewart.
And the Red Cross doesn't justdo the emergency messages, we
also do crisis help for veteransso you can call in and ask for
resources.
So I did that.
I also led the resiliencyprogram for the Red Cross and
(15:20):
that was during COVID.
So it was really challenging tofind ways to help people
without being in person.
So we got a lot of people to gothrough like stress relief
classes, understanding andcoping with communication issues
, and there was a lot of peoplerequesting those services during
that time.
So we did as much as we couldto help the community while they
were going through thosetroubling times.
(15:42):
Then we moved.
So after we moved I ended uptaking a job as a secretary at
what is now the local school forus here, frederick County.
So I was working as theexecutive assistant for two of
the different programs diversity, equity and inclusion, and
advanced academics and I workedthere for a few years before I
(16:03):
got the job that I have.
Now I'm a senior operationsassociate for American Corporate
Partners.
I also work on the outreachteam, so I do presentations for
ACP.
I reach out to set up newpartnerships.
We work with a lot of differentorganizations.
We don't believe in a this orthat.
It's very much.
Use as many resources as youcan.
Make sure you know what youhave.
If there's something you can'tuse right now, try and remember
(16:29):
it for later.
So I really like that we'rethere encouraging you to reach
out and have as much support aspossible.
Not just use us, but use everyresource you can, because
there's a lot of them out thereyes, there is, that's.
Scott McLean (16:36):
Yeah, I'll tell you what, victoria, I've never
said this on my podcast.
You make me tired justlistening to what you've done in
the past.
You're a very inspirationalperson, like you are just into
it.
I do like helping though yeah,well, evidently, I think now I'm
the president of rec, so that'smy current volunteerism what's
(16:59):
that?
Victoria Thompson (17:00):
I'm the president of our town's parks
and rec committee, again becausethe president stepped down and
no one wanted to do it and Isaid, all right, I do this
because it needs to be done.
Scott McLean (17:10):
And our mutual friend Mark Flynn was the one
that mentioned this.
He is another guy, that one ofthose.
It must be a Frederick thing,because he's always busy doing
something too.
Victoria Thompson (17:20):
So I found that people who volunteer
consistently are serialvolunteers.
They're probably volunteeringin multiple capacities because
there's a need in the community.
It's not so much that we lovevolunteering although I do and
I'm very passionate about thatand speaking about why you
should, it's just that I seethings that I want in my
community complaining about whydon't we do this.
(17:47):
I want to be part of hey.
Now we do this, so I get to goout there and kind of poke
people and say you asked forthis, now you have to attend,
because if you don't attend, Iwon't do it again.
Scott McLean (17:55):
Let's talk a little bit about or you know a
lot about American corporatepartners.
I want to punch out somenumbers here for the listeners.
So ACP has a mentoring programand these numbers are
fascinating.
Mentoring program success37,000 plus veterans and active
duty spouses have become ACPalumni since 2010.
(18:19):
37,000 plus 4,606 veterans andactive duty spouses became ACP
alumni in 2024 alone.
90,000 plus dollars ACP'sestimate of the average starting
salary for protégés who obtaina job during their mentorship.
(18:41):
And 3,085 protégés obtainedmeaningful employment during the
course of their mentorship in2024 alone.
And these are some of theprotégés.
Well, it says protégés obtainedemployment at 1,630 or 830
(19:03):
companies, including I'm goingto name these off Amazon, bank
of America, blackrock, bloomberg, disney, goldman Sachs, johnson
Johnson, johnson ControlsInternational Paper, lockheed
Martin and controlsInternational paper, lockheed
Martin, mckinsey and Company,morgan Stanley, northrop Grumman
, pwc, rtx, visa, ubs, usaa andWells Fargo.
(19:27):
That's impressive.
Victoria Thompson (19:29):
You want to know something even more
impressive.
Scott McLean (19:31):
Yeah.
Victoria Thompson (19:32):
Only about 45% of our protégés actually
have a four-year degree, so thatstarting salary is not
reflected of having highereducation necessarily.
One of my favorite things totalk about is, at the end of the
day, when you're coming throughthis, you get to talk to your
mentor, not just about yourresume, not just about your
skills and experience, which isvery important.
You need to make sure you'retranslating those things
appropriately.
But you also get to talk aboutpay negotiation and, for people
(19:55):
who are leaving the service andhave never had to do that,
that's a very hard conversationto have.
So having someone talk to youabout, hey, these are the things
you need to be asking for,these are the benefits you
should be expecting, these arethe things to talk about in that
conversation and how toapproach it helps so much when
you're looking at what is my paygoing to be right, because
(20:22):
they're always going to try andpay you the least possible
amount for the job but if youcan articulate what it is you
did when you were in the service, because translating your
military skills is a challengenot only for us but even for the
HR people.
One of the mentors we had comeon board said look, I think this
person might be qualified, butI can't read that.
I don't know what that is.
It doesn't line up with the jobdescription, it's not getting
past me.
They're not getting aninterview because it might work
but because of the way it'swritten, it doesn't work for us
(20:45):
right now.
So he came on board just tohelp people translate experience
.
Because if you have skills andexperience, if you've been a
first sergeant, if you've beenmanaging operations and program
project management and doing allthose things, having a degree
isn't necessarily important, butyou have to be able to market
yourself appropriately anddemonstrate those skills and
that experience.
Then have that pay negotiationconversation, because you can
(21:06):
get those jobs if you have thosethings.
And the only other thing I'mgoing to say is networking.
At the end of the day, if youare job searching, I don't care
if you're a veteran or anyoneelse networking is one of the
most important things you aregoing to do in this job market.
When you look at what AI hasdone to the job market, it has
done a lot of damage becausethose HR people are getting over
(21:27):
200 applications each and everytime they post a job.
So filtering through that isreally difficult.
That's why we're seeing jobsget reposted and reposted
because people are putting in aapplication that looks like it
lines up because they had AI fixtheir application, but it
doesn't actually mean that theyhave those qualifications or
skills in the interviews, right.
So then they have to go backthrough the interview process
(21:48):
and do it all over again with200 applicants again.
So when you see that and youget discouraged, it's not your
fault, it's not the HR person'sfault, it's AI.
So at the end of the day, ifyou know someone in an
organization, your chances ofhaving your resume, looked at by
a person and not just filtered,goes up significantly and then
you get an interview and thenyou get to have those
conversations right.
(22:09):
But networking is the singlemost important thing you are
going to do in a job searchtoday, so highly recommend it.
That's how I got this job aregoing to do in the job search
today, so highly recommend it.
Scott McLean (22:18):
That's how I got this job.
Yeah, so that's the thing whenyou get out, I did 10 years, so
I was even more, you know, in amilitary mindset when I got out
than just four years, and fouryears is still a long time you
do get reset you do?
I got offered my job by customsat the time it was us customs,
now it's cbp and they asked meso we're gonna start you off at,
(22:42):
I think they said like 30, 34000 a year.
This is back in like 1997, yeah, and I was like, and they asked
me is that okay?
And I was like, yeah, like noteven thinking that that number
one is a lot of money comparedto what I was making while I was
in Right.
Only to find out it's not a lotof money and I didn't know how
(23:07):
to say well, is there anegotiation here?
Victoria Thompson (23:10):
Yeah.
Scott McLean (23:10):
You know, is there ?
Does my experience?
Okay, my experience got me thisfar, but is there another?
But is there another thing wecould talk about?
I had no concept about that,because I think the majority of
veterans that get out they Idon't know I could be wrong here
, but I don't think they takeany of those transition courses.
(23:30):
I know I didn't.
Victoria Thompson (23:32):
I did, and I should have.
Scott McLean (23:33):
You didn't, I did, I did all the classes.
Victoria Thompson (23:36):
I'm a nerdy person.
I got every book, everypamphlet, and the thing that I
found frustrating is, even thenthere was a lot of resources but
a lot of it didn't feelapplicable Right, so it wasn't
something I had used.
It wasn't something that reallywas functional for me.
I needed to have specificqualifications for different
things and it ended up beingstuff I put in my I love me
(23:56):
binder and I haven't looked atin a while, you know.
So it's great to have thosethings, but to know when to use
them is very much difficult,even when you're in the classes.
So having one of the things thatwe do that I really like is you
have support the whole year.
So you get paired up with amentor.
That's in the career area thatyou're looking at going into,
but you have someone like mewho's sitting there saying, hey,
(24:17):
do you need anything?
And it's basically a conciergeservice in the background of
your mentorship.
So if you say, hey, I've neverwritten a resume, I don't know
where to start.
I got you, I'm gonna send you atemplate, some resources for
targeting it.
I can even send you stuff fortranslating your military
experience, no-transcript, andhopefully one of those things is
(24:47):
helpful sometime.
It's a lot more convenient foryour actual achievement of goals
.
Scott McLean (24:53):
Or it's better than running it through AI and
it feeding a lot of falseinformation or bloated
information that you don'treally fit into that, but it
looks good.
Victoria Thompson (25:05):
Yeah, it looks good.
Scott McLean (25:07):
It certainly looks good.
So ACP is nationwide.
Victoria Thompson (25:11):
We are.
We even have a couple ofproteges that are international,
so you can still do that ifyou're overseas.
Scott McLean (25:18):
How many states are?
Victoria Thompson (25:19):
you in Every single state.
We have proteges and mentors inevery single state.
I have several mentors in theMiddle East.
I have several proteges inEurope.
I have a couple that are rightnow in Korea, so it just depends
on where you need us.
We will tell you that you haveto work on the time zone, so
make sure you're lining up yourtime zone calls when you're
reaching out to your mentor, butyou can be anywhere in the
world.
Scott McLean (25:39):
Anywhere in the world.
So I'm a veteran.
I just got out and I hear thisinterview and like yeah, I'm in,
I'm in South Florida.
Let's go to the website, right,which?
Victoria Thompson (25:51):
is acp-usaorg .
Scott McLean (25:56):
Yep and it gives you all the information you need
to know, right there, yep,right, and now.
You won't necessarily Iwouldn't necessarily be linked
up with a mentor in florida perse no okay, all right, so it's
it would be virtual.
It just depends on where theyare and how you work it out yep.
Victoria Thompson (26:16):
So about 80 of our mentorships are long
distance.
We're focusing on career fitrather than location, cause if I
can find you someone that'slocal that doesn't have the same
career area, it's not going tobe helpful.
What you can do is take and useour one-time information calls.
You can request those anytimeafter you get a mentor to speak
to someone that's local to youto talk about the job market and
to do some networking, but theywon't necessarily have the same
(26:37):
career area.
So we can't pair you based onlocation If it's not going to
help you reach the goals.
We want you to reach your goal,whatever that is.
For some people it's starting asmall business, for other
people is getting a job and forsome of our spouses it's.
I haven't been in the job marketfor a while.
I don't know where to start.
I don't know what I want to do.
So actually I don't know what Iwant to do is the most common
one we get overall, likemilitary or spouses.
(27:00):
I don't know what I want to dois a continuous problem, no
matter where you are.
Even the people that are outand they've been out for a while
are like, hey, I don't.
I don't know where I'm goingbut I have paused here and I'm
not growing.
So how do I grow?
Or pivot from what I'm doingnow?
So it's common.
Scott McLean (27:16):
And the process to get into the program.
Is there any stipulations otherthan being a veteran or a
spouse of a veteran?
Is there any?
How's that process?
Victoria Thompson (27:28):
So in order to be eligible for our program,
you have to have 180 days activeduty service after 9-11.
Again, we're a grant fundedorganization, so whenever we get
more money, we open it up tomore organization.
So whenever we get more money,we open it up to more people.
But that's what we have.
For our veterans, you can beactive right now in
transitioning out.
We ask that you be about sixmonths from transition because
we want to make sure that mentorcan walk with you through your
transition, and six months afteras well.
(27:50):
And then for our spouses, youcan be an active duty spouse,
the spouse of a disabled veteranor a gold star spouse, and on
that application for spousesit's a dropdown menu.
They just select what theireligible criteria is and then we
don't ask questions after that.
We just have to know that youqualify based on one of those
things.
Scott McLean (28:07):
So the six month out program?
How would I so?
I'm six months out.
How would I find out about this?
Are you?
Do you have any type ofrelationship with the DOD?
Yes, you do, and for thelisteners, she's nodding her
head big we do so.
Victoria Thompson (28:23):
We work with the TAP programs, we work with
the USO, we reach out to thedifferent FRGs Like we're trying
in as many ways as possible.
One of the biggest, what's FRGs?
Scott McLean (28:32):
for the listeners that might not know oh sorry,
family readiness groups.
Victoria Thompson (28:35):
So we reached out to the family readiness
groups.
We're trying to be in as manyplaces as possible.
It's just difficult because weare a smaller nonprofit.
That being said, our largerpartners, like Wounded Warrior
Project, knows about us andrefers people.
Uso, like I said, refers peopleto us.
Onward Opportunity lets me do apresentation for all their
classes so they get to learnabout us too.
We're also working with some ofthe skill bridges, so whenever
(28:57):
they go, their cohorts come inand do presentations.
We do presentations for them.
I get to do presentations for alot of that, which is really
fun.
I love the questions.
They always come with someinteresting questions depending
on who we're working with, butat the end of the day, I think
the majority of people hearabout us word of mouth.
My friend went through it andnow I'm telling you and that's
great because it means peoplelike what we do.
(29:19):
But it's also great that we'reable to grow organically in that
way.
Scott McLean (29:23):
What's the growth been like?
Is it consistently or does itlevel off?
Is there an ebb and flow?
Victoria Thompson (29:30):
We have been consistently growing since we
started in 2008.
The first year, I think, we had300 participants in 2008.
And this year we keep around5,000 pairs at any given point
in time and we've been growinglike overall end to end.
We are constantly hiring tomake sure we can meet the needs
of our participants.
Scott McLean (29:48):
And what was the first year?
Victoria Thompson (29:50):
300 participants.
Scott McLean (29:51):
And what year was that?
Victoria Thompson (29:53):
2008.
Scott McLean (29:54):
That's amazing.
Up to 5,000 plus.
Victoria Thompson (29:58):
Yeah, 5,000 plus, at any time, pairs that
we're working with and thenpeople that we're trying to pair
is on top of that number.
So I think there's about 7,000proteges that we're actively
either trying to pair or workingwith within a pair right now.
Scott McLean (30:12):
How many people, for lack of a better term,
volunteer slash work for ACP?
Victoria Thompson (30:18):
So we have paid staff that's your
operations associates that aredoing that concierge service in
the back, that's needed.
Yep, they make everything keepon track.
You're kind of like youraccountability buddies there.
So those, we have about 75personnel right now, but for
mentors who are volunteers rightnow I can give you the number
it's over 500.
5,000.
Scott McLean (30:40):
You just broke up over how long, I didn't know.
Victoria Thompson (30:44):
So we have over 5,000 mentors right now.
So paired mentors we've got4,790, and unpaired mentors
we've got 1,082.
Wow, so those are allvolunteers.
And when you think about it,and what you get out of mentors
is not just having that careerconversation.
A lot of them stay in touchafterwards.
A lot of our pairs keep thatfriendship.
(31:06):
You know, once our service endsand that's the goal is to pair
you up with someone that has somuch in common with you or that
can help you so much that afteryou leave our program you still
have some support.
Scott McLean (31:16):
Well, a good mentor.
Once that relationship isestablished, that's an
investment of their time andtheir knowledge, and I think it
only makes sense that if I'mmentoring somebody and they get
to where they want it to be like, I'd really want to know how
you doing Like let's stay intouch, Keep me posted, and if
(31:38):
there's anything else, I can dobecause that's the relationship.
And if there's anything else Ican do because that's the
relationship.
Look, I'm sure that is not like, hey, we talked for a week and
I got him a job and I'm on tothe next person or her a job.
It's not that simple.
This is an investment in bothof them in their time, and it
becomes a relationshipinevitably.
Now what happens if thatscenario of this isn't working?
(32:02):
Like I'm not feeling thisperson.
Victoria Thompson (32:05):
It person.
Scott McLean (32:05):
Yeah, I'm sure it does.
Victoria Thompson (32:07):
Yeah, and it's totally normal.
We completely understand.
We are here to make sure thingsgo smoothly, so we do mediation
.
If it's something where it'slike I'm just not feeling it, I
need a little more than that,cause I'm trying to get you to
the goal that you listed.
So call me your goals to get ajob doing this and I pair you
with someone that's doing that,then I need to know what
specifically isn't working.
So either we can fix it or wecan find something else.
Most of our pairs is just well,I didn't quite hit it off and I
(32:29):
don't know how to go from here.
Right, and that's fine.
I will send you some discussiontopics, some activities to work
on to get you guys to talk toeach other, so you have a little
bit more of that personalconnection and you can move on.
If it's not that simple andeveryone's well, it's not then
we can work on repairing you.
But we have to try to domediation to make sure it's not
that.
And then we're going to switchthe topic and ask what is more
(32:50):
important career fit Cause thiswas a perfect career fit or
personality people?
For some people, personality ismore important.
I've had that happen.
I had a protege that startedoff and it was something very
specific.
It was like human sciences, andI only had one mentor that
matched up and I was so excitedbecause sometimes we don't have
a mentor.
That's a perfect match, youknow.
So I'm like this is a perfectmatch.
(33:11):
This is wonderful.
But the personalities wereclashing really hard and we
weren't able to mediate theconversation so that they were
talking in a way that theprotege could reach a goal right
.
So we said, all right, thisisn't working, that's fine.
Now what is more important toyou?
Because this clearly is theright fit based on what you want
to achieve but would it bebetter to have someone that can
(33:32):
be more like a cheerleaderaccountability buddy as opposed
to someone in that career?
And she said, yes, that thatwas a better fit for her and she
had a really great mentorship.
We actually found someone whowas a career coach to work with
her.
That was just.
I know we have some mentorsthat are career coaches and this
was a great fit because it wasmore personality based and
(33:52):
that's what she needed wassomeone to really just cheer her
on while she did it.
Scott McLean (33:54):
So what if I come in and I'm like, okay, I have a
degree in canine science and Iwant to work with dogs, which is
a very and I do, and a degreein canine science and I want to
work with dogs, which is a veryand I do, and and I did,
fortunately, but that's kind ofa unique trade or or or field of
employment or however you look.
So I'm sure you don't have, ormaybe you do, maybe I'm, I'm
(34:14):
guessing here somebody thatwould fit that type of career.
Victoria Thompson (34:20):
So you have a zoologist.
I'm just saying.
Scott McLean (34:24):
Okay, so no, let's go with that.
So you would say well, we haveasked you some questions.
Victoria Thompson (34:30):
If I don't feel like I've got a good fit
for you and that happens.
I had one person who wanted tobe a pilot and also own a salon
and I said I am not going to beable to find that combination.
So we're going to ask you toprioritize some things right,
like what do you really want tosee?
If I can't find you a mentorthat is in this exact job,
because it happens then what doyou want to get?
What is your main goal for thismentorship?
(34:50):
Is it getting a job?
Is it finding a way to marketyourself better and then finding
a mentor that can do thosethings with you, even if they
aren't in the same exact careerfield?
And that is the.
The ticket is finding thepersonality and the person that
can still help you achieve thatgoal.
I did a pair today.
The protege really didn't knowwhat he wanted to do.
He was saying that was my nextquestion.
Scott McLean (35:12):
That was my next question, so let's go with that,
yeah.
Victoria Thompson (35:14):
Yeah, and he wanted to work with his hands.
I'm like I don't have that manymentors that work with their
hands.
But, okay, tell me what youwant, what you're looking at,
what you're thinking about.
And at the end of theconversation I said I hear what
you're saying and what I'mreally hearing is you don't know
what you want, but you want todo something where you can be
more physically active and moreinvolved in your work and
potentially do something inlogistics or warehousing or what
(35:35):
have you.
Does that sound fair?
He said, yeah, that sounds fair, cause I really don't know.
But I just need help, I need tomake a path, I need a direction
.
I'm like, okay.
So I read him a description of amentor that I have who is not
in any of the career fields thathe had selected.
But this mentor has a veryniche ability to sit there and
listen when you have problems,right.
So he's someone that not onlylistens but will go out of his
(35:57):
way to find resources to workwith you to get some clarity,
because not every mentor has thetime, willingness or ability to
sit with you and do that right.
So it was a more personalitymatch, but at the end of the day
.
I knew they'd be a great fit,because this protege needs
someone to really talk to andthis mentor is going to be
willing to listen and then wecan do information calls once he
(36:18):
has a path, so he can at leastget that information out there,
do those networking pieces andask the questions once he has a
direction to move in.
Scott McLean (36:26):
Makes sense.
So I read off about 18, I thinkgive or take one or two big
companies at the beginning ofthe podcast.
I know there's a lot more.
How do you go about?
How does American CorporatePartners go about reaching out
to these big players, that it'shard to get through some of
(36:49):
those walls to get to the rightpeople.
So how do you chip away at thestone?
Do you guys have a greatreputation in that world?
How does it happen?
Victoria Thompson (37:01):
So we have a pretty good reputation.
I'm very proud of the work thatwe do, but at the end of the
day, sid came to this andcreated this and founded this
when he already had a network ofconnections on Wall Street.
So between his alreadyconnections and then the
continuous reaching out to otherpeople that he knows and
networking, we've been able togrow.
Because those are all corporatepartners, so they make what we
(37:22):
do possible between them andsmall donations.
Everything is free because ofthat and they get something out
of it too, because a lot of themare actually trying to hire
veterans.
So Tuesdays and Thursdays ACPgoes live on LinkedIn with our
different corporate partners andthey get to talk about
initiatives they have at theirorganization.
It's usually veterans that workthere that are talking about
the organization, theirexperiences, their transition
(37:44):
and then what the company islooking for or what the company
is doing in the veteran space,so that people can see that and
have a little bit moreunderstanding of what they're
looking for and they can askquestions.
Scott McLean (37:54):
You go live on LinkedIn.
You said on what days.
Victoria Thompson (37:56):
Tuesdays and Thursdays at one.
Scott McLean (37:58):
All right, I'll have to dig that up.
Victoria Thompson (38:00):
I'll send you the link.
Scott McLean (38:01):
Yes, send me the link.
I'm on LinkedIn and I'll bemore than glad to share it.
Plus, you're going to go on mywebsite, which has become is a
very good resource page initself from nonprofits and now
this all over the country.
So I'd be glad to have that andI'd be glad to push the cause.
So let's let's talk about money.
(38:23):
That's the one always, and thelisteners know I know here we go
, I'm going to say the wordsgive them your money.
So give me a reason to give mylisteners the, the words give
them money.
Victoria Thompson (38:39):
I would say, yeah, so we do actually do a
fundraiser.
The Navy army game is ourbiggest fundraiser and that is
you can pay to.
You know, kind of like MarchMadness, which one do you think
will win?
You pay for your team and thenat the end of the day we see
which one wins and then we seewhich one wins our fundraiser.
So that's a fun way to do yourgiving, because it's definitely
important.
(39:04):
But one of the things that Iknow that our program does
really well is give people hope,because when we're looking at
the job search, it can be sodisheartening, it can feel so
demoralizing.
You see so many people onLinkedIn saying I've been
searching for six months andnothing.
I've been searching for a yearand nothing.
People are transitioning out,even if they have a degree,
experience and everything else,and they're still struggling in
(39:24):
that job search.
So having hope is a huge partof this whole process giving
people courage to move forward,giving them a little bit of
support in a time when they arereally struggling and helping
them fight imposter syndrome,because we have a lot of people
coming through that have thatfeeling like, well, I know the
military, but I don't knowoutside.
(39:44):
I don't know that I can make it.
So having that hope is a hugepart of what we do and for our
spouses it's even more important.
I went to an event I got tospeak at, amplify, which is a
hiring our heroes event, and itwas for spouses to get them
moving in the right directionwith their career goals.
And one of the things thatreally disheartened me the most
was I asked everyone to do anactivity and they had a paper.
(40:06):
It was doing a SWOT assessmentand then a career plan and they
were working with the peoplearound them to fill that in.
What is my career plan?
What are my strengths, myweaknesses, my opportunities?
And this lady was so upset shesaid I have no skills, I have no
value, I have no experience.
I've been a homemaker.
I don't know where to start.
She had a degree and she hadbeen volunteering.
(40:27):
She had experiences and it waswatching the people around her
lift her up, give her that hopeback, help her understand and
see herself in a different light.
That was so transformational.
And that's just peer to peermentorship.
Right, do that today.
Go talk to a friend, look atyour resume with someone you
know and get a little bit offeedback.
But when you're talking tosomeone who's in that career
(40:47):
industry that can tell you thisis what I'm expecting to see out
of a resume, this is what I'mexpecting you to understand in
an interview so that when youhave that and you don't mess up
those things and you can get thejob is huge.
Having that is a big part ofmoving forward and finding that
meaningful employment.
And we actually check in on ourprotégés, so we're not just
giving you numbers and sayingthis is correct.
(41:08):
We're actually checking in onthese people every two years to
see are you still there?
Is this still a job that youlike?
Because, at the end of the day,it's meaningful employment, not
just employment meaningfulemployment that we want you to
get.
Scott McLean (41:20):
Well, this is a cause well worth donating to, so
is there a donation button onyour site?
Victoria Thompson (41:27):
There is a donation link on our website.
We always appreciate anythingpeople give us.
I think every mentorship isabout $1,000.
So, like right now, we have5,000 and 10 mentorships going,
but every time we add enoughmoney to grow and expand again,
we open it up to more people,because that's what we want to
do is serve as many people aspossible.
(41:49):
And even if you apply for theprogram and you're not eligible,
we'll still reach out to you totry and see what resources
might be available for you,based on where you're at.
Scott McLean (41:57):
So you don't just say ah, you know good, we can't
help you.
Victoria Thompson (42:00):
Good, say ah, you know good, but we can't
help you.
Good luck.
No, we want to make sureeveryone gets some help.
Scott McLean (42:03):
There you go.
That's, that's beautiful.
And, as I always say, money isthe gasoline, it's the fuel that
runs the nonprofit machine.
It's the thing that no one evertalks about in the nonprofits.
We just want to look virtuous,but it's the money.
The money makes the machinemove and the machine does really
good work.
Victoria Thompson (42:22):
So and if you want to volunteer, we would
love to have you volunteer.
We always need more people,especially in niche areas like
dog training and everything else.
Scott McLean (42:30):
You can talk to Mark Flynn about that.
Victoria Thompson (42:32):
Because we have people that are interested
in doing those things.
We started recruiting forfarming because a lot more
people were coming and they wereinterested in small business.
So we started doing activerecruiting for mentors that
could speak about small farmsand family farms, and we have
several of them now because thatwas an interest.
So when we get feedback, we goand take that feedback and use
it to grow in intentional ways.
(42:53):
Ventures was created last year,which is a program within what
we do, and it's in conjunctionwith the mentorship.
So it's not this or that.
You get your mentorship, but youalso get to have access to the
Village, which is an onlineforum which has our small
business mentors.
There's about a thousandmentors in there that are
answering questions and it's allour mentors.
So it's not like LinkedIn,where you ask a question and get
(43:15):
spammed with a bunch of stuff.
You actually get responses thatmake sense and sometimes they
set up a call with you to talkabout whatever question it is
you have.
So it's a really great resource.
But it also has all of thosebig businesses, so IBM, usaa,
wwe they're all in thereoffering classes on planning
your business, marketing yourbusiness, financing your
business, growing your business.
(43:35):
So, whatever it is, whereveryou're at with that, you can
start a small business withthose classes.
You can go to the webinars andask questions.
It's a really great supportsystem and that doesn't stop
after a year.
So if you join that community,you have access to that for as
long as you'd like.
Scott McLean (43:50):
Wow, the endless aftercare.
Endless aftercare and aftercareis important and that is a form
of aftercare for somebody, aveteran, even though they don't
have any PTSD or TBIs or anytype of you know, va rating.
There's still the transitionand once they get past that
transition, it's always good toknow that there's something
(44:10):
still there to go back to.
You know, and I think that'sgreat.
This program is great.
I will have no problem pushingit and selling it and posting it
and talking about it, because Ijust learned something today.
This is a valuable, valuableasset that ACP is doing for
veterans.
(44:31):
So well, anything else.
Did I miss anything?
Did we miss anything?
Is there anything you want totalk about?
Victoria Thompson (44:37):
One of the things I will say that makes us
unique is also we don't use AI.
Everything is human driven.
So from the time you do yourapplication, someone will give
you a phone call All the waythrough your year.
You have someone reaching outto you every month making sure
you're doing okay, asking if youneed anything.
So you have a level of supportthat you really don't get
anywhere else and, regardless ofwhat life throws at you, we're
(44:57):
there to help support youthrough it, and that's something
that is unique in the resourceworld, cause a lot of times,
it's well, this is one thing andnow you can go to that
organization and they'll haveanother thing.
You get all of that support inone place, which is, I feel,
important, because a lot oftimes it's difficult, like I
said before, to know whichresources make sense and to
reach out to the ones that'll behelpful when you need something
(45:18):
.
Scott McLean (45:19):
It's a beautiful thing and if you're a veteran or
spouse of a veteran, don'tdon't do your resume through AI.
You just go to acpusaorg andsee if they can help you out.
I think that was a great pointthat you made, that people just
go in now and they're like oh, Ijust got a resume and they
(45:39):
don't really check it and theysend it off and it's not what
they really are and that's likeyou said.
It creates that backlog, thatcycle of get rid of all these.
Let's start over again.
Victoria Thompson (45:53):
Yeah, and the HR managers can see it, because
then it's the same responses inevery single resume.
So it's important to make surethat you're going through, even
if you're using something tohelp with your word targeting
and making it fit, you Don'tjust use whatever chat GP spits
out.
Scott McLean (46:06):
There you go, there you go.
Well, Victoria, this was anamazing interview.
I love learning about theseprograms that I never knew about
and there's a lot of them outthere and my job is to find
every one of them, and I'm gladthat Mark Flynn mentioned the
Vets Connection podcast that youreached out.
This is a very informativeepisode and I definitely will,
(46:29):
even in the South Florida area Iwill.
I talked to a lot of veteransand I have a.
I'm building a good network,networking, as you said, and I
think this is something thatthey're probably all going to
want to know about.
So, if they didn't already, ifthey didn't already, but I want
to thank you for your time.
I want to thank you for whatyou do.
(46:49):
I want to thank you for whatyou did in the hospice world.
I have a personal kind ofconnection to that and I know
what you did and how you did andI always appreciated that and I
appreciate you for doing that.
That's a different kind ofperson that does that and I
appreciate you for that.
And well, we built anotherbridge today.
(47:10):
I'm going to do my outro, sojust stick around.
We built another bridge today.
This was a very informativebridge.
They all are.
But if you are a veteran or aspouse of a veteran and you're
looking for your next career, goto ACPUSAorg and see.
Well, I'm sure they can helpyou either way.
(47:32):
And well, as I always say, youwill hear me next week with a
new episode.
Welcome to the podcast.
I'm Scott McLean.
My guest today is VictoriaThompson.
Victoria is with AmericanCorporate Partners, or ACP.
Acp helps veterans and spousesfind their next career.
How you doing, victoria?
Victoria Thompson (00:17):
I'm doing really well.
How are you?
Scott McLean (00:19):
I'm doing good.
Thank you for coming on thepodcast.
Victoria Thompson (00:21):
Thanks for having me.
Scott McLean (00:23):
Yeah, so let's get into it.
Tell us a little about yourself.
Victoria Thompson (00:28):
I joined the Army when I was 17.
Out of high school I went anddid psychological operations.
I got to go to airborne seerschool, language school, did all
the fun stuff.
I left the service and I knew Iwanted to go to college.
I had that GI Bill burning inmy pocket so I went ahead and
pursued public or publicrelations was the career that,
the degree that I got.
So I went to college at theUniversity of Akron and I
(00:51):
actually ended up being in aplace where no one wants to step
up.
I feel like volunteering andit's a very common theme.
Everyone wants the services.
No one wants to step up and dothe stuff.
So our veteran serviceorganization for the university,
our president, was leaving andno, I wanted to do it.
So I did it and I got to dothat for a year and I was the
speaker at my college graduation.
Before leaving that I marriedmy husband, who was also.
(01:15):
He was prior service but hewent back in.
He did the green and goldprogram.
He has a couple years left andhe'll be retired.
So I've been in around andserving the military space since
2006.
It's been a wild ride.
Scott McLean (01:27):
Wow, jumped in at 17 years old, turned 18 in basic
training.
Is that what you said?
Victoria Thompson (01:33):
I did.
I am the third generation ofairborne in my family.
Scott McLean (01:36):
Wow, yep, that's pretty cool actually.
Victoria Thompson (01:40):
Yeah, it was my mom and my grandpa.
So it wasn't my dad, it was mymom who was airborne.
Scott McLean (01:44):
Well, there you go .
That's a little twist.
I'm sure the average person wasthinking oh wow, your mom set
that standard for you.
Very cool Military intelligenceshe must have been over the
moon with that.
Victoria Thompson (01:57):
She was excited.
Scott McLean (01:58):
Yeah, yeah, that's pretty cool.
That's pretty cool.
My husband is still a leg, so Ihave that over him.
American corporate partners.
What's the background?
What's the history of ACP?
Victoria Thompson (02:12):
Yeah.
So Sid Gottfried is our founder.
He was there when the TwinTowers went down and he wanted
to find a way to give back.
He was too old to go into theservice and he was thinking
about ways that he someone whowas in business, banking could
give back to the veteranpopulation.
So in 2008, he was looking atwhat is it that veterans are
struggling with the most, andone of the things that he saw
was unemployment.
So to give back in a moremeaningful way, he wanted to
(02:34):
help people find meaningfulemployment.
That's the whole program is tohelp people find meaningful
employment, because one of thethings we notice a lot when
we're looking at the veterancommunity, it's not that we're
not getting jobs.
I have plenty of friends who aregetting jobs, but they're
bouncing around.
How many friends do you havethat are just going from one job
to the next?
It's not the right culture,it's not the right fit, it
doesn't meet their needs.
So, finding a job where you'reappreciated, you enjoy what
(02:56):
you're doing, you're paid enough, there's benefits, that work
for your family, it's hard right.
So we're there to fill that gapand we do it through mentorship
.
We pair someone with thatprotege based on what it is they
want to achieve.
And every time we get a grantand we're able to grow, we grow
Because we are a nonprofit.
Everything we do is free forour proteges.
So we didn't used to offermentorship for spouses, but
(03:20):
because we got a grant we wereable to start offering
mentorship for active dutyspouses.
And every time we get a littlebit more money, we open it up a
little bit more.
So we're constantly trying tosee how many people we can serve
in the population, because themilitary community really
deserves meaningful employment.
Scott McLean (03:34):
So where did the thought process of adding active
duty military spouses, becausethat's a pretty unique niche
right there?
Victoria Thompson (03:43):
It is, and one of the things I'm really
proud of is the fact that ifyou're a military spouses
because that's a pretty uniqueniche right there it is, and one
of the things I'm really proudof is the fact that if you're a
military spouse, you come to ourprogram.
We treat you just like ourveterans.
You have the same level ofservice and care.
But at the end of the day itwas because we're seeing so much
the underemployment right ofmilitary spouses.
So many have degrees, haveeducation, but because of moving
all the time and a lot ofdifferent constraints with
family and deployments, it'sreally hard for them to get jobs
(04:05):
.
And we had a lot of spousegroups come and advocate hey,
could ACP look at doing this,because it would be really
helpful.
Mentorship is transformationalfor a lot of people.
So that was something that wewanted to do.
But again, everything we do isgrant funded and donation funded
.
So when we got the donation todo it, it was actually for
specifically spouses that grant.
(04:27):
That's when we were able toopen that piece up and start
serving after duty spouses.
Scott McLean (04:32):
Let me jump back a little bit.
How was your transition fromthe military into?
Victoria Thompson (04:37):
the civilian life.
Because you said transitionaland I said I got to know your
story behind that.
So I think everyone's transitionis different and I was lucky
that I knew I wanted to go tocollege.
But a lot of people don't havethat.
They don't know what they wantto do when they get out.
Even if they have a GI bill,some people never use it, and
for me, college was.
(04:57):
It was scary because I feellike I was behind.
You know, you have all theseyoung people.
You're going through college atthe same time as them.
You're five years behind whatthey've already started.
Some of them are, you know, 18in the same class as you.
Scott McLean (05:11):
And how old were you when you went in, when you
went into college?
Victoria Thompson (05:14):
So I was 20, 21.
Scott McLean (05:19):
Okay.
Victoria Thompson (05:20):
Around there 21.
Yeah, and it was just, I feltsad, different world, different
world.
Scott McLean (05:27):
So you grew up in that military world where they
grew up.
Just, I'm not going to say youweren't a regular teenager,
right or regular, you know,young adult.
But that reminds me of a storywhen I was stationed in the
Philippines.
I went in when I was 23.
I went to college first, then Iwent into the military and
(05:48):
there was this kid from Chicago,18 years old.
He was going home on leavebecause at mid-tour you could go
home Like you're there for twoyears.
And I told him.
I said, Brian, it's going to bea different world when you go
back.
You've been hanging around in adifferent mindset, with
different age groups.
You could be with an NCO,that's 27, or you're with
(06:11):
another kid, that's 18.
So you're going to go home andyour friends are probably still
going to be drinking in thewoods and trying to get someone
to buy beer for them and so on.
I said so just be ready forthat.
It's not going to be the sameas when you left.
You've been gone for a year andyou don't realize how much you
grew up in that one year,considering being halfway across
(06:35):
the planet right he goes on his.
It takes his whole 30 days.
He comes back and he's like youwere absolutely right, he goes.
That's exactly what they weredoing.
I ended up going to the barswith my father like hanging out
with him and his friends.
Even though he wasn't evasive,like he's in the military, it's
like in somewhere in likeIllinois, this small town like
(06:57):
yeah come on in, kid, we don'tcare, we know the cops type deal
right, and so I can onlyimagine it was the same, with
you going from four years ofdoing what you did and growing
up faster than you probablythought you were, and then you
go into that world.
Was that something?
Victoria Thompson (07:18):
So when I was in, that was right after 9-11,
well, not right after, but veryclose to 9-11.
So we were on a very high tempodeployment pace.
Psyop is underneath the specialoperations umbrella, so we
deploy and they try not to makeus deploy for a year because
they don't want you to bestabilized, they want you to be
able to go back out.
So I missed every holiday forthe three years.
I was shippable and I went toAfghanistan, I went to Qatar, I
(07:41):
went to Yemen, I was a programmanager.
So at 18, I was in Afghanistanrunning two national programs.
Because PSYOP is kind of likemarketing, right.
So we're doing billboards,advertising, marketing for these
different programs and I'mrunning it.
I'm creating the things, I'mworking with the graphic
designers, I'm working with thepublishing and everything,
talking to the embassy, workingwith the FBI guys.
(08:02):
And then I go to college andit's like you know nothing, you
start over.
And I had some college creditalready.
I took AP classes in highschool and my military
background gave me, so I didn'thave to take language in college
, which was great.
So I got those things, but Iwas still starting over at the
same level as teenagers andbeing treated the same way and
(08:23):
their level of experience andunderstanding of the world was
so small and it just gave youthat feeling of otherness, you
know.
So we created some differentsupports at the college and I
was very proud of the supportswe were able to set up.
We had a veterans lounge so wecould get away from it, all you
know, and you weren't studyingat the library with the kids and
(08:43):
stuff.
But I think that the people whoretired out when I went through
college the people that wereretired and going through
college were the ones that hadthe biggest transition shock,
right, Because they're, you know, 40 something going through
college with 18 year olds and itwas difficult.
So we had a large drop off ratefor our veteran population in
the college and we were workingon ways to fix that and to make
(09:06):
it better and let them know whatresources they had.
But a lot of people aren'twilling to ask for help.
You know that mindset that I doit myself, so getting people to
accept help was just likepulling teeth.
I even offered if you wanted tocome to the bar because we're
all older you can come and havea free beer on me to sit and
help talk about resources andwe'll have a good time.
(09:26):
But no one wanted to have oneperson come, so just finding
ways to get those resources tothem in a way that wasn't, you
know, forcing them in a way todo things they weren't
comfortable with.
So we ended up doing videos andwe would record one resource a
week and just email it out tothem so they could have it and
hopefully they would use it, andwe had a little bit of a drop
(09:48):
in our rate of dropouts.
But it was still pretty sad tosee the number of veterans who
just don't make it in collegebecause they don't feel like
they have support and they feelvery othered because they're
older, because they have thatlived experience, and it can be
a little bit overwhelming to tryand fit in when you already
look very different becauseyou're so much older than the
average population and there'salso the part of that whereas if
(10:13):
they were a combat veteran,that's a whole, nother element
yeah, add into the equation youknow of going back and dealing
I'm not saying dealing with, butbeing around that demographic
who has no, I mean zero clueabout what you went through.
Yeah.
Scott McLean (10:34):
And that goes for men and women.
Victoria Thompson (10:36):
It does.
Scott McLean (10:37):
And so I could see how that is a a hard transition
, but good on you for trying touh and and somewhat succeeding
and knocking down a little bitof that barrier, you know.
And so, okay, you graduate, yougraduate college, right?
Yep, I hope I didn't jump aheadof that.
I thought when I said thatquestion I'm like, well, what if
(10:57):
she didn't?
Victoria Thompson (10:58):
I did.
Scott McLean (10:59):
I got my bachelor's degree there you go I
think you would actuallymention that yeah, so you get
your bachelor's degree and yousay, all right, now I'm going
out into this world.
Right, yeah, and where did thattake you?
Victoria Thompson (11:12):
I'm a military spouse, so wherever my
husband goes, so okay.
So we went to Korea for alittle bit.
It was really cool.
I got to go on the subway,which is in English and Korean
it subway, which is in Englishand Korean.
It was a really neat experience, highly recommended if you ever
get a chance to go.
It was very cool.
I love the food.
And then after Korea we went toGermany.
(11:33):
Getting jobs while you'restationed overseas as a spouse
is very difficult.
I know they just had somedifferent requirements dropped
for people.
The SOFA agreements were justchanged, so hopefully that means
more spouses are able to workoverseas.
But when I was going throughand we were living in Germany,
we were only in Korea for a year, so it wasn't long enough to
really care about getting a jobIn Germany.
We were there for three yearsand getting a job there was if
(11:54):
it was on post I could get it.
If it was off post it'd be anightmare to work on the
paperwork just to get a job, andthen it wouldn't pay enough for
daycare and I ended up havingtwo kids while we were in
Germany.
I'm like I'm not going to paymore in daycare than I make you
know.
So I ended up volunteering,which is my.
(12:14):
One of my passions isvolunteering, so I did that for
the Red Cross.
I served as the programdirector's co-part, so I got to
do that.
We led a lot of differentresource fairs and taught people
about emergency messages andthe different resources that the
Red Cross offers.
I still volunteer with them.
And then I also volunteeredwith American Forces Network, so
our armed forces- armed forcesnetwork.
So I got to volunteer DJ and goon and you know, tell people
(12:38):
military Mondays a little bitmore military facts and jargon
and fun things, which was areally new experience for me.
And then I worked with thegarrison chaplain to do some
suicide prevention because thatwas something that we were
seeing.
I think we had four suicides intwo months, which was alarming.
You know that's a lot, and itwas really mostly younger men
who were just staying in theirbarracks room playing video
(12:58):
games.
So finding ways to get peopleto be engaged, working with the
better opportunities for singlesoldiers and creating different
ways to get people to be engaged, working with the Better
Opportunities for SingleSoldiers and creating different
ways to get people to ask thoseuncomfortable questions was a
big part of my time there.
Then we moved.
I got a job.
I worked for hospice and I wasa volunteer coordinator there to
help people be comfortablesitting with someone who's
(13:21):
passing, and I love that.
I actually really enjoyed.
Scott McLean (13:24):
God bless you for that.
Victoria Thompson (13:26):
It's a beautiful thing to be able to
help someone, because we are allgoing to be there at some point
.
But to have your last days withyour loved ones is special and
not everyone gets that.
So I got to do that and I gotto stand up a veteran support
system within that organization.
So Affinist Hospice is now ableto put the vets I forget what
(13:47):
it's called honoring veterans.
We honor veterans, so it's alittle logo that you get after
you start a veteran recognitionprogram within your hospice.
You have to do training on whatit is to means to serve
veterans.
You have to do a differentprogram.
So on Veterans Day we'd go andmeet with different patients who
were veterans in some of thenursing homes not just our
patients but all the veteransmake sure they got recognized
(14:09):
and celebrated.
We learned about retiring flags.
We created a new program calledRetire your Flag with Honor and
basically people could bringtheir flag in because one of the
ways you can have your flag getappropriately disposed of is
burning it.
So, helping it get cremated witha veteran who's passing was
like a last way to honor itright.
Scott McLean (14:28):
Wow, that's pretty interesting.
Victoria Thompson (14:30):
Yeah, so people gave their flags to us.
We would make sure that theveterans who wanted those that
were in the nursing homes weserved, would be able to request
that flag, and one of myvolunteers was a chaplain so he
would go and deliver it to thefamily.
So it's a really neat way tokind of touch on a lot of the
different points and make thefamily feel special too.
Scott McLean (14:46):
What a great idea.
Victoria Thompson (14:48):
Yeah, so we got to do that, and then we
moved, and we moved.
I feel like that's a commontheme.
Scott McLean (14:55):
Hence the military spouse.
Then we moved.
Victoria Thompson (14:58):
Yeah.
Then we moved and I got to workfor the Red Cross as a program
manager.
So I was the regional programmanager for Georgia's Southeast
region.
I covered four differentinstallations, mostly Fort
Stewart.
And the Red Cross doesn't justdo the emergency messages, we
also do crisis help for veteransso you can call in and ask for
resources.
So I did that.
I also led the resiliencyprogram for the Red Cross and
(15:20):
that was during COVID.
So it was really challenging tofind ways to help people
without being in person.
So we got a lot of people to gothrough like stress relief
classes, understanding andcoping with communication issues
, and there was a lot of peoplerequesting those services during
that time.
So we did as much as we couldto help the community while they
were going through thosetroubling times.
(15:42):
Then we moved.
So after we moved I ended uptaking a job as a secretary at
what is now the local school forus here, frederick County.
So I was working as theexecutive assistant for two of
the different programs diversity, equity and inclusion, and
advanced academics and I workedthere for a few years before I
(16:03):
got the job that I have.
Now I'm a senior operationsassociate for American Corporate
Partners.
I also work on the outreachteam, so I do presentations for
ACP.
I reach out to set up newpartnerships.
We work with a lot of differentorganizations.
We don't believe in a this orthat.
It's very much.
Use as many resources as youcan.
Make sure you know what youhave.
If there's something you can'tuse right now, try and remember
(16:29):
it for later.
So I really like that we'rethere encouraging you to reach
out and have as much support aspossible.
Not just use us, but use everyresource you can, because
there's a lot of them out thereyes, there is, that's.
Scott McLean (16:36):
Yeah, I'll tell you what, victoria, I've never
said this on my podcast.
You make me tired justlistening to what you've done in
the past.
You're a very inspirationalperson, like you are just into
it.
I do like helping though yeah,well, evidently, I think now I'm
the president of rec, so that'smy current volunteerism what's
(16:59):
that?
Victoria Thompson (17:00):
I'm the president of our town's parks
and rec committee, again becausethe president stepped down and
no one wanted to do it and Isaid, all right, I do this
because it needs to be done.
Scott McLean (17:10):
And our mutual friend Mark Flynn was the one
that mentioned this.
He is another guy, that one ofthose.
It must be a Frederick thing,because he's always busy doing
something too.
Victoria Thompson (17:20):
So I found that people who volunteer
consistently are serialvolunteers.
They're probably volunteeringin multiple capacities because
there's a need in the community.
It's not so much that we lovevolunteering although I do and
I'm very passionate about thatand speaking about why you
should, it's just that I seethings that I want in my
community complaining about whydon't we do this.
(17:47):
I want to be part of hey.
Now we do this, so I get to goout there and kind of poke
people and say you asked forthis, now you have to attend,
because if you don't attend, Iwon't do it again.
Scott McLean (17:55):
Let's talk a little bit about or you know a
lot about American corporatepartners.
I want to punch out somenumbers here for the listeners.
So ACP has a mentoring programand these numbers are
fascinating.
Mentoring program success37,000 plus veterans and active
duty spouses have become ACPalumni since 2010.
(18:19):
37,000 plus 4,606 veterans andactive duty spouses became ACP
alumni in 2024 alone.
90,000 plus dollars ACP'sestimate of the average starting
salary for protégés who obtaina job during their mentorship.
(18:41):
And 3,085 protégés obtainedmeaningful employment during the
course of their mentorship in2024 alone.
And these are some of theprotégés.
Well, it says protégés obtainedemployment at 1,630 or 830
(19:03):
companies, including I'm goingto name these off Amazon, bank
of America, blackrock, bloomberg, disney, goldman Sachs, johnson
Johnson, johnson ControlsInternational Paper, lockheed
Martin and controlsInternational paper, lockheed
Martin, mckinsey and Company,morgan Stanley, northrop Grumman
, pwc, rtx, visa, ubs, usaa andWells Fargo.
(19:27):
That's impressive.
Victoria Thompson (19:29):
You want to know something even more
impressive.
Scott McLean (19:31):
Yeah.
Victoria Thompson (19:32):
Only about 45% of our protégés actually
have a four-year degree, so thatstarting salary is not
reflected of having highereducation necessarily.
One of my favorite things totalk about is, at the end of the
day, when you're coming throughthis, you get to talk to your
mentor, not just about yourresume, not just about your
skills and experience, which isvery important.
You need to make sure you'retranslating those things
appropriately.
But you also get to talk aboutpay negotiation and, for people
(19:55):
who are leaving the service andhave never had to do that,
that's a very hard conversationto have.
So having someone talk to youabout, hey, these are the things
you need to be asking for,these are the benefits you
should be expecting, these arethe things to talk about in that
conversation and how toapproach it helps so much when
you're looking at what is my paygoing to be right, because
(20:22):
they're always going to try andpay you the least possible
amount for the job but if youcan articulate what it is you
did when you were in the service, because translating your
military skills is a challengenot only for us but even for the
HR people.
One of the mentors we had comeon board said look, I think this
person might be qualified, butI can't read that.
I don't know what that is.
It doesn't line up with the jobdescription, it's not getting
past me.
They're not getting aninterview because it might work
but because of the way it'swritten, it doesn't work for us
(20:45):
right now.
So he came on board just tohelp people translate experience
.
Because if you have skills andexperience, if you've been a
first sergeant, if you've beenmanaging operations and program
project management and doing allthose things, having a degree
isn't necessarily important, butyou have to be able to market
yourself appropriately anddemonstrate those skills and
that experience.
Then have that pay negotiationconversation, because you can
(21:06):
get those jobs if you have thosethings.
And the only other thing I'mgoing to say is networking.
At the end of the day, if youare job searching, I don't care
if you're a veteran or anyoneelse networking is one of the
most important things you aregoing to do in this job market.
When you look at what AI hasdone to the job market, it has
done a lot of damage becausethose HR people are getting over
(21:27):
200 applications each and everytime they post a job.
So filtering through that isreally difficult.
That's why we're seeing jobsget reposted and reposted
because people are putting in aapplication that looks like it
lines up because they had AI fixtheir application, but it
doesn't actually mean that theyhave those qualifications or
skills in the interviews, right.
So then they have to go backthrough the interview process
(21:48):
and do it all over again with200 applicants again.
So when you see that and youget discouraged, it's not your
fault, it's not the HR person'sfault, it's AI.
So at the end of the day, ifyou know someone in an
organization, your chances ofhaving your resume, looked at by
a person and not just filtered,goes up significantly and then
you get an interview and thenyou get to have those
conversations right.
(22:09):
But networking is the singlemost important thing you are
going to do in a job searchtoday, so highly recommend it.
That's how I got this job aregoing to do in the job search
today, so highly recommend it.
Scott McLean (22:18):
That's how I got this job.
Yeah, so that's the thing whenyou get out, I did 10 years, so
I was even more, you know, in amilitary mindset when I got out
than just four years, and fouryears is still a long time you
do get reset you do?
I got offered my job by customsat the time it was us customs,
now it's cbp and they asked meso we're gonna start you off at,
(22:42):
I think they said like 30, 34000 a year.
This is back in like 1997, yeah, and I was like, and they asked
me is that okay?
And I was like, yeah, like noteven thinking that that number
one is a lot of money comparedto what I was making while I was
in Right.
Only to find out it's not a lotof money and I didn't know how
(23:07):
to say well, is there anegotiation here?
Victoria Thompson (23:10):
Yeah.
Scott McLean (23:10):
You know, is there ?
Does my experience?
Okay, my experience got me thisfar, but is there another?
But is there another thing wecould talk about?
I had no concept about that,because I think the majority of
veterans that get out they Idon't know I could be wrong here
, but I don't think they takeany of those transition courses.
(23:30):
I know I didn't.
Victoria Thompson (23:32):
I did, and I should have.
Scott McLean (23:33):
You didn't, I did, I did all the classes.
Victoria Thompson (23:36):
I'm a nerdy person.
I got every book, everypamphlet, and the thing that I
found frustrating is, even thenthere was a lot of resources but
a lot of it didn't feelapplicable Right, so it wasn't
something I had used.
It wasn't something that reallywas functional for me.
I needed to have specificqualifications for different
things and it ended up beingstuff I put in my I love me
(23:56):
binder and I haven't looked atin a while, you know.
So it's great to have thosethings, but to know when to use
them is very much difficult,even when you're in the classes.
So having one of the things thatwe do that I really like is you
have support the whole year.
So you get paired up with amentor.
That's in the career area thatyou're looking at going into,
but you have someone like mewho's sitting there saying, hey,
(24:17):
do you need anything?
And it's basically a conciergeservice in the background of
your mentorship.
So if you say, hey, I've neverwritten a resume, I don't know
where to start.
I got you, I'm gonna send you atemplate, some resources for
targeting it.
I can even send you stuff fortranslating your military
experience, no-transcript, andhopefully one of those things is
(24:47):
helpful sometime.
It's a lot more convenient foryour actual achievement of goals
.
Scott McLean (24:53):
Or it's better than running it through AI and
it feeding a lot of falseinformation or bloated
information that you don'treally fit into that, but it
looks good.
Victoria Thompson (25:05):
Yeah, it looks good.
Scott McLean (25:07):
It certainly looks good.
So ACP is nationwide.
Victoria Thompson (25:11):
We are.
We even have a couple ofproteges that are international,
so you can still do that ifyou're overseas.
Scott McLean (25:18):
How many states are?
Victoria Thompson (25:19):
you in Every single state.
We have proteges and mentors inevery single state.
I have several mentors in theMiddle East.
I have several proteges inEurope.
I have a couple that are rightnow in Korea, so it just depends
on where you need us.
We will tell you that you haveto work on the time zone, so
make sure you're lining up yourtime zone calls when you're
reaching out to your mentor, butyou can be anywhere in the
world.
Scott McLean (25:39):
Anywhere in the world.
So I'm a veteran.
I just got out and I hear thisinterview and like yeah, I'm in,
I'm in South Florida.
Let's go to the website, right,which?
Victoria Thompson (25:51):
is acp-usaorg .
Scott McLean (25:56):
Yep and it gives you all the information you need
to know, right there, yep,right, and now.
You won't necessarily Iwouldn't necessarily be linked
up with a mentor in florida perse no okay, all right, so it's
it would be virtual.
It just depends on where theyare and how you work it out yep.
Victoria Thompson (26:16):
So about 80 of our mentorships are long
distance.
We're focusing on career fitrather than location, cause if I
can find you someone that'slocal that doesn't have the same
career area, it's not going tobe helpful.
What you can do is take and useour one-time information calls.
You can request those anytimeafter you get a mentor to speak
to someone that's local to youto talk about the job market and
to do some networking, but theywon't necessarily have the same
(26:37):
career area.
So we can't pair you based onlocation If it's not going to
help you reach the goals.
We want you to reach your goal,whatever that is.
For some people it's starting asmall business, for other
people is getting a job and forsome of our spouses it's.
I haven't been in the job marketfor a while.
I don't know where to start.
I don't know what I want to do.
So actually I don't know what Iwant to do is the most common
one we get overall, likemilitary or spouses.
(27:00):
I don't know what I want to dois a continuous problem, no
matter where you are.
Even the people that are outand they've been out for a while
are like, hey, I don't.
I don't know where I'm goingbut I have paused here and I'm
not growing.
So how do I grow?
Or pivot from what I'm doingnow?
So it's common.
Scott McLean (27:16):
And the process to get into the program.
Is there any stipulations otherthan being a veteran or a
spouse of a veteran?
Is there any?
How's that process?
Victoria Thompson (27:28):
So in order to be eligible for our program,
you have to have 180 days activeduty service after 9-11.
Again, we're a grant fundedorganization, so whenever we get
more money, we open it up tomore organization.
So whenever we get more money,we open it up to more people.
But that's what we have.
For our veterans, you can beactive right now in
transitioning out.
We ask that you be about sixmonths from transition because
we want to make sure that mentorcan walk with you through your
transition, and six months afteras well.
(27:50):
And then for our spouses, youcan be an active duty spouse,
the spouse of a disabled veteranor a gold star spouse, and on
that application for spousesit's a dropdown menu.
They just select what theireligible criteria is and then we
don't ask questions after that.
We just have to know that youqualify based on one of those
things.
Scott McLean (28:07):
So the six month out program?
How would I so?
I'm six months out.
How would I find out about this?
Are you?
Do you have any type ofrelationship with the DOD?
Yes, you do, and for thelisteners, she's nodding her
head big we do so.
Victoria Thompson (28:23):
We work with the TAP programs, we work with
the USO, we reach out to thedifferent FRGs Like we're trying
in as many ways as possible.
One of the biggest, what's FRGs?
Scott McLean (28:32):
for the listeners that might not know oh sorry,
family readiness groups.
Victoria Thompson (28:35):
So we reached out to the family readiness
groups.
We're trying to be in as manyplaces as possible.
It's just difficult because weare a smaller nonprofit.
That being said, our largerpartners, like Wounded Warrior
Project, knows about us andrefers people.
Uso, like I said, refers peopleto us.
Onward Opportunity lets me do apresentation for all their
classes so they get to learnabout us too.
We're also working with some ofthe skill bridges, so whenever
(28:57):
they go, their cohorts come inand do presentations.
We do presentations for them.
I get to do presentations for alot of that, which is really
fun.
I love the questions.
They always come with someinteresting questions depending
on who we're working with, butat the end of the day, I think
the majority of people hearabout us word of mouth.
My friend went through it andnow I'm telling you and that's
great because it means peoplelike what we do.
(29:19):
But it's also great that we'reable to grow organically in that
way.
Scott McLean (29:23):
What's the growth been like?
Is it consistently or does itlevel off?
Is there an ebb and flow?
Victoria Thompson (29:30):
We have been consistently growing since we
started in 2008.
The first year, I think, we had300 participants in 2008.
And this year we keep around5,000 pairs at any given point
in time and we've been growinglike overall end to end.
We are constantly hiring tomake sure we can meet the needs
of our participants.
Scott McLean (29:48):
And what was the first year?
Victoria Thompson (29:50):
300 participants.
Scott McLean (29:51):
And what year was that?
Victoria Thompson (29:53):
2008.
Scott McLean (29:54):
That's amazing.
Up to 5,000 plus.
Victoria Thompson (29:58):
Yeah, 5,000 plus, at any time, pairs that
we're working with and thenpeople that we're trying to pair
is on top of that number.
So I think there's about 7,000proteges that we're actively
either trying to pair or workingwith within a pair right now.
Scott McLean (30:12):
How many people, for lack of a better term,
volunteer slash work for ACP?
Victoria Thompson (30:18):
So we have paid staff that's your
operations associates that aredoing that concierge service in
the back, that's needed.
Yep, they make everything keepon track.
You're kind of like youraccountability buddies there.
So those, we have about 75personnel right now, but for
mentors who are volunteers rightnow I can give you the number
it's over 500.
5,000.
Scott McLean (30:40):
You just broke up over how long, I didn't know.
Victoria Thompson (30:44):
So we have over 5,000 mentors right now.
So paired mentors we've got4,790, and unpaired mentors
we've got 1,082.
Wow, so those are allvolunteers.
And when you think about it,and what you get out of mentors
is not just having that careerconversation.
A lot of them stay in touchafterwards.
A lot of our pairs keep thatfriendship.
(31:06):
You know, once our service endsand that's the goal is to pair
you up with someone that has somuch in common with you or that
can help you so much that afteryou leave our program you still
have some support.
Scott McLean (31:16):
Well, a good mentor.
Once that relationship isestablished, that's an
investment of their time andtheir knowledge, and I think it
only makes sense that if I'mmentoring somebody and they get
to where they want it to be like, I'd really want to know how
you doing Like let's stay intouch, Keep me posted, and if
(31:38):
there's anything else, I can dobecause that's the relationship.
And if there's anything else Ican do because that's the
relationship.
Look, I'm sure that is not like, hey, we talked for a week and
I got him a job and I'm on tothe next person or her a job.
It's not that simple.
This is an investment in bothof them in their time, and it
becomes a relationshipinevitably.
Now what happens if thatscenario of this isn't working?
(32:02):
Like I'm not feeling thisperson.
Victoria Thompson (32:05):
It person.
Scott McLean (32:05):
Yeah, I'm sure it does.
Victoria Thompson (32:07):
Yeah, and it's totally normal.
We completely understand.
We are here to make sure thingsgo smoothly, so we do mediation
.
If it's something where it'slike I'm just not feeling it, I
need a little more than that,cause I'm trying to get you to
the goal that you listed.
So call me your goals to get ajob doing this and I pair you
with someone that's doing that,then I need to know what
specifically isn't working.
So either we can fix it or wecan find something else.
Most of our pairs is just well,I didn't quite hit it off and I
(32:29):
don't know how to go from here.
Right, and that's fine.
I will send you some discussiontopics, some activities to work
on to get you guys to talk toeach other, so you have a little
bit more of that personalconnection and you can move on.
If it's not that simple andeveryone's well, it's not then
we can work on repairing you.
But we have to try to domediation to make sure it's not
that.
And then we're going to switchthe topic and ask what is more
(32:50):
important career fit Cause thiswas a perfect career fit or
personality people?
For some people, personality ismore important.
I've had that happen.
I had a protege that startedoff and it was something very
specific.
It was like human sciences, andI only had one mentor that
matched up and I was so excitedbecause sometimes we don't have
a mentor.
That's a perfect match, youknow.
So I'm like this is a perfectmatch.
(33:11):
This is wonderful.
But the personalities wereclashing really hard and we
weren't able to mediate theconversation so that they were
talking in a way that theprotege could reach a goal right
.
So we said, all right, thisisn't working, that's fine.
Now what is more important toyou?
Because this clearly is theright fit based on what you want
to achieve but would it bebetter to have someone that can
(33:32):
be more like a cheerleaderaccountability buddy as opposed
to someone in that career?
And she said, yes, that thatwas a better fit for her and she
had a really great mentorship.
We actually found someone whowas a career coach to work with
her.
That was just.
I know we have some mentorsthat are career coaches and this
was a great fit because it wasmore personality based and
(33:52):
that's what she needed wassomeone to really just cheer her
on while she did it.
Scott McLean (33:54):
So what if I come in and I'm like, okay, I have a
degree in canine science and Iwant to work with dogs, which is
a very and I do, and a degreein canine science and I want to
work with dogs, which is a veryand I do, and and I did,
fortunately, but that's kind ofa unique trade or or or field of
employment or however you look.
So I'm sure you don't have, ormaybe you do, maybe I'm, I'm
(34:14):
guessing here somebody thatwould fit that type of career.
Victoria Thompson (34:20):
So you have a zoologist.
I'm just saying.
Scott McLean (34:24):
Okay, so no, let's go with that.
So you would say well, we haveasked you some questions.
Victoria Thompson (34:30):
If I don't feel like I've got a good fit
for you and that happens.
I had one person who wanted tobe a pilot and also own a salon
and I said I am not going to beable to find that combination.
So we're going to ask you toprioritize some things right,
like what do you really want tosee?
If I can't find you a mentorthat is in this exact job,
because it happens then what doyou want to get?
What is your main goal for thismentorship?
(34:50):
Is it getting a job?
Is it finding a way to marketyourself better and then finding
a mentor that can do thosethings with you, even if they
aren't in the same exact careerfield?
And that is the.
The ticket is finding thepersonality and the person that
can still help you achieve thatgoal.
I did a pair today.
The protege really didn't knowwhat he wanted to do.
He was saying that was my nextquestion.
Scott McLean (35:12):
That was my next question, so let's go with that,
yeah.
Victoria Thompson (35:14):
Yeah, and he wanted to work with his hands.
I'm like I don't have that manymentors that work with their
hands.
But, okay, tell me what youwant, what you're looking at,
what you're thinking about.
And at the end of theconversation I said I hear what
you're saying and what I'mreally hearing is you don't know
what you want, but you want todo something where you can be
more physically active and moreinvolved in your work and
potentially do something inlogistics or warehousing or what
(35:35):
have you.
Does that sound fair?
He said, yeah, that sounds fair, cause I really don't know.
But I just need help, I need tomake a path, I need a direction
.
I'm like, okay.
So I read him a description of amentor that I have who is not
in any of the career fields thathe had selected.
But this mentor has a veryniche ability to sit there and
listen when you have problems,right.
So he's someone that not onlylistens but will go out of his
(35:57):
way to find resources to workwith you to get some clarity,
because not every mentor has thetime, willingness or ability to
sit with you and do that right.
So it was a more personalitymatch, but at the end of the day
.
I knew they'd be a great fit,because this protege needs
someone to really talk to andthis mentor is going to be
willing to listen and then wecan do information calls once he
(36:18):
has a path, so he can at leastget that information out there,
do those networking pieces andask the questions once he has a
direction to move in.
Scott McLean (36:26):
Makes sense.
So I read off about 18, I thinkgive or take one or two big
companies at the beginning ofthe podcast.
I know there's a lot more.
How do you go about?
How does American CorporatePartners go about reaching out
to these big players, that it'shard to get through some of
(36:49):
those walls to get to the rightpeople.
So how do you chip away at thestone?
Do you guys have a greatreputation in that world?
How does it happen?
Victoria Thompson (37:01):
So we have a pretty good reputation.
I'm very proud of the work thatwe do, but at the end of the
day, sid came to this andcreated this and founded this
when he already had a network ofconnections on Wall Street.
So between his alreadyconnections and then the
continuous reaching out to otherpeople that he knows and
networking, we've been able togrow.
Because those are all corporatepartners, so they make what we
(37:22):
do possible between them andsmall donations.
Everything is free because ofthat and they get something out
of it too, because a lot of themare actually trying to hire
veterans.
So Tuesdays and Thursdays ACPgoes live on LinkedIn with our
different corporate partners andthey get to talk about
initiatives they have at theirorganization.
It's usually veterans that workthere that are talking about
the organization, theirexperiences, their transition
(37:44):
and then what the company islooking for or what the company
is doing in the veteran space,so that people can see that and
have a little bit moreunderstanding of what they're
looking for and they can askquestions.
Scott McLean (37:54):
You go live on LinkedIn.
You said on what days.
Victoria Thompson (37:56):
Tuesdays and Thursdays at one.
Scott McLean (37:58):
All right, I'll have to dig that up.
Victoria Thompson (38:00):
I'll send you the link.
Scott McLean (38:01):
Yes, send me the link.
I'm on LinkedIn and I'll bemore than glad to share it.
Plus, you're going to go on mywebsite, which has become is a
very good resource page initself from nonprofits and now
this all over the country.
So I'd be glad to have that andI'd be glad to push the cause.
So let's let's talk about money.
(38:23):
That's the one always, and thelisteners know I know here we go
, I'm going to say the wordsgive them your money.
So give me a reason to give mylisteners the, the words give
them money.
Victoria Thompson (38:39):
I would say, yeah, so we do actually do a
fundraiser.
The Navy army game is ourbiggest fundraiser and that is
you can pay to.
You know, kind of like MarchMadness, which one do you think
will win?
You pay for your team and thenat the end of the day we see
which one wins and then we seewhich one wins our fundraiser.
So that's a fun way to do yourgiving, because it's definitely
important.
(39:04):
But one of the things that Iknow that our program does
really well is give people hope,because when we're looking at
the job search, it can be sodisheartening, it can feel so
demoralizing.
You see so many people onLinkedIn saying I've been
searching for six months andnothing.
I've been searching for a yearand nothing.
People are transitioning out,even if they have a degree,
experience and everything else,and they're still struggling in
(39:24):
that job search.
So having hope is a huge partof this whole process giving
people courage to move forward,giving them a little bit of
support in a time when they arereally struggling and helping
them fight imposter syndrome,because we have a lot of people
coming through that have thatfeeling like, well, I know the
military, but I don't knowoutside.
(39:44):
I don't know that I can make it.
So having that hope is a hugepart of what we do and for our
spouses it's even more important.
I went to an event I got tospeak at, amplify, which is a
hiring our heroes event, and itwas for spouses to get them
moving in the right directionwith their career goals.
And one of the things thatreally disheartened me the most
was I asked everyone to do anactivity and they had a paper.
(40:06):
It was doing a SWOT assessmentand then a career plan and they
were working with the peoplearound them to fill that in.
What is my career plan?
What are my strengths, myweaknesses, my opportunities?
And this lady was so upset shesaid I have no skills, I have no
value, I have no experience.
I've been a homemaker.
I don't know where to start.
She had a degree and she hadbeen volunteering.
(40:27):
She had experiences and it waswatching the people around her
lift her up, give her that hopeback, help her understand and
see herself in a different light.
That was so transformational.
And that's just peer to peermentorship.
Right, do that today.
Go talk to a friend, look atyour resume with someone you
know and get a little bit offeedback.
But when you're talking tosomeone who's in that career
(40:47):
industry that can tell you thisis what I'm expecting to see out
of a resume, this is what I'mexpecting you to understand in
an interview so that when youhave that and you don't mess up
those things and you can get thejob is huge.
Having that is a big part ofmoving forward and finding that
meaningful employment.
And we actually check in on ourprotégés, so we're not just
giving you numbers and sayingthis is correct.
(41:08):
We're actually checking in onthese people every two years to
see are you still there?
Is this still a job that youlike?
Because, at the end of the day,it's meaningful employment, not
just employment meaningfulemployment that we want you to
get.
Scott McLean (41:20):
Well, this is a cause well worth donating to, so
is there a donation button onyour site?
Victoria Thompson (41:27):
There is a donation link on our website.
We always appreciate anythingpeople give us.
I think every mentorship isabout $1,000.
So, like right now, we have5,000 and 10 mentorships going,
but every time we add enoughmoney to grow and expand again,
we open it up to more people,because that's what we want to
do is serve as many people aspossible.
(41:49):
And even if you apply for theprogram and you're not eligible,
we'll still reach out to you totry and see what resources
might be available for you,based on where you're at.
Scott McLean (41:57):
So you don't just say ah, you know good, we can't
help you.
Victoria Thompson (42:00):
Good, say ah, you know good, but we can't
help you.
Good luck.
No, we want to make sureeveryone gets some help.
Scott McLean (42:03):
There you go.
That's, that's beautiful.
And, as I always say, money isthe gasoline, it's the fuel that
runs the nonprofit machine.
It's the thing that no one evertalks about in the nonprofits.
We just want to look virtuous,but it's the money.
The money makes the machinemove and the machine does really
good work.
Victoria Thompson (42:22):
So and if you want to volunteer, we would
love to have you volunteer.
We always need more people,especially in niche areas like
dog training and everything else.
Scott McLean (42:30):
You can talk to Mark Flynn about that.
Victoria Thompson (42:32):
Because we have people that are interested
in doing those things.
We started recruiting forfarming because a lot more
people were coming and they wereinterested in small business.
So we started doing activerecruiting for mentors that
could speak about small farmsand family farms, and we have
several of them now because thatwas an interest.
So when we get feedback, we goand take that feedback and use
it to grow in intentional ways.
(42:53):
Ventures was created last year,which is a program within what
we do, and it's in conjunctionwith the mentorship.
So it's not this or that.
You get your mentorship, but youalso get to have access to the
Village, which is an onlineforum which has our small
business mentors.
There's about a thousandmentors in there that are
answering questions and it's allour mentors.
So it's not like LinkedIn,where you ask a question and get
(43:15):
spammed with a bunch of stuff.
You actually get responses thatmake sense and sometimes they
set up a call with you to talkabout whatever question it is
you have.
So it's a really great resource.
But it also has all of thosebig businesses, so IBM, usaa,
wwe they're all in thereoffering classes on planning
your business, marketing yourbusiness, financing your
business, growing your business.
(43:35):
So, whatever it is, whereveryou're at with that, you can
start a small business withthose classes.
You can go to the webinars andask questions.
It's a really great supportsystem and that doesn't stop
after a year.
So if you join that community,you have access to that for as
long as you'd like.
Scott McLean (43:50):
Wow, the endless aftercare.
Endless aftercare and aftercareis important and that is a form
of aftercare for somebody, aveteran, even though they don't
have any PTSD or TBIs or anytype of you know, va rating.
There's still the transitionand once they get past that
transition, it's always good toknow that there's something
(44:10):
still there to go back to.
You know, and I think that'sgreat.
This program is great.
I will have no problem pushingit and selling it and posting it
and talking about it, because Ijust learned something today.
This is a valuable, valuableasset that ACP is doing for
veterans.
(44:31):
So well, anything else.
Did I miss anything?
Did we miss anything?
Is there anything you want totalk about?
Victoria Thompson (44:37):
One of the things I will say that makes us
unique is also we don't use AI.
Everything is human driven.
So from the time you do yourapplication, someone will give
you a phone call All the waythrough your year.
You have someone reaching outto you every month making sure
you're doing okay, asking if youneed anything.
So you have a level of supportthat you really don't get
anywhere else and, regardless ofwhat life throws at you, we're
(44:57):
there to help support youthrough it, and that's something
that is unique in the resourceworld, cause a lot of times,
it's well, this is one thing andnow you can go to that
organization and they'll haveanother thing.
You get all of that support inone place, which is, I feel,
important, because a lot oftimes it's difficult, like I
said before, to know whichresources make sense and to
reach out to the ones that'll behelpful when you need something
(45:18):
.
Scott McLean (45:19):
It's a beautiful thing and if you're a veteran or
spouse of a veteran, don'tdon't do your resume through AI.
You just go to acpusaorg andsee if they can help you out.
I think that was a great pointthat you made, that people just
go in now and they're like oh, Ijust got a resume and they
(45:39):
don't really check it and theysend it off and it's not what
they really are and that's likeyou said.
It creates that backlog, thatcycle of get rid of all these.
Let's start over again.
Victoria Thompson (45:53):
Yeah, and the HR managers can see it, because
then it's the same responses inevery single resume.
So it's important to make surethat you're going through, even
if you're using something tohelp with your word targeting
and making it fit, you Don'tjust use whatever chat GP spits
out.
Scott McLean (46:06):
There you go, there you go.
Well, Victoria, this was anamazing interview.
I love learning about theseprograms that I never knew about
and there's a lot of them outthere and my job is to find
every one of them, and I'm gladthat Mark Flynn mentioned the
Vets Connection podcast that youreached out.
This is a very informativeepisode and I definitely will,
(46:29):
even in the South Florida area Iwill.
I talked to a lot of veteransand I have a.
I'm building a good network,networking, as you said, and I
think this is something thatthey're probably all going to
want to know about.
So, if they didn't already, ifthey didn't already, but I want
to thank you for your time.
I want to thank you for whatyou do.
(46:49):
I want to thank you for whatyou did in the hospice world.
I have a personal kind ofconnection to that and I know
what you did and how you did andI always appreciated that and I
appreciate you for doing that.
That's a different kind ofperson that does that and I
appreciate you for that.
And well, we built anotherbridge today.
(47:10):
I'm going to do my outro, sojust stick around.
We built another bridge today.
This was a very informativebridge.
They all are.
But if you are a veteran or aspouse of a veteran and you're
looking for your next career, goto ACPUSAorg and see.
Well, I'm sure they can helpyou either way.
(47:32):
And well, as I always say, youwill hear me next week with a
new episode.
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