Migrating to Australia was a decision that I should say was not so difficult even if it meant leaving behind a progressive military career. ‘Why’, you might all ask. My answer is simple, it was very easy simply because I believe that many can take over my rank and position in the very huge organization like the Armed Forces of the Philippines, but nobody can replace me as a husband and a father to my growing children who were at that time already residing here in Australia. 

I did not however, realize that starting a new career in a foreign land is going to be an uphill battle. My experiences and skills as a veteran seem to be insufficient in the eyes of recruiters and companies.  I did odd jobs to help my wife in our finances raising our three young children. Until I got a job with a logistics company supplying electrical and plumbing requirements of the construction industry in Canberra and its neighbouring regions.  From a store person, I was offered by the regional manager the stock control position of the warehouse.  This gave me the opportunity to learn about a database solution for business processes. I went through a two-day orientation and training at the main office in Sydney and then a hundred hours calling my mentors for questions as I learn more about the system and application.    

Then came an opportunity for me to join a project delivery team as a contractor for a government agency that rolled out the New Generation Desktop / End User Computing for the agency. Not have much knowledge of data analytics, I learned as much as I could in the role. When the project was terminated, I was unemployed for a couple of months.  It was this time that I came across ‘WithYouWithMe’ through an active member of the Australian Defence Force, who told me to explore what ‘WithYouWithMe’ can offer.  Desperate to get back to the work force, though hesitant at first knowing I am not an Australian veteran, I attempted to connect. My circumstances were reviewed until I got a positive response. I even received a call from Tom Moore, I guess to reach out to a fellow veteran and know more about me, and that time I do not even know who he is in the company. The conversation I should say was very casual but accommodating and friendly. The company provided me access to its IT courses available online for free.  I enrolled in the basic IT Fundamental Courses, knowing well my limitation in data analytics and later ‘Fundamentals of Project Management’.  After several months of applying for work, I started another job as a contractor for a company that works for the government under its Defence and National Security account. Instead of working for a project, I did administrative work where I felt my potential was not fully utilized.  My contract was abruptly cut short and was again unemployed for more than year, a period when getting back to work was very difficult because of COVID-19.   

A new opportunity came when a company required a Stock Administrator for the Chief Information Officer Group of the Department of Defence.  Working for the project New Generation Desktop and having experience as Stock Control of a logistics company, I was immediately hired. As I progressed as a Stock Administrator for the warehouse, I was given additional role as Disposal Officer that required me to liaise and collaborate with the clients directly and other stakeholders. My career in logistics was in a full swing but I still felt that the potential for career growth was limited, because of the very traditional structure of the business where seniority matters. I was confined to my role and   had limited interaction with the organization. Nonetheless, I did my role to the best of my ability, and 2 months into the role, the company awarded me a star award for client satisfaction because of the positive client feedbacks.  It was then that I received a call from Josh Vogel, asking me if I am interested in a role as Systems Applications and Products (SAP) Associate.  Without any hesitation and reservation, I agreed to go through the selection process.  After a little more than a week, an offer was emailed by Josh after a long chat about the role and what were the expectations.  Though hesitant because of the “what ifs”, I accepted the offer and informed my current employer then. 

Going through the onboarding process facilitated by Courtney Banman, was truly an outstanding way of learning about the company and the people behind its growth.  The entire process, though online, allowed me to have a grasp about the company that made me proud to be a part of an organization that helps employees to be the best they can be.  After getting my Certificate as SAP Associate, I am fully ready for deployment, knowing that my company will continue to support me.  I thank the people behind my first success story with WithYouWithMe: Josh Vogel, Mel O’Sullivan, Scott Bird, Jessie Gaudry and Daniel Scully. 

It’s the thing every spouse dreads whether it’s come about due to a relocation or for any multitude of reasons – finding meaningful employment as a military spouse is hard! It’s not always the case, some spouses are able to transfer their qualifications state to state and that is fantastic! However, so often we as spouses put our career on hold to support our serving member and ultimately end up employed in a range of positions that may not be relevant to our career goals but necessary to bring money into the household – if we can find the employment at all! 

  

A typical problem spouses face is transferring their skills and potential into a standard resume. This then leads to time-poor recruiters failing to identify a spouse’s ‘career thread’ and ultimately the spouse missing out on the position in favour of someone who clearly displayed their strengths. There are a few ways around this, and one is engaging a career coach to assist you in identifying suitable solutions, such as connecting you with defence friendly employers and writing a resume designed to effectively engage with the recruiter to get your foot in the door. But without the right network of support in employment services and options, spouses can become disillusioned about finding suitable employment that values their informal skills and experience and become resentful about the military lifestyle. 

  

I stumbled across WithYouWithMe while researching spouse friendly positions. We had recently posted interstate and were struggling financially on one income. I had applied for job after job after job, writing a new cover letter for each position but repeatedly missing out on the job offer. Something that surprised me about the WYWM process was not needing to submit my resume at all. By investing heavily in aptitude and psychological testing, WYWM are able to match candidates with positions based off their skills and potential to excel in the role. Finally – a fair chance to show what I’m capable of! I did my aptitude assessments and the results told me I’d be a good fit for a Pega role. I had no idea what Pega was but I thought “why not?”. Within three business days I had two interviews and a job offer. I couldn’t believe it! I never saw myself as a technologist and quite simply, I didn’t think I was smart enough for it – especially without a tech degree! WYWM scooped me up, trained me up, and tech-ed me up and I’m now a Certified System and Business Architect in Pega software, working with Accenture to kick goals and solve business problems. 

  

I’m so grateful to WYWM for having the faith in me that I didn’t have in myself and showing me it’s possible to work in a role that’s just as important and meaningful as my husband’s. As a Squad Leader, I have learned to take ownership and lead by example in delivering value to the client as well as the team. I have learned to be the customer and be transparent but most of all, my time at WYWM has taught me the value of being fierce. Be curious enough to find that new challenge but be fierce enough to take it on and crush it. I know I can do it, and I know you can too. 

And what exactly does it have to do with who I am as a person?  

I asked myself these questions when I first jumped on the Potential website and completed my testing. I had no idea that this was even a thing and realistically at the time if I had seen anything pop up about it, I probably wouldn’t have cared. Much like those psychic articles that tell you what kind of personality you have based on your star sign, when you were born compared to a full moon and whether Neptune was floating in Space at that exact time, you get my drift. Only parts of what they said I felt resonated with me and who I thought I was.  

So why then when I completed my testing did my opinion changed? 

My results popped up and as I started reading them, the first thing that caught my eye was the red fire symbol and the word Creator. I instantly clapped and thought that’s 100% me! I am a creator, I love photography, capturing and creating bright colourful images! I make invitations and memory boards and keepsakes for my kids and my friends’ kids. I love making complicated cakes! I have always been creative so that first initial insight into my testing results set the scene for my willingness to believe that this could be a realistic look into who I was. Was it 100% accurate with how I perceived myself? Well not really. Because perceptions can be biased and that would have more to do with how I saw myself at the time of taking the test and my state of mind- but that’s a whole other story. Why was that important? Because I felt like deep down, I didn’t really know anything about myself. In all honesty I still don’t. 

Red has always been a colour that I have associated with throughout my life for various reasons. It was and to an extent still is one of my favourite colours. I spent 27 years of my life playing for a sports team whose colours were red and white. I got my Archetype shirt in the mail and I felt like an old part of me had returned. Sounds weird right, but after wearing that sports uniform for more the 3 quarters of my life, and then losing that when we posted felt like I lost part of myself.  

I wear that shirt every chance I get. 

Why? 

Because red brings me comfort. Because it reminds me that I am a part of something meaningful. I watch my husband get up every day and put on his Cams. He’s part of something bigger than himself and I want that too. It’s like a uniform, a badge of honour and lets me know that I am in a team. That there is a place where I fit in and means that there are people out there that will resonate with me. And I don’t have to look far to find them. Are we all the same? Of course not! But it gives us common ground. It’s a conversation starter.  

That bright red shirt stands out whenever I wear it. I take pride in it. I want people to see that shirt and ask questions, go home and google the name. 

I would have worn the shirt no matter whether it was Blue or Green. Hell I would have worn it if it was the ugliest mustard colour just so that the WithYouWithMe mission was out there. Because it gives me a sense of purpose. But there is a lot to be said for a colour that’s heavily ingrained in your psyche. Red is passion. And thanks to WithYouWithMe I have passion again. I will wear that shirt until it's falling apart at the seams. And then I'll probably beg for some more shirts and anything else I can get! 

Because red is home. 

A Story of Doubt, Self-sabotage and Renewed Hope 

I was asked if I might like to write a brief article explaining how WithYouWithMe (WYWM) helped me. How I got here is embarrassing and convoluted. But I’ve been inspired by the transparency I’ve witnessed within the WYWM community, so here’s my story. 

In May of 1995, I was on top of the world. I earned a Bachelor of Engineering in Engineering Physics from the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC). I was a young and motivated Aerospace Engineering Officer Cadet in the Canadian Armed Forces, ready to take on the world. 

In February 2021, around 26 years later, I found myself unemployed, lost and depressed. 

What the hell happened? It’s a question I’ve asked myself many times. 

A Very Promising Future 

Growing up, I was focused. I was always an above-average student. I was athletic and I spent my teenage years in army cadets, preparing for a career in the military. I was eager and excited. 

When I entered RMC in 1991, Canada had not really been at war in a very long time. After a couple of years there, it felt like our military had become heavily bloated with bureaucrat-types who didn’t know what to do with their time, other than sit at their desks and write up policy memos. (Looking back, perhaps this wouldn’t have been such a bad gig…) 

It also felt like Canadians didn’t particularly respect their military, especially after the scandal in Somalia in March 1993, with the beating to death of a Somali teenager at the hands of two Canadian soldiers participating in humanitarian efforts. These troubles weren’t just outside our borders either, as there were many scuffles even in my town that year, resulting in one of my classmates being set in a body cast for a few weeks, his spine healing from a severe beating. We were warned to be vigilant whenever we left the campus. It was a weird time. 

Then came the government program later that same year -- the Forces Reduction Program (FRP). We were told that the military was too big and needed to be cut. The FRP went on for a few years and I figured this was my sign to leave. I opted into the program and was released shortly after finishing all my training to become a commissioned Aerospace Engineering Officer. 

I still question this decision 25 years later. I could be retiring already with a full pension, or following in the footsteps of many of my wildly successful classmates from RMC. 

Nonetheless, I did manage to craft a rather successful early career for myself as a young aircraft structural engineer, and accomplished many things that I can still be proud of today. 

In late 2005, I also started a freelance copywriting (writing sales copy) side gigEven being lucky enough to have some early success. I worked hard at it and got a website up in 2006, while continuing to work as an engineer. I was generating many good leads, and life was good. 

Let’s Just Abandon This Whole Career Path, Shall We? 

Things were going swimmingly for several years until I began my journey of self-sabotage, disguised as positive thinking. I was destined to become a wildly successfully freelance writer and travel the world with the wealth that was inevitably going to flow my way. I needed to burn my bridges and go all-in. 

With 3 young children (born in 2003, 2005 & 2007), I took out a massive line of credit on our new house (that saw a very nice rise in value when house prices rose sharply in Calgary after we bought it in 2004) and used it to bankroll books, courses, memberships and conferences (not to mention all the travel costs involved). In 2008, I quit my job to focus on my freelance business full time. Even with a little bit of initial momentum, without a proper plan, it was a very irresponsible decision. 

Even with all the positive thinking that I had immersed myself into, self-doubt found its way in. “I’m still not making anywhere near what I thought I’d be making… Ugh, look at all that money I spent…” etc. It didn’t take long before I was focusing on the failures. Who was I to think I could be successful on my own? I allowed myself to slide into complete self-sabotage mode – turning down work, not being available, making excuses. When I exhausted our credit in 2011, I turned to a job in the booming, but volatile, oil and gas industry in Alberta. I was too embarrassed to beg for my old job back. 

Oil prices tanked in 2015 and I was laid off. For 2 years, I tried very hard to get another job. Constant rejections took a serious toll on my confidence. Our savings were depleted, and our credit was maxed out. Fortunately, drilling picked up again and I was back working in March 2017, just before I would have had to declare bankruptcy. 

Oil prices crashed again 3 years later in April 2020, and once again I was out of work – this time desperate to try and course-correct back to a stable career path. I applied everywhere and networked to the best of my ability. I even re-studied all of my previous structural engineering material. 

Out of countless applications, I only managed to get an interview with one company, Lockheed Martin, in October 2020. I worked for them previously, overseas in the Middle East. I had accomplished a lot thereonly leaving because their contract with the Egyptian Air Force ended and I closed up their office in the summer of 2003. Unfortunately, they had no more work at the time, so I had to move on. I felt very good about this current opportunity. I moved on to a 2^nd interview in Novembereagerly awaiting their decision. 

Silence. 2 months later, I finally gave up hope that I would hear from them. I couldn’t believe that I had been ghosted. The emotions flooded in. I was a complete failure. I couldn’t beat myself up enough for ruining everything, for failing my family. I retreated into a very dark place. 

Enter WithYouWithMe 

On Feb 23^rd, 2021, A concerned friend forwarded me a post on LinkedIn. It was for an online event the next day, with some company called WithYouWithMe. It was titled “WYWM Product Update… We are hiring come check out what we do!”. I really had no desire (or money) to check out some company’s products… but hey, they were hiring – so I signed up. I figured it would be just another hiring event, with hundreds of others competing, where my sad resume would probably never actually make it to someone’s desk. 

I signed in the next day to listen to this big Aussie man, Tom, begin to ramble on. It didn’t take long before I perked up, as everything he was saying was resonating with me. Potential over experience. This is what I was so desperately trying to sell, on deaf ears. “I’m at a point in my life where I can do great things for a company, because I’m capable and I’m motivated to do so!” – I just failed to sell that to the people posting job opportunities. I hung on every word. Man, this guy gets me! 

Before the presentation was done, I had already signed up for an account on their website and started browsing the course material. I loved it. These were all very interesting subjects – courses I would have never considered taking at this point in my life, assuming it was just too late. How could I pull off a job interview with no experience? I knew damn well I had the ability to learn this stuff and the potential to excel at it, if given the chance. And Tom here is telling me that I can. My hope was restored. I could finally start climbing out of this dark and lonely hole I had dug myself. 

I’ve been plugging away at courses ever since. My confidence has slowly resurfaced. I know with certainty that I’m capable of learning pretty much anything and using the potential I always knew existed. The renewed confidence is manifesting in other ways. Old friendships are being renewed and new friendships are being made. I now feel the energy to improve other areas of my life, especially my physical and mental health. 

I owe a lot of gratitude to Tom and the ever-helpful staff at WYWM. I can’t imagine where I’d be right now if I hadn’t received that invite. I shudder at the thought. 

I’d rather not think about it. It’s now time to focus on a brighter future. 

I began my life in the Army with absolutely no idea what I wanted to do with my life...

Showing up to DFR with not the faintest idea of where I wanted to go, all I knew was that I wanted to join. A few short months later, I was enlisted as a Telecommunications Technician in the Royal Australian Corp of Signals. DFR told me it was like Telstra in the Army.  
 
6 and a half years flew by, early starts, late finishes, numerous nights away from home. I eventually knew that I needed stability in my work/life balance, and I wanted to be closer to my wife and 2 kids. Don’t get me wrong the Army was a blast, but I knew that I didn’t want to be a ‘lifer’. Luckily, a mate was able to secure an interview for me at his company and I was offered a job based on the sole fact that I had a security clearance and that my friend put a good word in for me, I was extremely lucky! 
 
Leaving Full-time service and transitioning to SERCAT 3 I had no idea what to expect. To be honest I had completely forgotten about the Army until I saw an Expression of Interest via WithYouWithMe to join the Army Data Hub. I immediately submitted my EOI not knowing in the slightest what Data they were referring to.  

Come first day of the course I was quite overwhelmed with the course outline and what subjects we had planned on learning over the next 6 weeks. I felt, at the time, that I would not be able to pick it up and that I would struggle. I think most people would have this feeling when going and attempting to do something new that is outside the norm, it is in our nature to want to be comfortable and do things that are easy.  
 
I had two things on my side, however, to change the balance in my favour, the supportive, expert staff from WYWM’s in Jimmy “Data Jesus” Wynen and Scarlett McClure, who delivered face to face training and student assistance throughout the whole 6 weeks. Secondly, the other 14 veterans who were also participating in the program. That “one in, all in” mentality was evident in our group, the only way for the team to succeed was for all of us to succeed, this drove us to support each other, to encourage the sharing of knowledge and information and in the end allowed us all to develop and grow into competent, confident Data Analysts (DA).  
 
The Data Analyst Pathway at WYWM provided me with everything I needed to be able to go from zero to hero. I now have meaningful employment through the Army Data Hub in a Reserve capacity, and I have been given the privilege of being brought on as an Associate Instructor to continue to grow my DA skills and share my knowledge with the WYWM Data community. 
 

If you are interested in Data and want the opportunity to help shape the future of tomorrow‘s jobs, or even if you have no idea what you’re next career/life move is, the WYWM Data Analyst Pathway could be for you. 
 
Feel free to reach out with anything Data related! 
 
christopher-jaames.dennis@withyouwithme.com 
 

In the spring of 2020, I decided to make some changes in my life.  After 30 plus years in uniform, I wanted something more, I was not going to get promoted, and the army and civlian jobs that I was offered were just sole-sucking.  During a sleepless night, mindless scrolling through Facebook, I came across an ad for WithYouWithMe.  At first, I thought it was click bate but went for it anyway.  It took me to a webpage, where I registered and did some testing.  At this point, I still did not think it was real. It was a link on Facebook, and I believed it was just some data collection tool used by companies to target me with ads. 

Shortly after the test, I was called by someone in the company called Veteran Success, and they encouraged me to take a course. I believed this was some scam, and once I registered for a class, they would require my credit card number.  Well, that did not happen, and I continued to get calls and emails encouraging me and showing me potential jobs.  Then it happened I received an email with open positions listed, and for the first time in a long time, I decided to be fierce (bold) and returned the email outlining that one of those jobs was made for me.  To make a short story long, and after a couple of interviews, I got the job—all along asking myself if this company was too good to be real. To be clear, WithYouWithMe is the real deal.  

During this time, I became a single father of 9+1 (the plus one it is too hard to explain) children (7 still at home, three special needs), as my marriage of 25 years ended abruptly.  In addition, I left the only job I had as an adult, the Canadian Army.   Talk about getting out of your comfort zone.  But from that moment, I joined this great company I have attempted daily to keep the value of being fierce front and centre.   If I were not fierce and overcome my negative beliefs, I would still be in a soul-sucking job and not part of this great organization that means what it says and says what it means.   

Not just Words on the Wall       
 

I am proud to say that I have completed week ONE with WYWM but my journey with this organization and our values started on day 1, the day I saw a LinkedIn job posting for the instructor position.  

From the very beginning, WYWM's values were at the forefront. The initial application consisted of explaining my understanding of said values & how I would live them out in my work.  

And thus, my journey into our values began... 

Be fierce. 

I am a single mom who worked within my comfort zone of financial services for 18yrs with no tech experience. It actually took me 2 weeks to build up the courage to write and send my application email. (I promise Jimmy, my pace will be quicker on the job) 

This taught me to shoot my shot. To be fierce and to believe in my own Potential.  

Kait contacted me the next day. After getting to know me a little bit and learning about my Why, she moved me along to the WYWM testing phase. 

Be the Customer. 

Ohhhh boy...that portion where they took a box apart and you had to visualize it back together? Not my strong point.  

Nonetheless, I was amazed with how accurate my results were to who I am. It gave me insight into what the customer sees, the value and reasoning of our testing and how we really do harness Potential over experience. 

Be Curious. 

As I hopefully waited for another email, I had already watched a multitude of WYWM videos and testimonials on all social media platforms. I was captivated and determined. 

I was then booked my technical interview with Jimmy! 

I was asked to explain Exploratory Data Analysis using Excel Pivot Tables. (I will be transparent here...in all my years of banking, I 'looked' at many excel spreadsheets -that was the extent of my knowledge) 

So..I went on a 2 day hunt, asked questions, gathering insight thru people I knew in data and taking free online courses to learn the subject matter. 

(True story -a bat flew into my home as I was on my final loom filming draft..but that tale of sheer horror is for another time.) 

Be Transparent. 

I was so proud to have made it thru the technical portion. I then met Josh and Joel for the most interesting Culture fit interview.  

I was caught off guard by some of the questions but looking back, they put me in a position where I could choose to play the standard interviewee and give all the 'perfect' answers or be myself...be transparent. 
 

Thanks to all of you who played a part in the interview process as well as the first week of Onboarding. You have already challenged me immensely. I am beyond excited to see how holding true to these values will grow me, my teammates, our company and especially the people we serve. 

 
I truly believe WYWM's values are not just words on the wall. Not tag lines. Not empty corporate slogans.  

At least, not if we intentionally live them out and make them our own...in my case, as always, I chose pink 😉