Natalia
Source Throughput Analyst
Similarities between work at Royce Geo and work in the Navy
Preparing to transition out of the Navy
Resources she wished she’d had access to
Whether or not she considered vets programs when applying for jobs
Advice for future veterans transitioning
Job experience before the military and adapting to private sector culture
Watch Natalia’s Testimonial
Overview
Natalia previously served in the Navy and is now a source throughput analyst at Royce Geo. Her transition out of the military was different than most because she was medically discharged, which presented unique challenges. The process was difficult, and she wishes that she had been better prepared for these challenges as most people in the service downplayed the difficulties of finding a job. She relied on colleagues and LinkedIn as well as job fairs, which is how she discovered Royce Geo.
Work at Royce Geo
“I’m a source throughput analyst, and I work out of NGA Springfield. I’m currently supporting our NGA client in the source directorate, which is in charge of all collections and tasking for the GEOINT data that NGA uses. Specifically, I am currently working on all of the processing and dissemination for all of that data that comes in for not just NGA, but for anybody that NGA is supporting…warfighters, combatant commands, etc.”
Similarities between work at Royce Geo and work in the Navy
“My work at Royce Geo is not at all like the work I did in the Navy. “I did two tours at NGA when I was in the military. So I’m very familiar with NGA. But during my time there I was in analysis as an imagery analyst, and then I also worked up in the front office for executive leadership in two different roles. I was really looking for something that actually leaned more towards those executive positions, because I’m very much a people person; I very much like to engage with people throughout my day. So, that was one of the things I didn’t like so much about being an analyst. I didn’t like just sitting at my desk, kind of being a one of one person, and so that’s what I was looking for when I was looking for a job. I actually started in a different role, and I got moved up to being a team lead when I started with Royce for what I’m doing at NGA, but they thought that I would be a good candidate for this position because it takes a lot of engaging with other mission partners, with customers, and within NGA too. So, working in source…working in collections was totally totally new for me. But the part about engaging with people and networking and what not was definitely a strong suit that I had.”
Preparing to transition out of the Navy
“So, my situation was unique, because I went through a medical board evaluation, and so that dragged on a lot longer than it was supposed to. The medical board process is really nerve wracking because you don’t know when it’s going to conclude, and when it does, they out process you within 28 days. So, I I had my son in March of 2023. My results came out in April. So, I was out processed in May. I didn’t get to finish my maternity leave. Because my medical board was done, I was out processed in May. So, after I found out in April was when I started looking, and so I started your typical websites that people recommend like clearance jobs, USA Jobs, what have you…I started looking in those areas. And honestly, the online applications I found to not be very helpful. I either didn’t hear back from people or they just never followed through. It wasn’t an easy environment for me to find a job in, and so what I preferred were actually job fairs or hiring events, which is where I met Royce through actually…at their hiring event. So, that was one of the ways that I kind of learned how to navigate transitioning out was I preferred those in-person events more than just looking online. And another way, I was doing a lot of research on what having a job in the real world was gonna look like in terms of taxes – taxes were gonna look different, right? So, in the military, only our base pay is taxed. So, our salary may be lower, our take home is more than expected because only that base pay is taxed, which is about 50% of our pay. So, that was a big thing that I had to look at when I was looking for a job, and I was looking at the salary. I had to look at it and say, ‘Okay, what am I going to get taxed as a civilian?’ So, that was a big thing…just to know, obviously, with my son and my husband and I, I needed to see what we needed as a family to look for in terms of salary goal.
The other thing was insurance, because I went from being on my parent’s insurance to having TRICARE with the military. So, I had never really ever enrolled in insurance or knew how to pick a plan and stuff like that. So, that was another thing that I had to learn a lot about with transitioning.
And another another big thing I would say would be with resume writing, which was very different than in the military because a lot of extra little things that we do in the military to help us when it comes time for our evaluations really don’t translate in the civilian sector, and people just don’t care about. We call them collaterals in the military, those like extra duties that you pick up and stuff, and a potential employer…like if you were responsible for your analysis for your command like that doesn’t mean anything to them when you’re applying to an intelligence job. So, I really had to focus on what I actually did as an analyst in the Intel field and leave out some of the more niche Navy related things.”
Resources for the transition
“LinkedIn was a big one for me because I had a lot of people from the Navy and just from other military that I had gotten to know that I had on LinkedIn. So, I really use that as a tool just to communicate with those people and ask them for tips. I really heavily relied on one of my good friends who had just transitioned out about six months before I did, and he was at that time working for Booz Allen, and so I really leveraged him and his experience on getting out. So, I definitely would say my biggest tool was people that I knew that had been through the process and definitely LinkedIn was the best way that I communicated with some of them who move out and I don’t have their cell phone number and stuff like that.
Resources she wished she’d had access to
“I’ll give one critique on one, which is that I think that the military’s TAP program, their transition assistance program, needs a lot of work, a lot of work. I think that it’s really tailored to someone who has been in the Navy and has a job that doesn’t translate out to the real world, because there are a lot of jobs like that in the Navy, that are very specific, you know, like I had a friend whose job was loading and unloading ammunition, and there’s not really a thing that you can do anywhere else. So, TAP is definitely helpful for somebody like that. But in my field where you’re in intelligence and your job is going to translate to the civilian sector, there really wasn’t a lot of that more advanced help that they offered in the top class. I think that it needs a lot of work.
I wish that there had been somebody who had set my expectations better for what looking for a job in the current job market actually looks like, because as I was as I was going through my med board process, so obviously we knew I was gonna get out just not when, right. I had a lot of people just tell me, ‘Oh, you’ll be fine. You’ll get picked up. Somebody will pick you up. You’ll get a job right away. Like you’ve got plenty of experience at NGA. And somebody’s gonna hire you; it’ll be easy.’ But it’s not, and it took me a couple months of applying and going to events and lots of interviews, lots of conversations with recruiters before I found the right match, and I actually found Royce at the hiring event, but they didn’t have a position for me at that time. And we just stayed in contact for about a month and a half before they reached out when they had a position available for me, which was great because they kept me in mind. I kept talking with them and it ended up working out, but I wish that somebody had set my expectations for what it was really going to look like because I think then maybe as a family we would have prepared better for those months leading up to finding a job. And on a more case by case, this is just for somebody who’s been going through a med board process, the Navy or any service when you get medically separated will issue a severance check. And so we were really relying on ‘oh, we’re gonna get that severance check, and that’ll help out as I’m looking for a job.’ It takes months for the military to finish all of your out processing and to issue that severance check. So, I actually got my severance check two weeks before I started with Royce. So, just really setting expectations for what it was going to look like and that it’s not going to be a quick process.”
Whether or not she considered vets programs when applying for jobs
“I definitely was. I don’t know about veterans support, but I was definitely looking for a company that looked like they had a lot of veterans, right, looked like they had a lot of military because then I knew that they would understand what I was going through. Maybe places in coming onto the job that I wasn’t going to understand things that I just hadn’t dealt with yet. So, I definitely was looking for a company that looked like they had a lot of veterans.”
Advice for future veterans transitioning
“Well, I would say to get into the job market early, right, and start advertising yourself and having conversations that even if maybe you don’t get hired right away, that conversation can lead to something, which is exactly what happened with me. So, I think a lot of people think, ‘Oh, I’m not getting out for another four to six months. So, it’s too early for me to start now because if somebody offers me a job, I can’t start yet.’ But it’s not; it’s most of the time not going to be that quick. So, it’s safe to get out there and start meeting people and talking. So, that would be number one.
Number two would be in terms of all your medical related stuff and with the VA on the medical side…getting that situated and getting your records because that is one of the biggest hurdles that people have with getting out of the military. And obviously you want to have that all ready to go so that when you transition over to having a civilian health insurance, you can start seeing whoever you need to see and continuing your care and not having to deal with trying to get back on base because you don’t have access anymore to try and get your medical related stuff. So, that was a big one.
And I would say to rely on other veterans that you know that have gotten out too because you’re not doing it by yourself. Everybody’s gone through this. It’s a total culture shock. And I would definitely advise to rely on those people that you know who have done it before, ask for their advice and not feel like you’re doing it by yourself.”
Job experience before the military and adapting to private sector culture
“I did have jobs before I was in the military, but they were part time jobs. This is really the first time I’ve been part of a company. So before I was in the Navy, I worked a front desk job at a doctor’s office. And then I did an internship in DC as a museum tour guide. But I really wasn’t part of a company in the sense that I am now, so my job now is very different from anything I experienced before I was in the Navy.
One of the biggest things that I noticed right away was there’s a lot more independence, as you know, somebody working in the civilian sector versus working in the military. And that was a big transition for me because luckily, my first team lead when I came on to the company was also a veteran, so he understood what I was going through, and I think I way over shared with him all the time on what I was doing and where I was gonna be and all those things that I had to do in the Navy…somebody always had to know where you were all the time, what you were working on, what did you accomplish for the day. It was very micromanaging. And so that was a big transition for me because he kept reminding me, you’re oversharing, it’s okay, you are your own adult working a big girl job. You can manage yourself, and I’ll step in if I need to step in, if I see that there’s a reason that I need to step in, but I don’t think that’s going to be the case and you can stay in your own lane and drive your own car.
And then let’s see, some of the other big points…understanding this is for the perspective of a contracting company, which obviously we are, but understanding the relationship between us the contractor and the client, and then in my case, on my contract, we have a prime company who is the primary on the contract. We’re a subcontractor on it. So, understanding those relationships and dynamics was very new for me because as military we’re basically treated the same way as a government employee, more or less. Obviously, we worked for the government. So understanding the relationship, the limitations that there are now as a contractor, and then the relationship between my leadership at Royce versus my customer leadership at NGA. That was a very different dynamic for me that I had to learn where those boundaries were in how those relationships worked.”
How she feels supported as a veteran at Royce Geo
“Very much so in terms of the fact that there are so many veterans at our company that I’ve always been able to relate to someone at any time about any thing that I had going on. I think it creates a great bond within the company; pretty much anytime we get together at some point we start talking military. That’s just so awesome to feel that connection with other people. They’ve always made a point to recognize us, which I think is really sweet. I think some veterans have a hard time with that recognition because we really battle with the fact that we chose to do this, we wanted to do this, and sometimes when people are trying to put us in the spotlight it makes us feel a little awkward. So, I appreciate that the company has always tried to acknowledge other people, and I really love that for everyone else.
I appreciate that they always try and bring attention to it, like they always do the wreath laying at Arlington during that time of the year. They’re always doing volunteer events related to veterans, donating money to veteran volunteer organizations.”
How working at Royce Geo would benefit a future veteran
“I think Royce is a great company to transition with because of the fact that there’s so many veterans, so you’re going to have that bond and feel supported by other people who have been through that process. Also, in my experience, being somebody who worked for the military in the intelligence field, obviously going into a company that primarily focuses on intelligence, geospatial intelligence, people are going to understand the language that you’ve used in the military, even though maybe not 100%. But, they’ve likely been around the military before even if they’re not a veteran themselves. So that helps with the transition as well because there’s ways to relate to other people in the company even though they may not be a veteran themselves.
And Royce specifically does so many camaraderie events, which is definitely something that we are used to in the military. We do a lot of stuff in the military together, whether it be PTing, we call it quarters in the Navy, getting together and like giving announcements and stuff like that, right? We do a lot of stuff all together in the Navy, and throughout all the services, so Royce doing that as well definitely made me feel welcomed and not like I was just another number employee that was off doing their own thing. We have happy hours. When I first started, they did a whole presentation at headquarters and gave us a tour of it and then we did a happy hour after that. They do a family event. We have our fall festival that we do, which is so much fun. There’s like games and everything. So Royce really as a company tries to instill that feeling of camaraderie that we are a company even though we’re all spread out throughout client spaces for the majority, obviously, there’s the folks who work at headquarters, but for the rest of us, we’re really spread out, and they really make an effort to make us feel like we’re together in one company, and I really, really appreciate that because it definitely gives the same feelings as being in the military.”