Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Veterans at Darden routinely tell me how much they love the school. Read on to hear why from Patrick.
What did you do in the military?
I was a logistics officer in the Marine Corps, and did one tour of Afghanistan in 2013 as a logistics advisor to an Afghan military unit in Helmand Province. Through those experiences, I learned a lot about myself which has played a significant role in finding my fit in the civilian world. For example, I loved the fast pace, small team leadership, and expeditionary nature of living outside the wire on a small advisor team. And I also chafed at the antiquated bureaucracy of the military, especially in garrison life.
Can you tell us what you’ve been up to since leaving the military?
After two years of consulting at Ernst & Young in New York City, I moved with my family to the DC area, where I spent two years in startups and doing my MBA at the University of Virginia. Since graduating in 2018, I’ve built and led the DC area market for Sonder, a tech hospitality company.
How did you end up in consulting after the Marines?
Having previously interned in NYC in college, I always wanted to circle back again. After enjoying my deployment as an advisor, consulting sounded like an interesting analog. Although many veterans don’t think to use them, I found a recruiting agency (Cameron Brooks) a superb fit, as they provided me coaching and resume feedback, and connected me with 13 companies for interviews.
How did you decide on pursuing an EMBA?
After much research via reading, talking to successful executives, and recruiters, I determined that an MBA was going to be instrumental in helping me earn the type of business operations leadership role I aspired to. The Executive MBA allowed me to work full-time while pursuing my studies mostly in evenings and on weekends, over the same 21 months a full-time MBA program takes place. Also, I found that the EMBA students were from a more seasoned and diverse background, including lots of veterans.
What attracted you to Darden?
My mentors encouraged me to attend the best school in the geographic area I wanted to settle in. After 10 moves in 10 years of marriage, my wife and I were keen to settle down! UVA not only has the best-ranked MBA program in the DC/VA area, but it also participates in the Yellow Ribbon program and has a very active veterans presence. Darden was the only school I applied to, and I could not be happier with the experience.
How have you found the experience working in startups? Startups appealed to me for a variety of reasons. After experiencing life in a combat zone first-hand, I think one’s risk tolerance permanently shifts to some extent! In startups and now a larger, scaling tech company, I have experienced less bureaucracy, greater use of technology, more opportunity for youth to experience responsibility, a more casual and fast-paced culture, and more excitement and variety than anywhere else I’ve worked save for actual deployment. Now I’m General Manager – DC for Sonder, a hotel company combining modern technology and lean operations to provide a trusted brand of beautifully-designed apartment hotel accommodations in 35+ cities around the world. It’s like combining the best of an Airbnb and hotel.
What skills do you think that veterans have which civilian employers undervalue?
Although the veteran experience varies quite a bit, I’ve seen commonalities in discipline, high adversity quotient, a real mission-orientation, and teaming and leadership skills beyond nearly any similar level of civilian experience for one’s age.
Looking back on your transition from the military, what would you have done differently?
Frankly, I feel fortunate for how my transition went, and don’t have significant regrets. If anything I would have done more networking and more interviewing as far ahead of time as possible. I would encourage today’s veterans to spend many hours interviewing veterans through platforms like Veterati, and working with career coaches to both learn more about where the right fit might be, and to improve one’s interviewing skills. For all of us, I would encourage veterans to relax, have faith when staring the unknown in the face, and realize you’re not alone.
Most importantly: What was it like being in DC when the Nationals won the World Series?
As a huge baseball fan, it was incredible and a first for me! Also as a hospitality manager, I was thrilled with the phenomenal business we did!
For anyone interested in working with Patrick, you can find him on Veterati.
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