Cameron-Brooks June 2025 Career Conference Review: Insights for Your Military-to-Business Transition

Transitioning from the military to a professional business career is a pivotal moment for any Junior Military Officer (JMO). At Cameron-Brooks, our mission is to help JMOs navigate this career transition with clarity and confidence through a three-step approach:

1) Prepare

2) Search

3) Launch

Our June 2025 Post-Conference Review offered a deep dive into the April Career Conference results and shared actionable insights for those preparing for the August 2025 conference, and those in the Cameron-Brooks Development and Preparation Program.

I was joined by three recent Cameron-Brooks Alumnus who attended the Conference: Jesse DeVries (Caterpillar), Patrick McMahan (Intuitive Surgical), and Connor McNamara (Optimized Process Designs, LLC – a Koch Engineered Solutions company.

Whether you are actively preparing for your transition or simply exploring what’s possible, here are the biggest takeaways from our latest Career Conference and alumni panel.

June 2025 Conference Recap: A Fast-Paced Career Launchpad

The Cameron-Brooks Career Conference is a 4.5 day, high-intensity event, where you’ll meet with Hiring Managers for open positions from industry leading companies spanning across multiple industries. At the June Conference, 46 JMOs attended, and 445 interviews were conducted. Every single JMO was “pursued” to the next round of interviews.

These open positions are highly complex, designed to be filled by high-performing junior leadership talent in order to get into a company’s succession planning.

With about two openings per position on average, some opportunities were highly competitive single openings, while others offered broader geographic flexibility and multiple openings. Every JMO had multiple pathways to success. 

Navigating the Market and Maximizing Interviews

Despite a competitive economy – high interest rates and unemployment hovering around 4.2% (Which is relatively normal) – The JMOs interviewed for premium roles in leadership, operations, sales, and engineering.

Key lessons from the conference:

Be a Giver: Successful candidates focused on solving the company problem first (The open position). When candidates successfully connected their background, built rapport and demonstrated genuine interest in that position, the companies reciprocated with a pursuit for the next round of interviews, and then offers onsite.

Preparation Drives Pursuits: The best-prepared JMOs – those who dressed for success, mastered their stories, and tailored their answers – earned the most follow-up interviews. There was a direct correlation between time spent in preparation (Phase 1 -Preparation), and successfully launching (Phase 3 – Launch).

Embrace a Broad Search: Flexibility in industry and location opened the door for a broader search (Phase 2 – Search).

The average time from conference to signed offer was 13.25 working days, with some candidates accepting in as few as six working days.

Preparing Like a Pro: The Cameron-Brooks Process

Our alumni panel reinforced the importance of preparation prior to, during, and post-conference.

Pre-Conference

• Development & Preparation Program (DPP): Build your foundation, refine your stories, and understand how your military experience translates.

• Study Groups: Considered the most valuable tool for refining answers and building confidence.

• Mock Interviews: Essential to remove military jargon and communicate stories effectively.

• Reading List: Builds business acumen and helps connect with the interviewers, and recognized industry practices and topics such as: Lean, Six Sigma, Data Analytics, etc.

During the Conference

• Company Briefings: Every JMO received a 30-minute briefing on every company they interviewed with accelerating their knowledge on each company, and what skills were necessary to connect on and be successful in the interview, and subsequently the role they would be filling.

• Coaching Zoom Room: Managed by the Coaches, allowed for instant feedback after interviews to adapt in real time and prepare for the next interview.

• Asking Quality Questions: One of the most important parts in an interview.  Asking quality questions demonstrates three things to the Hiring Mangers: 1) What’s most important to the candidate; 2) Demonstrates the candidates desire to solve the company’s problem; and 3) The candidates intellectual curiosity.

Post-Conference Follow-Up

• Follow-up Briefings: Designed to go deeper into research on the company, the role, how to conduct field rides, plant tours and close for the offer.

• Fast and Focused: Field rides, plant tours, and virtual interviews often start immediately.

• Cameron-Brooks Follow-Up Team: Dedicated support from our team to manage offers and logistics.

• On-Site Experiences: Field rides and tours are game changers—turning interest into offers by showing real job fit.

Companies and Career Opportunities

• • Give a listen to see what companies attended and for what type of roles!

Alumni Insights: Winning Your Transition

Pat, Jesse, and Connor shared some insights on how they turned preparation into offers:

• Utilizing the Cameron-Brooks SkillBridge: Provided them with extra time to focus on preparation and self-care before transitioning.

• Prioritize Study Groups: Honest feedback and practice is invaluable.

• Tell Stories with Purpose: Adapt your military experiences to business challenges.

• Close Every Interview: Express genuine interest and why you want to move forward.

Their experiences reinforce the Cameron-Brooks principle: success comes to the prepared and adaptable JMO.

Final Advice for JMOs

As I shared in my closing remarks at the Post-Conference Review:

Get plugged into your study group early.

Read and apply insights daily.

Engage with Cameron-Brooks alumni and staff.

This transition is not just about landing a job, but rather getting out and up into a business leadership trajectory  by laying a solid foundation that will fuel the next 25 – 40 years with growth, challenge, and impact.

If you’re a JMO preparing for the August 2025 Career Conference, or transitioning out in 2026, now is the time to double down on preparation. Use the insights above, trust the process, and remember, Cameron-Brooks is here as your partner and guide in the transition.

Best of success,

Brock Dudley