Team News
August 12, 2021

Shift Launches The "Shift Dispatch" Newsletter

Shift is thrilled to announce that on August 10, we officially launched our newsletter the "Shift Dispatch". In case you missed it, here's a glance at some of the value you'll be gaining by joining as a subscriber. You can easily subscribe at any time at the bottom our website's homepage here.

Welcome to the Shift Dispatch #1!

Welcome to the Shift Dispatch, our insider look into what’s happening at Shift. It’s your source for what’s new and interesting in the military community and tech world, and a place for us to celebrate our incredible members and corporate partners.

At Shift, we advance the careers of military service members, past and present. We look to create a world where career growth and learning are visible, accessible, and affordable, and the diversity of someone’s experience and achievements are fairly assessed and celebrated. Transitions across industry should advance someone’s career, rather than hold them back.

Shift was started 4+ years ago to help transitioning veterans find meaningful work in the tech community. Since then, our focus has expanded from transitioning military to current and former service members, with a number of programs focused on career development and career advancement to keep our members competitive in the current and future economy.

Whether you are an active duty service member in the midst of your military career, a transitioning service member trying to figure out what’s next on your journey into civilian life, or a veteran who has made the shift to civilian life, it is always the right time to discover your untapped potential, acquire new skills, and unlock fresh opportunities.

What’s Up at Shift

Like many of our corporate partners, Shift transitioned to a virtual office in the Spring of 2020. Many of our team members joined Shift during this new phase of work and hadn’t actually met each other in person… until last month! After flying in from across the country,  we held our first offsite to do some team building and planning for the future. We have some big goals over the coming months, and if we reach them, this picture will look a whole lot bigger next year!

Check out shift.org/careers if you’re interested in joining our team!

Our career discovery program Navigating Next will soon kick off its summer cohort with over 90 participants. If you’re a veteran thinking about a career change or a transitioning service member, come join others in the military community as we explore career options through self-reflection, events and discussion, and access to our hiring partner network through our Talent Spotlight or Skillbridge internship programs. New cohorts are kicking off August 17, September 28, and November 2. Sign up today!

Shift’s best-in-class venture capital and startup industry immersion program Defense Ventures will introduce its fall cohorts in the coming weeks! This fall, 100 emerging innovators from the Department of Defense will join top venture capital firms, tech startups, and incubators to immerse in 21-century technology development and business practices. If you’re an employee of the Department of Defense who wants to build the future of defense technology, this is the program for you. Sign up for our mailing list today. We’ll be announcing our 2022 applications later this fall.

We are happy to announce that in early 2022, the Defense Ventures team will be launching Trusted Capital Industry Tours! This year-long industry immersion program, sponsored and managed by the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s Trusted Capital Program, will host active duty military members from all Services for year-long tours at venture capital and private equity firms across the United States. This is our second Phase 3 contract with the Department of Defense, and we couldn’t be more excited to bring more career advancement opportunities to our current service members!

If you are a company or investment firm that wants to partner with us on our military talent access or development programs, please reach out for a conversation!

🔥 Hot Jobs 🔥

Account Executive @ Shift. We are looking for an Account Executive to secure partnerships and continue building a robust network of hiring partners who are hungry to hire from our programs and increase their veteran footprint.

Head of the Defense Ventures Program @ Shift. We are looking to hire someone to own the delivery of our industry immersion and talent development program that sits at the intersection of VC, the federal government, learning, and talent development. Experience in delivering a best-in-class customer experience program is a must!

Operations Analyst @ Unite Us. Unite Us is looking to hire an individual for the multi-faceted role of Operations Analyst, responsible for CS Learning & Evaluation functions, technical configuration, and other efficiencies in operational work streams. An individual with attention to detail and an aptitude for honing down on complex tasks to be applied at the department-wide level will thrive in this position!

Sr. Software Engineer- Front End @ Markaaz. One of our newest partners, Markaaz, is looking for a new Senior Front End Software Engineer to support Markaaz with the necessary insights to think beyond the status quo. Writing code, collaborating, and mentoring cross-functional teams across the company are some of the responsibilities of this individual which will bring immediate value to Markaaz.

The Don’t Miss Playlist

  • Read about Shift’s VP of Community and Career Discovery Daniel Savage making the case for transitioning service members and veterans to seek career opportunities at ambitious, fast-growing startups from his own exploratory career journey of growth and self-discovery after eleven years served.
  • Defense Ventures Host Shield AI’s second acquisition of the summer is a company whose artificial intelligence system beat a human F-16 pilot in a simulated dogfight.
  • Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging technology paper on defense innovation tourism argues that defense procurement practices are really what needs innovation within the Department of Defense.
  • Listen to Shift’s VP Chris MacPherson talk about business innovation on the Cognitive Crucible Podcast.  
  • Defense Venture’s Alumni Mike Benetiz’s newsletter The Merge is a great source of information for what’s going on in defense technology.
  • Stratechery by Ben Thompson is one of the best newsletters in the US for business strategy.
  • A16z’s Future is a media platform of articles, podcasts, and videos about the future as technology changes the way we work, live and play.
  • Stanford Ignite- Post 9/11 Veterans is an online four-week long program (that is still accepting applications) for veterans who want to boost their knowledge of innovation and entrepreneurship hosted by Stanford Graduate School of Business- set for October 10-November 4, 2021.

Shift is proud to announce that in August, we will welcome 50+ new startups into our existing talent network (of 100+ startups and small businesses) that makes it easy for some of the most ambitious, fast-growing new companies in America to connect with forward-thinking military Veterans.

Thank you!

We have launched this newsletter to share the stories of our members, partners, and programs with as many human beings as possible. You’ve been added to this newsletter because of your connection to the military community, and thus will receive our emails twice monthly, but if you prefer not to receive our issues, you may easily unsubscribe at any time via the footer in this and every email.

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