Sitreps Jobs Lessons Learned, and the Definitive VA Loan Guide

+ Sitreps & Leland MBA Bootcamp Scholarship Apps

Happy Easter, everyone!

I’m always a huge fan of the optimism this day provides. Whether observant of the holiday or not, you know we’re headed into warmer weather, summer holidays, and (hopefully) a more chill work environment. On a scale of European bureaucrat to investment banking analyst, I hope your summer edges toward the former. If you’re lucky you’ve got something epic planned while the kids are at summer camp and you’re somewhere several time zones away.

This week I want to provide a little more depth on what we’re doing at Sitreps Jobs and some of the things we’ve learned, as well as share a pretty awesome and thorough guide on VA home loans that JD Modrak made for the Sitreps community. You’ll want to copy and save this down whether you’re buying a home today or ten years from now. JD recently saved one follower $5K and convinced another follower not to buy a home (I know lol, unbelievable in the real estate space).

Things I found Interesting this Week

Tariff Upheaval Threatens Private Equity’s Exit Recovery Hopes - Maria Armental in the Wall Street Journal

New Thinking Needed on National Defense - Stephen Bryen in the Asia Times

Facts Against Rhetoric, Capitalism, Culture and Yes, the Tariffs - Thomas Sowell for the Hoover institution.

How to Leverage US Nukes Overseas - Henry Sokolski and Thomas D Grant in Breaking Defense

American Kingpin - by Nick Bolton (Yes, this is a book- about the Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht who President Trump recently pardoned)

Sitreps & Leland MBA Bootcamp Scholarship Apps!

BLUF: we’ve worked with Leland and their team of admissions experts, former adcoms, and vet coaches to make a live MBA admissions Bootcamp! We are less than 2 weeks away and we still have several scholarships available for those who feel the price is preventing them from taking part!

Apply here!

From April 30 - May 21

Hosted by Sitreps2Steercos co-founders Wyatt Frasier and Kyle Eberly

7 LIVE sessions with MBA Admissions Experts

Craft a standout application—essays, interviews, resumes, and more! With expert consultants who specialize in the military to MBA transition, you'll learn how to leverage your unique experience to shine at top programs.

Sitreps Jobs

We’ve planned to make this a community that is more than memes since we started. Leveraging our reach to make it easier for top-tier employers and followers to connect is an obvious win for everyone involved.

Placements

• Candidates: We’ve now placed nearly 23 candidates across 9 companies since starting Sitreps Jobs last year.

• Industries: We primarily serve clients at startups and small businesses who have to find talent fast and do not have a fully-formed F500 style talent acquisition infrastructure. They need candidates fast

  • Defense Tech: We’ve had 4 different defense tech companies and are in talks with more. This is an obvious fit for our audience and as the industry continues to grow we’re excited to help provide a talent pipeline of pipe-hitter vets.

  • Private Equity Ops: This is another are where vets are a natural fit. Blue collar workforce, gritty FITFO culture, and a need for the sort of private sector experience our followers typically have post-MBA

  • Startups: We’ve also had other startups outside defense tech come to us realizing that vets are a great fit inside the fast-paced and chaotic environment at a startup.

  • Sales: Another industry more vets should consider. Massive comp upside and fast-paced mission oriented culture. Sales also requires more of an analytical and consultative approach than many first believe. For those without a sales background we’ve been super pleased working with Shift Group to help funnel veterans into high-potential entry level sales roles that quickly transition to account executive type roles making $200K+ after only a year in the industry and without an advanced degree.

• Salary Profile: The average base salary for the roles we’ve placed sits at $175K. Most outside sales have bonuses in the 20%-40% as well as equity offerings. Sales roles have massive upside through commission structures that reward your ability to hunt deals.

• MBA Hires: We’ve also realized how valuable MBAs are not only to candidates but to companies as well. We don’t place many veterans right out of MBA programs because those companies can go directly to those vets clubs and campuses to find talent. This is one reason I’m still very bullish on MBAs. They may not be the source of specialized or director-level talent, but there are a lot of roles that MBAs can fill and they’re a super cost-effective way for companies to fill those roles.

• Setting: We’ve seen remote work dwindling as an option across all industries. Some tech companies and startups are still doing this to save on office overhead, but many start to do hybrid type arrangements once they get to Series A or B and beyond.

Service Offering

We’ve probably failed marketing what we’ve done as just a “job board”, as this implies a fairly passive involvement on our end and confuses the service we are offering both to veterans and to companies.

We are serving companies at the top of their talent funnel- providing full-service placement. We help define the job, consult on comp and profile, vet candidates personally, and ensure that we’re cutting your funnel down to the point that you’re only dealing with high-potential fits. On the candidate side we help coach them through the process and make sure they understand the role, comp structure, and potential so that they have a high-likelihood to sign once that offer comes.

Because of the extensive reach that this community offers and the trust that you all have been kind enough to afford us, we are able to operate in a way no other executive search firm can. Because of our super unique lead gen, low overhead, and actual experience operating across tech and private equity ops we are faster, we’re easier to work with, and frankly we are just better. If you doubt it we can refer you to the several clients who tell us as much weekly.

The Definitive VA Loan Guide

I was contacted a few weeks ago by a follower and fellow Veteran-turned-MBA, JD Modrak. JD served as a Navy Surface Warfare Officer serving across MEUs, piracy ops, and a tour with police in Afghanistan. He started investing in real estate while getting his MBA at Booth and then did 7 years across STR and Hotel startups Sonder and Kasa. Now he is a Mortgage Loan Officer at Canopy specializing in VA loans.

For those who follow the page, you know how critical I can be of so much of the real estate industry. Whether it’s realtors, loan officers, or O-3 slumlords, I generally view the entire industry with a mix of cynicism and humor. The zero-interest-rate phenomenon produced a lot of people who confused generationally favorable conditions with expertise. That said, I’m a believer in the power of asset ownership when done right, and JD has already helped a few followers lower their rates and their loan costs. And has convinced a few others NOT to buy (unbelieveable, right?)

In full transparency yes, we do have a financial arrangement with him. Many other loan officers and real estate folks have asked to do something similar and it just never feels quite right to tie the Sitreps brand to theirs. The gentlemen at Mil-Move and JD are so far the few I’ve really felt like have it right when it comes to aligning their incentives with veteran home buyers’.

So copy and save this down- it’s long but we’ve worked with JD to make it thorough and digestible!