Tyler Grant, MSGT (Ret.) was transitioning out of the United States Air Force, and he had a dream of working in Oklahoma State University’s athletic department.
“When I was transitioning out of the Air Force back in 2023, I wanted to work at OSU,” he said. “That was my dream job. At the time, I was working on my master’s in sports administration at Liberty University, and when I got out, I knew I wanted a job in sports. I wanted to be somewhere near the athletic program in Stillwater. I didn’t care if I was the waterboy for the football team, I just wanted to be close to the sports.”
Grant, a New Hampshire native, started researching how he could SkillBridge with OSU.
“I started researching on the internet how I could SkillBridge with OSU. They were not a SkillBridge provider, so I needed to find a third-party provider, and that’s when I learned about 7 Eagle Group,” he said.
Grant contacted Jordie Kern, founder of 7 Eagle Group, and was soon convinced that 7 Eagle Group would be his new work home.
“I talked to him for about 15 minutes and he talked me into staying at 7 Eagle instead of going to work for OSU,” Grant said, who now serves as CEO of 7 Eagle Group.
7 Eagle Group is a Veteran Success Organization that empowers veterans and their families by connecting them with rewarding careers, vital resources, a supportive community, and meaningful connections to foster purpose and ensure lasting success.
Grant said 7 Eagle services include expert-led training, personalized coaching, and exclusive job opportunities.
“Our mission is to connect military Veterans and transitioning service members with lucrative and rewarding careers because we believe those who have sacrificed so much for our freedom deserve opportunities that match their dedication and valor,” Kern said on the 7 Eagle Group website.
Grant said 7 Eagle empowers transitioning service members, Veterans and their families to find purpose.
“The way we do that is through connecting them to rewarding careers as well as resources and building a supportive community around them for their whole post-military career,” he said. “And we do that through our career accelerator, 7 Eagle Academy and 7 Eagle
Connect, our interactive talent marketplace.”
7 Eagle Academy is a DoW SkillBridge program.
“It’s a program for transitioning service members during the last six months of their contract with the DoW,” he said. “They still get paid by the DoW, they still receive benefits like health insurance, life insurance, and Thrift Savings Plan contributions. But they’re able to go work with a company for the last six months to gain valuable experience during their transition, offering the company an incredibly low risk opportunity to test drive the veteran before committing to a full-time job offer.”
He added “7 Eagle Connect is our website. It’s a two-sided marketplace that helps veterans and companies looking to hire them find each other more easily. So, these two things work together to help the Vets out.”
Grant spent 15 years in the Air Force before transitioning out in 2023.
“I got out at 15 and moved to Guthrie, which is actually not where I’m from,” he said. “My wife is from Edmond and has family here in Guthrie. So, that’s how we ended up here. I love living here-I love this area.”
Grant is joined at 7 Eagle Group by Mat Olson, a retired Navy Chief Petty Officer.
“He’s like our chaplain, our HR director. He is a great dude,” Grant said.
Grant discussed how participants in 7 Eagle Academy spend their first week attending Foundations Week.
“The first five hours of that week we spend helping them identify what their ideal career path is if they don’t know already,” he said. “Some of them come in thinking they know what they want to do, but change their minds based on what they’ve learned in that first week. We help them target their resume towards those types of roles. We help them build a LinkedIn brand for themselves so they can promote themselves to recruiters and HR teams.”
Once they wrap up Foundations Week, Grant said they roll into Connections.
“They spend five hours a day on Zoom,” he said. “We are introducing them to 20+ companies every week. Mentors, Veterans, non-Veterans coming in to talk about, if they served, they’re talking about their military time, their transition, offering tips and tricks, giving them connections and resources, and job opportunities.”
He continued, “And so, our hope for Connections is for participants to take the skills that they learn in Foundations and start applying them here to find a job. Once they find a company that wants to bring them on, we vet the company and approve them to spend the remainder of their SkillBridge term with that company receiving OJT-valuable on-the-job experience.
“And the hope is that the company hires them on at the end for a full-time job and they don’t skip a beat. They transition seamlessly from their military pay right into their next role.”
Grant said 7 Eagle Group continues to grow in applicants.
“For the last six months we’ve had 20% more applicants to our program and 20% more profiles on our site every month,” he said. “We get about 7,000 applicants a year.”
For more information about 7 Eagle Group, visit www.7eagle.com. • by Van Mitchell, staff writer
