Behind the Mic: Meet Your Exit Buddies, Kathleen & Rachel

In this bonus episode of Exit Buddy: Veteran Stories to Guide You, hosts Kathleen Smith and Rachel Bozeman pull back the curtain for a fun, heartfelt "get to know us" chat. From the inspiration behind the podcast name to their career journeys, military connections, and top advice for transitioning vets, they share laughs, life lessons, and a peek at their furry co-hosts. Whether you're curious about what makes these two tick or just need a reminder to "shake it off," this episode is your perfect pit stop before we dive back into more veteran spotlights.

Key Highlights

• Podcast Origins: Discover why Kathleen named the show Exit Buddy and how Rachel's recruiting passion led her to champion veteran hires.
• Career Pivots & Advice: Hear the "aha" moments that shaped their approaches to job hunting, plus their three-word career philosophies (network, network, network, anyone?).
• Transition Tips: Don't count yourself out—ask questions, leverage your skills, and build that cross-network to grab your exit buddy.
• Fur Baby Shenanigans: Meet the squad and their hilariously honest "feedback" on the hosts.
• Power Anthem Reveal: What's the ultimate song to power through tough days? (Hint: It's a Taylor Swift banger.)

About the Hosts

Kathleen Smith is a career strategist with deep roots in the security-cleared community, passionate about demystifying the civilian job market for veterans.

Rachel Bozeman is a talent acquisition pro with a heart for military families, connecting heroes to careers that match their fire.

Tune in for inspiration, giggles, and a reminder that transitioning doesn't have to be a solo swim—you've got your exit buddies right here.

Next Up: Join us Monday for another veteran-led story to light your path.

Exit Buddy: Veteran Stories to Guide You is brought to you by Kathleen Smith, Rachel Bozeman, and Ashley Jones. Special thanks to our furry crew for keeping things lively.

Visit us at https://exitbuddy.buzzsprout.com to learn more about the show.

Have feedback or questions for us? Email us at ashleyjones.creative@gmail.com.

Transcript

Kathleen Smith 00:00 Welcome to a special episode of Exit Buddy: Veteran Stories to Guide You. I'm Kathleen here with my co-host Rachel. Today, we're peeling back the curtain to share a little bit about ourselves and maybe something about our fur babies.

Rachel Bozeman 00:13 You've probably been wondering, who in the heck are these two voices? Well, we're real. We're humans, and we are here to formally introduce ourselves and tell you more than, let's be honest, you probably wanted to know.

Kathleen Smith 00:28 We'll be back Monday with another guest episode featuring a veteran with firsthand insights to shed light on your journey ahead. But in the meantime, hey, get to know us a little. We'll tell you more about why we started the podcast and introduce you to the team, which does include a few fur babies.

Rachel Bozeman 00:45 So today, let's try something. Kathleen, if you're game, I'm game. Let's interview each other. I know you have a burning question. I have so many questions, but let's start with a really good one. I think I'm gonna put you on the hot seat first. Kathleen, so what inspired you to start Exit Buddy?

Kathleen Smith 01:05 Great question. Thinking about military transition, the average transition, the person who's just trying to make it from Step A to Step B. And I really wanted to get those interesting stories that are out there. And I'm so fortunate to have known so many veterans who have transitioned in the last 10, 20, 30, 40 years, and they all have interesting stories. So I really just wanted to bring that down to earth. Hey, someone wanted to follow their passion. Somebody wanted to change their career path. Somebody really wanted to leverage all of those skills. And many of you might want to know why I named the podcast Exit Buddy, and through many of the transitions in my life, I never had a mentor. Didn't have somebody who was there to provide advice, guidance, I just sort of forged ahead, and then one day, I was watching the movie Finding Nemo. It came out the day that my grandmother died, and I needed something to take my mind off of my grieving. And I just found the scene with Crush and Dory and Nemo grabbing onto each other when they were told to find their exit buddy, and they were looking for, looking toward the grand vortex of swirling death, I think is what they called it. And then they had Squirt, who was giving the whole rundown of what to do, grab your exit buddy and you rock and you roll. So I just figured that Exit Buddy was a really good theme for this podcast, because I know transitioning veterans are looking at this big swirling mass of decisions and ideas and thoughts and to be able to reach out and grab an exit buddy. Be it through the podcast, listening to the stories would at least help people know that you can rock and you roll and you can make it through this, and you'll come out the other side really well. So that's why it's called Exit Buddy. So what about you, Rachel? Let's put you on the hot seat. How did you first get into the world of recruiting, and what's your connection with the military community?

Rachel Bozeman 03:24 Absolutely fantastic question. Kathleen, you're so good at this, you should host stuff. So you asked, How did I get into the world of recruiting? Well, like many of our comrades here in recruiting, it's been an interesting story. Didn't start out wanting to be a recruiter. Started out with all of the aspirations to be, yes, an attorney, and through twists and turns and through life changes and all of the things that go on, found myself in a situation where I was really good at talking to people, and really good at listening to people, and really good at making those connections between what they were interested in, what motivated them and what an organization needed. So have had the opportunity to work for incredible organizations throughout my career where I picked up something different from each one, whether it was in HR respectively, or moving into talent acquisition. Really have had a blast getting an opportunity to just talk to folks and really talk about their career aspirations, what makes them tick, and then finding that perfect career for them. And so one part I've really enjoyed throughout just my experience in recruiting is that military connection. So yes, I have grandparents who bravely served in different conflicts, different wars, and now have married a brave Army veteran, and really have had just a passion for making sure that we get these heroes, folks that have given so much of themselves for us that we find the right opportunity. Selfishly, from an employer standpoint, have also found that veterans make some of the best employees that you can find so love the opportunity to recruit and talk to veterans and find them the perfect career. All right, Kathleen, my turn now. Are you ready for it? I think so. So what's one moment in your career that completely changed the way that you approach helping job seekers?

Kathleen Smith 05:13 Ooh, that's really easy to tell. So at the beginning of my career, working in the security cleared community, I had the opportunity to lead the transition class for several of the various different intelligence agencies, and I was just blown away at how passionate everyone was, how talented they were, but how not afraid, but really challenged with how to make that transition from serving the national mission in a very restricted environment to going out into the big world, in the corporate, civilian world, and all of the things that recruiters and talent acquisition professionals do to find those people. They all had served behind the firewall for 30, 40 years, and they just did not know what it was like on the other side to find a job, and it was just very gratifying to really help them with. I ended up teaching a two and a half hour class for 10 years at the intelligence agencies on explaining to them how to find a job and then that it would be okay, and that their talents and experience were really important, and that they can continue serving to support the mission, or many of them wanted to go off and do something different. So at that point, even though it was a very exhausting class to teach once a month for 10 years, I was very happy that I always did it. So let's talk about career philosophy. What would you sum up your career philosophy in three words? What would they be?

Rachel Bozeman 06:58 That's a good one. If I had to just boil it down to three words. I would probably start with passion, authenticity, and then end with a little bit of transparency. What about you?

Kathleen Smith 07:09 Okay, network, network, and more networking. I really think that you find more through a lot of networking. So what piece of advice would you give to someone transitioning from the military world to the civilian world?

Rachel Bozeman 07:27 I would say, don't count yourself out. I think so oftentimes what I hear from folks that are transitioning is, well, I've never done that before. I don't know what that means. Can you help me understand? And so I think there's so many skills that you are already coming locked and loaded with. Don't count yourself out. Ask questions, be brave and say, Hey, do you mind telling me what that acronym means? Or can you tell me how this would apply? Or, Hey, I've done something similar. Be brave. Be courageous, and don't count yourself out. What about you?

Kathleen Smith 07:58 Network, network and network, because that is something that is not taught in the military world. You know how to network in your ranks, but you don't know how to go cross network. And the one thing you and I both know is that it's your network that will leverage you up to be able to find your next opportunity. Okay, gonna put you on the spot again. This is all being on spots. Oh, no. How would you describe my co-host style in three words?

Rachel Bozeman 08:33 Ooh, I would say engaging, for sure, informed. Absolutely and empowering. Why? Thank you. I always feel a little bit better after every time

Kathleen Smith 08:51 I would describe yours as delightful, because just the way you say things is just always wonderful, and you are very passionate about recruiting and talent acquisition. You really, really want people to understand how professional the recruiting career is, and you just have so much integrity. I just have really appreciated what you bring to every single interview with just unbelievable integrity.

Rachel Bozeman 09:25 Okay, now that we're dabbing our eyes!

Kathleen Smith 09:30 Who usually keeps the conversation on track and who derails it? I know the answer to this one, but what do you say?

Rachel Bozeman 09:38 I'm gonna blame Doug on here. It's Doug, definitely Doug, definitely not his fur mama out there, but yeah, no, I think we probably have some equal skin in that game.

Kathleen Smith 09:57 Yes, we do, yes we do.

Rachel Bozeman 10:01 Yeah. Yeah, but definitely Doug.

Kathleen Smith 10:03 Definitely Doug. Yes, it's definitely Doug. So speaking of Doug, who is one of our fur babies, do we let our fur babies co-host? I don't think we let them. I mean, I know my fur babies basically are sitting on my feet, and they don't bark, but your fur babies get a little bit more involved, right?

Rachel Bozeman 10:27 Yeah, my fur babies suffer from the same disposition as I do, high energy and not a day or moment that goes by that one of them is not sharing their joys and their insights in there. So I feel they've definitely found their way into co-hosting. Haven't found a way to capitalize on that yet, and really getting the headset on them has been a real nightmare. But I feel like for future episodes, there's nothing a little gorilla glue can't do.

Kathleen Smith 11:02 So since this is a big new launch of our new podcast, let's reflect on that other podcast that we did, which we won't name because it's on another channel. What has been in the three and a half years that you and I have been podcast co-hosts, can you remember any unexpected podcast moment that just really stood out?

Rachel Bozeman 11:29 Oh gosh, there's been so many, and I don't know if there's one that just stands out as completely unexpected. I think we've had some guests that have been delightful or more challenging in some respects there, but probably one of the funniest there was, and I wish I could remember exactly what the word was, that you were saying, Kathleen, but the way you were pronouncing it, for whatever reason, it hit me sideways, and I could not regain my composure. And I just kept giggling like I was a three year old and couldn't get past it, and then I felt like I kept saying the word over and over, and it was ridiculous. And I'm embarrassed as a human being that I can't do better, but it was probably one of my favorite memories of just and you said it, so I'm sure, eloquently and correctly, but for whatever reason, in my crazy little mind, it was not and I'm sure we could probably dig it up somewhere. But it wasn't a proud moment, but it was certainly one where my sides probably still hurt a little bit from the amount of laughter that occurred. What about you? Was there anything that you're like we did that?

Kathleen Smith 12:43 Well, I just love each one of our blooper reels that we've done, and I'm sure we're going to do more of them with this podcast, because that's what's just so fun. You never want to make a mistake in public or public speaking, but at least here you can do it, edit out those bloopers that you know, saying words you probably shouldn't have said, which we know I said a few before we started this and just being able to laugh at ourselves. So I think that those have been sort of the greatest thing, is being able to laugh at ourselves that we do so well on the podcast, but then also be able to say, oh my goodness, I had to redo that sentence like seven times before I could get it out. And I know that our pets, our fur babies, probably could do a better job. What do you think they would say about us as hosts?

Rachel Bozeman 13:38 Oh goodness. I think each of mine would probably say something different. I think Colby, she's my little boxer. She's pretty encouraging. So she would be like, Mom, that was good, like you did great. You are an expert. Anu, my Great Pyrenees has a lot of opinions and a lot of feelings, and I feel like Anu would tell me, you could do a lot better at that. I feel like you've got some opportunities there. Mom, you talk too much. You talk too fast, like your voice moves too much. I feel like Anu has constructive but a little bit hurtful feedback. And Doug would tell me, Mom, you sure sound pretty. What about Lucy and Max? I feel like they would have opinions.

Kathleen Smith 14:26 You know, they're both asleep. Other than listening to them snore, so I sometimes take that a little bit sort of like, wow. My dogs are snoring while I'm presenting. I guess I'm not that good so, but they still look at me with those big, beautiful eyes afterwards, so I'm not taking it too personally. No. So I know what my power song is. How about you? What's your power song?

Rachel Bozeman 14:51 Oh, gosh. So many of them, I feel like when I sing to myself quite often, it’s Shake It Off, which might sound crazy in there, but it's just kind of a great anthem in life. You know, you could definitely tip into so many good ones out there. Celine Dion also really gets me going, just because, I mean, it's Celine Dion, but I think I probably hum along to Shake It Off quite often, because it's just, it's a good reminder. Sometimes you just gotta, gosh darn it, shake it off. Kathleen, you teed it up, give it to us.

Kathleen Smith 15:32 And that's why I love you. We have the same power song. Shake It Off, and that's why, yes, friends, you saw the two of us. We were there in New Orleans shaking it off for good old Miss Swift. Well, we have probably shared more than even the IRS wants to know about us. So that's us, Kathleen, Rachel, and our furry squad here to support your transition from military to civilian life. Thanks for tuning into this special episode, we look forward to introducing you to our next veteran guest next Monday.

Rachel Bozeman 16:06 So be sure to get out there and follow on your favorite platform so you don't miss what our next Exit Buddy has to share. Catch you in the next episode. Toodles, woo hoo!