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From Serving the Nation to Shaping Young Minds with Dr. Kim Moore
54 Plays14 days ago
Dr. Kim Moore shares how she successfully transitioned from a military career to the field of education.
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Transcript
Introduction to Crossroads Career Podcast
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome to the Crossroads Career Podcast, a show where we help you hear God calling, get the right job, and maximize your potential through inspiring stories of individuals and professionals who've experienced a crossroads in their career.
00:00:16
Speaker
Welcome back to the Crossroads Career Podcast. my name is Tim, and we have Hannah with us as well.
Dr. Kim Moore's Unique Career Path
00:00:22
Speaker
We are excited to speak to Dr. Kim Moore today and hear her story.
00:00:29
Speaker
um Just a little introduction for Dr. Kim, if you don't know her, ah from commanding hazmat teams to commanding classrooms, ah Dr. Kim has quite the career trajectory.
00:00:41
Speaker
As a former Army Chemical Corps officer who specializes in weapons of mass destruction, she's probably the only school superintendent who can handle both nuclear fallout and cafeteria food fights with equal expertise.
00:00:54
Speaker
With such a wide ranging career, Kim brings a unique perspective on how to continue to find fulfillment in work and effectively move between fields. So Dr. Kim, welcome. Thank you, Tim and Hannah. I'm so excited to be here with you today.
00:01:10
Speaker
Man, we're so glad to have you. And we'd love for our guests to really hear what does life and work look like for you now? There's like a tiny bit of background that we gave, but like, what does your life and work look like right now?
00:01:23
Speaker
Well, as a school superintendent, ah my life is full of activities and work and bit You know, I um ah have the privilege to serve in a school district in the southeastern part of the United States.
00:01:43
Speaker
I have about 30,000 students that I'm responsible for and about 4,000 team members that are a part of our organization. So my days are full of meetings, school visits, community activities, and just ah being the face of our district, as well as ensuring that we as a district create the best opportunities for success for our students.
00:02:11
Speaker
Gotcha.
Engagement with Students and Learning from Failure
00:02:12
Speaker
So, well, let's let's dive into that a little bit more because, you know, at one point you were teaching, I assume, right? And now you're kind of a couple of clicks beyond that. now you're managing people, you're managing teams.
00:02:25
Speaker
um Do you miss the teaching time or is that something you're like, no, I'm glad I'm with this? don't Oh, no, no, no, no Tim. The best part of my job and the best days for me are when I get to go visit schools and I go into classrooms.
00:02:43
Speaker
I sit down and talk with students. I will even help them with their lessons if I can. So like one A visit I did last week was in a math class.
00:02:55
Speaker
It was at an elementary school. And so I sat down next to a student and we kind of worked through a project, a problem that the student was doing. Now, I knew that the student's thinking was not quite right in line with where they needed to be.
00:03:11
Speaker
So instead of giving the student the answer, i we just walked through the process the way he understood it. And then when he saw that the answer was wrong, we discussed why was it wrong? And because in teaching, we want our students to learn to fail forward. It's through our mistakes that we grow and learn.
00:03:30
Speaker
And so that's the best part of my job, actually. Yeah. Hands on with the kids, seeing life change happen right there. That's great. Yes. oh A lot of people I'm guessing are thinking, well, this Dr. Kim lady, she's really smart. She's been in education for a very long time. She's probably had a very linear ah trajectory to her career and maybe never been unemployed.
Military to Civilian Transition Challenges
00:03:54
Speaker
I don't know. But, you know, do you have a time when you could talk to us about when you were unemployed or unfulfilled and how did that all happen?
00:04:04
Speaker
Well, that's a great question because, I am not a traditionally trained educator. So I didn't go to college to become a teacher. And I didn't start teaching right after college.
00:04:17
Speaker
Teaching is my second career. I am a retired military officer. So I spent the first 20 years of my life serving in the military, as you said in my ah introduction.
00:04:29
Speaker
The transition from being a military officer to becoming a teacher was a journey in which God prepared me to do what I'm doing for that I'm doing today, because it wasn't an easy transition.
00:04:45
Speaker
um For 20 years of my life, I knew exactly what I was going to wear every day. I knew where I was going to be, what I would be doing, how I would do that.
00:04:57
Speaker
And I gave orders to people for things that needed to be done. I received orders. And so when i retired from the military and I took the rank off of my collar, who was I?
00:05:10
Speaker
You know, I was no longer Lieutenant Colonel Moore. I was just Kim Moore, retired veteran. And it took about two years during that transition before I found teaching.
00:05:24
Speaker
um I worked. part-time as a sales clerk in a women's clothing store. um i did some corporate um work as a trainer and as a coach, a leadership coach, which I still do that part of the work because I enjoy it, before I found teaching. I found teaching really through a friend of mine who had become a teacher. He would was retired military and we were in the same branch and good friends. And in talking with him about the best parts of my military career was being a basic training company commander.
00:06:05
Speaker
He said, you are a teacher, and you should become a teacher. And I became a teacher. And so that transition, um when students and people would ask me, why did I become a teacher?
00:06:20
Speaker
I just knew that was the calling God had given to me at that particular point in time. And I never planned to stay as long as I've now been in education, which is over 20 years again.
00:06:32
Speaker
um My goal was to work 15 years, retire and go play golf. But God kept pushing me and in the in a different direction, pushing me, equipping me with skills and telling me there was more for me to do.
00:06:49
Speaker
You know, I yeah i want to, i do want to highlight the transition out of the military.
Overcoming Identity Challenges Post-Military
00:06:54
Speaker
You know, I have friends that are in the military and it seems like there's kind of a drop-off. It's almost like when you go to college, right? Where you go to college and then you're like, okay, now you go do this thing. And people are like, what, how do i transition that?
00:07:09
Speaker
Is that kind of maybe similar to the military where you're so in this routine and now you have to go into the real world, but There's not like a manual for that or process, is there?
00:07:20
Speaker
No, there isn't. and And it's very difficult sometimes for a lot of us ah that transition. And the military does a lot to help us. Like they provided me with transition support and services.
00:07:34
Speaker
but But it's a different world um when you are in the military. And it is... and I don't want to say it's all consuming because that makes it sound negative. I loved my military career.
00:07:47
Speaker
I met wonderful people. I traveled. I lived abroad. I love the structure of the military. It fit me very well and my style. And it became my identity of who I am.
00:08:01
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and that was the problem because that's not who I am. it It's what I did. But when you come out of the military, it's like you're entering into a different world.
00:08:15
Speaker
And so, yes, we lived... you know, in the community, we shop with civilians, but our whole existence revolves around military the military service and our way of work.
00:08:28
Speaker
It's no different than if you work in a company for 20 years and then you change jobs and you're like, this is not the the way, whatever that company is, it's not the way. And you feel a little out of place,
00:08:45
Speaker
Right. And so that's why sometimes it's difficult for military personnel to transition. It's because where do I belong now?
Translating Military Skills to Education
00:08:55
Speaker
But I think the answer to that is um when we.
00:09:00
Speaker
understand who we are and whose we are. So when we understand that we are not defined by the work we do, we are defined by who we are and we are created by God for a purpose.
00:09:16
Speaker
And that purpose can be different in different stages of our life. Absolutely. And I mean, you put great words to, i think just such a common experience of,
00:09:29
Speaker
just really settling into or claiming um our identity in the midst of uncertainty and in the midst of needing to adapt. And so thank you for putting words to like what that looked like for you.
00:09:40
Speaker
On top of the advice that you received from um the the um man who was also in the military and went to teaching, was there any other like advice or encouragement that you received in the midst of the transition?
00:09:53
Speaker
Well, I have to say that my husband was a tremendous help. um While he also served, he served ah in the reserves, whereas I was active duty.
00:10:05
Speaker
And so he helped me to understand that the skills that I have in the military could be translated into civilian terms. And making that transition helped me to understand that the work that I was doing was very similar to work that I would do in the civilian world.
00:10:26
Speaker
And so he helped me with that ah process. And it it really kind of solidified for me that this was the right direction I was supposed to go.
00:10:40
Speaker
I think that God puts people in your place, in in your path, I should say, that will help guide you off to the right direction.
00:10:52
Speaker
And you know he what they say, he when he closes a door, he'll open a window for you. And he did that. And so when I transitioned into teaching,
00:11:03
Speaker
I found that i a lot of the same things I did when I trained soldiers and when I worked ah with soldiers, I did with students. And so the transition was not as difficult once I was in it that I thought it would be.
00:11:22
Speaker
Absolutely. i mean, i one of my most impactful professors in college was former general in the army and truly it just so relevant and applicable. And I think we really gleaned all the more because of his experience. And so I'm sure your students are the same. And it's really amazing to see you like learning through really gaining a lot of value by going through the process.
00:11:49
Speaker
of thinking through the transition. And that really gave you a lot of affirmation, just like you walked through um a problem with a student and let them learn through the process. So that's really neat that that happened for you too. Yes, because those skills are transferable. Leadership is leadership.
00:12:05
Speaker
yes The question is, are an effective leader? And so the same leadership skills that the Army taught me and invested so much time and resources into are the leadership skills that I use today and I have used throughout my educational career that I also then share with my students.
00:12:28
Speaker
as we are equipping and preparing them to be the leaders of today. Because I know people will say of the future, but they are the leaders of today.
00:12:38
Speaker
So we have to equip them with those skills. Well, I think that Hannah talks about the transferable skills you're talking about transferable. These are very common things for most people, right? Is in there in the workplace, they're in a job, they're doing these skills and then they are unemployed. They find themselves, you know, getting let go and now they have to look for another job.
00:13:01
Speaker
Most people tend to go back to the same, you know, industry or the same kind of similar position.
Practical Transition Steps: Resume and Interviews
00:13:08
Speaker
But you bring up a great point that we need to discuss. And this is this transferable skills idea, right? Where if I'm doing one thing in one industry area, I can transfer that to another one.
00:13:19
Speaker
So i for the common person, tell us how how did you do that practically from, you know, you mentioned a little bit of the leadership, but how did you do it from the teaching to the teaching kind of aspect?
00:13:32
Speaker
So I had the opportunity to work with a transition team, a company that the army had hired. And basically they put us through ah a series of of activities. So for example, we took personality assessments, which gave us, and career assessments, which gave us indications of career fields that align with our skillset and our interests.
00:14:01
Speaker
We also worked on resumes. And so they helped me develop a resume that was written in, um it's going to sound funny, but civilian words versus military terms, right? Because every organization, every industry has their own language.
00:14:21
Speaker
So what makes sense in this language, how do we translate that into another industry's ah vocabulary? we It's in every language. every industry.
00:14:32
Speaker
So we did that. We also did interview preparation. So that, because I had never interviewed for a job in 20 years, the army tells me where I was going to go.
00:14:44
Speaker
Yes. ah So, you know, how to interview for a job all the way down to how to dress and what to look, ah you know, how to present yourself in a way that ah an employer would see someone that they could hire, that they would want to hire.
00:15:03
Speaker
And I will say that these strategies that that I learned from that helped put me on the path of education. But I continue to hone those skills um actually through some of the work that I do with Crossroads Career.
00:15:23
Speaker
oh So as a part of Crossroads Career, i ah recorded for the online courses. um I did Crossroads Career, ah the program myself, the seven steps, and um found them to be very instrumental as I moved up through the educational ranks from teacher to principal, to director, to assistant superintendent, and now superintendent.
00:15:52
Speaker
And so it for me, it's been a journey of building on the information that I've gleaned and learned over time around how to do transition.
00:16:05
Speaker
And so I wish that I had had crossroads career when I transitioned from the military in addition to what I did receive because it would have helped me, i think, move for move faster than I did.
00:16:22
Speaker
Yeah, completely. Well, and in the midst of all of this, like where did you see God moving or how did he like meet you in
Embracing Unexpected Opportunities as Blessings
00:16:32
Speaker
this time? And you have a lot of experiences to pull from. So wherever, wherever um your mind goes.
00:16:38
Speaker
Oh, well, you're right, Hannah. There's so many times um as you look back, I can see God's hand moving from when I became a teacher.
00:16:50
Speaker
um i Wasn't sure that someone would hire me. I'm not a traditionally trained educator. I went to a job fair. I really thought I wanted to work at the middle school level.
00:17:04
Speaker
And, um, but the person that can interviewed me was a high school principal and he hired me. And I was like, after he hired me and I started, I asked him, I said, why did you hire me?
00:17:21
Speaker
He said, well, you have your scientists and you, you have that background. He said, but I hired you because I know that you can handle the students. So once again, that was God bringing something out of my military experience, which I thought was a detriment to me being older and not an educator.
00:17:46
Speaker
That was truly a blessing. And then the same principle. He saw leadership in me and he did everything that he could to encourage me to become an administrator.
00:18:00
Speaker
Um, it it just was God's hand, just slowly opening doors and slowly closing doors. Um, because there were some career opportunities that I thought I wanted, God kept closing that door and forcing me to go through the window in another direction.
00:18:22
Speaker
um And that's how I ended up becoming a principal, because I really thought I was just going to go the straight administrative track of a district administrator when God opened the window. I applied only to one school,
00:18:39
Speaker
to be an administrator because I said, well, I'll just see how it goes. And, um, cause everybody kept saying, you should be a principal. You should be a principal. And I'm like, no. And guess what?
00:18:50
Speaker
I got the job. It was, i just like, and that's the school I ended up being the principal of. And, you know, I never thought I'd be a superintendent. And then my boss said to me, i was back at the district and he's like, you know, i think you could do this, Kim. And I'm like, Hmm.
00:19:09
Speaker
I got a call from somebody wanting to talk to me about an assistant superintendent position. The person knew me, new knew of me because another person told him about me because her niece went to my school.
00:19:27
Speaker
Those kind of random acts people would normally say are random acts of mature just good luck.
Persistence and Faith in Career Transitions
00:19:35
Speaker
But to me, they're random appointments that God has set up and hey and he opened the door for.
00:19:44
Speaker
you know um I applied for this position. Right before the the application closed, we went on vacation. i was thinking, yeah nothing's going to come of it.
00:19:57
Speaker
It required me to move to a different state. You know, just an unknown. I'm an unknown person. and we're on vacation. And I get a call to tell me that um I'm a finalist for the interview, you know, for an interview.
00:20:12
Speaker
We were in another country. They had three days selected for the interview process. The first day we will still be in country. The second day we were flying back um that night from the first night, flying overnight to get back to the United States. The second day, tickets already bought.
00:20:34
Speaker
So it was like, oh, I guess I'm interviewing on the third day. We get home, unpack suitcases, repack suitcases, go back to the airport, flight delayed, get to Atlanta, missed our flight, rented a car, drove three hours to get to where we needed to go.
00:20:53
Speaker
No luggage. I bought clothes at Walmart at 6 a.m. to go interview. And I got the job. God, it's persistence. Let's add that as well. Because, you know, and you're talking about a situation that not everybody would do. They wouldn't, you know, they probably would have been like, well, maybe the fate is saying Atlanta, you know, delays, cancellations, flight stuff. Maybe it's not worth this. Right.
00:21:22
Speaker
But you persisted. you' You're a little stubborn probably. Right. I'm guessing. I mean, you have to be. Yeah, just a little, a little. oh and But at the same time, I've come to learn over my career my working career, my life, that I have to just trust God and just release things to him.
00:21:47
Speaker
um Because he he has, I have seen his hand moving, not at the time. At the time, it was very hectic. and There were moments there before I went in the room to start the process that I was like, why am I even doing this? This is not going to work. I'm i'm dressed in Walmart's finest.
00:22:11
Speaker
out I don't even have on a jacket, you know. um But I also know that, you know, my husband and I prayed and I said, I'm just going to turn it over to you, God.
00:22:24
Speaker
And I'm just going to go there and be Kim Moore. And we'll let to we'll let you do what you do. And if this is the right place for me, then you'll make it happen. If it's not, then I know you have another door for me and I'm okay with that.
00:22:39
Speaker
Well, that's a great mindset, right? And attitude as you're in transition that it's hard to have because, you know, you lose your job or you don't think you're relevant in the marketplace like you mentioned before.
00:22:51
Speaker
And then all a sudden you lose confidence. And then you go to the next job thinking, boy, does anybody like me? Will anybody want to use me or utilize my skills? And then you're saying, no, I'm just going to trust God.
00:23:05
Speaker
Go step by step. And if he wants this for me, great. And if not, he's got an upgrade, right? He's got something better than what I think this would be. So um thinking about that, Kim, do do you have any other any other mindsets that you that proved very helpful for you during that, specifically in this new position, right? As you're going into this, what was a mindset that kind of gave you peace and helped transition well?
00:23:34
Speaker
Well, what I tell everybody is I am here for such a time as this. I believe God placed me in this position, sort of similar to Queen Esther.
00:23:47
Speaker
I'm not a queen, but I believe that God put me here for such a time as this. I believe that at this season of my life, I am here to help other people achieve their goals and their dreams with my students, with the people I have the privilege to lead, um with the people that will buy my book that I just published.
00:24:15
Speaker
It is a time for me to help other people see through my journey and through the things that I have learned that you can accomplish what God has called you to accomplish.
00:24:31
Speaker
And the reason I said earlier that I wish I had your career calling before the Crossroads material before is because most people start off their job search looking for positions and jobs that align with skills, which is a part of the process that you have to have.
00:24:53
Speaker
But before you do that, you really need to know what you are called to do because you can have great skills and get a great job and make great money, but not be fulfilled in that role.
00:25:06
Speaker
i am very fulfilled in my job because I know i am doing what God has called me to do for such a time as this. And so when we know our purpose and we know our calling, then the skills that we have will line up with the job that we're supposed to be
Resources for Finding Life's Purpose
00:25:28
Speaker
Absolutely. And that is not only and incredible mindset, but and incredible testimony to what God has done. And Tim, you may have a follow-up question.
00:25:39
Speaker
Well, no, I'm just saying, you know, Kim did a great job plugging our workbook, the Hear God Calling workbook, which is on our website. You can download that or order a workbook yourself and take your friends through it or take ah a church group through it.
00:25:53
Speaker
But it does exactly what she's talking about, right? If we don't know God's calling on our life, then we just wander. And I think about it like a picture of rowboat. So, you know, you, you're sitting in the boat, Dr. Kim's here, the military throws her in this boat. Okay.
00:26:10
Speaker
And you look down and you got two oars and one or you, you Well, you know who you are in Christ, right? You talked about that before. you're a disciple of Christ, ready to tell people about him.
00:26:21
Speaker
And then you have the secondary calling as well. And it's this teaching and the administration side. And if you think about it, if you row one oar in the boat, what happens?
00:26:32
Speaker
You just go in circles. Yeah, there you go. But if you got both of them rowing, you have significant momentum to your point, right? God's called you to this.
00:26:45
Speaker
Yeah, you can make money. Yeah, you can do things. But if you're unfulfilled, like so many people in America are and around the world, um it's miserable. And it's not where God wants you to be.
00:26:55
Speaker
so um appreciate your perspective on that. and And what
Encouragement to Seek Personal Calling
00:27:00
Speaker
would you do to encourage somebody in that, I guess, is, you know, just find your calling or what would you encourage them if they don't know what they to Well, I would encourage them to take the crossroads class.
00:27:13
Speaker
and go through the process because it's a very ah logical research-based process for you to go through.
00:27:24
Speaker
And if you go through that, um it doesn't mean you have to walk away from the job that you're doing. It just may be that you need to look at doing that job in a different place or um performing other things in supplementing that job.
00:27:42
Speaker
But The saddest thing in life is to do something for 20, 30 years and then feel empty because it didn't give you the fulfillment of what you thought it would do for you.
00:28:04
Speaker
My military career was wonderful. I loved it. I was fulfilled. I knew i was serving a higher purpose. I knew why I was doing it. And I have that same level of purpose ah in my career now as an educator.
00:28:21
Speaker
I know that I help shape the future through the students I have the privilege to educate. Fantastic. Absolutely. And yeah, just again, thank you for sharing that mindset. And um for those listening, you can jump on a call with our guides just as a starting point. You can have a free call just to talk about where you're at.
00:28:44
Speaker
And that can point you to those online groups and classes that we have to really um have some accountability and encouragement in that process to either just have a change of mindset and attitude in your current job or potentially even make a transition. So thank you for sharing. And if y'all are interested in learning more from Dr. Kim, I would encourage you to buy her book.
00:29:05
Speaker
It's called You're in the Leadership Chair, Now What? And specifically, um giving strategies to women to shape the conditions of not only their um role, but the people they serve. And that is just critical.
00:29:19
Speaker
And so I encourage you to go and buy that book and get to learn more from Dr. Kim. So thank you for joining and giving your time to be with us today. Oh, it was my pleasure.
00:29:30
Speaker
it was my pleasure. I i um love that ministry, Crossroads. I love the ministry. But more importantly, i believe in it because I know it works.
00:29:42
Speaker
It's helped me. It's helped my husband. It's helped our children, our grown children. um And it's helped plenty of other people that we know, friends and other folks. So I definitely, definitely would encourage everyone, whether you are the person going through the transition or you know someone going through the transition, um to definitely tap into those free resources.
00:30:12
Speaker
Because having a support system, people that will come around you when the days get... tough and they will get tough and there's doubt and you'll be questioning things to have that support around you will help you to accomplish whatever it is that God wants you to do.
00:30:32
Speaker
Amen. Incredible. Thanks again. Thank you. Looking for guidance in your career? Our Crossroads guides are ready to help. Set up a complimentary call now by visiting our website, crossroadscareer.org.
00:30:46
Speaker
Thanks for listening.