I really enjoyed my conversation with Peter. First, I want to acknowledge that this is a sponsored interview, and we’re grateful to Verizon for their support of Beyond the Uniform, as well as how they have hired over 11,000 Veterans and thousands of military spouses. However, there’s only about six minutes of this interview that are directly about Verizon in a way that may be seen as sales-e.

 

Peter is such a fantastic speaker and storyteller. Immediately after our interview, I set up a call with Peter to chat more, because he is a great guy and has a really valuable perspective on career transitions. One of the aspects I love about our conversation is how Peter took one small aspect of his military service - how much he loved land navigation in the Marine Corps - and how he used this in his search for his next job… which happens to be in commercial real estate as a lawyer. Not a direct connection many would make, and yet it shows how Veterans can find tangential career paths based on smaller aspects they enjoyed while in the military. I also appreciated Peter’s outlook on life - the mere fact that he has his title as “Happy Lawyer” sends a message to everyone he meets and, more importantly, send a strong message to himself about who he wants to be on a daily basis… even on those days where he may not FEEL like a Happy Lawyer. This interview is also a great example of the wide variety of career positions to be found at large companies. For example, with Verizon, many listeners most likely immediately think of phones, or connectivity. But I didn’t think immediately about all the stores, warehouses, and office buildings they have… all that real estate… real estate that needs a strong legal team to obtain and oversee. It’s illustrative of the many potential career aspects below the surface that listeners may not immediately be aware of.

 

About Peter:

Peter Vanderloo is a Happy Lawyer at Verizon, where he has worked for over 18 years. In his current role, he works as a Commercial Real Estate lawyer creating value for internal and external customers from Verizon's amazing, extensive real estate portfolio. He started out in the Marine Corps, where he served for 10 years, most recently as a Company Commanding Officer, where he led an 150 member Light Armored Vehicle company. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Delaware, a JD from the George Washington School of Law, and an MBA from the Darden Graduate School of Business.