I recently had the opportunity to “guest blog” about the challenges that military job seekers face and how to overcome them on the popular Internet resource for job seekers - www.careerealism.com.  Check out the post via permalink.  Careerealism is technically a blog, but offers an array of learning tools including electronic newsletters, twitter updates, expert advice, live broadcasts, job search strategy articles, and more.

Here’s an excerpt from the post:

Tip #2:The civilian workforce is profits-driven while the military is primarily driven by budgets. Many companies in Corporate America value the military job seeker’s training, teamwork, leadership and dedication. However, for military job seekers that are new to the civilian workforce, some companies need to reiterate with prior-service members how important the bottom-line is.

With this in mind, review your military experience and try to quantify any of the following types of experiences on your resume…

Click the permalink for more, and thanks to Careerealism!

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Filed under: In the News, Military Career Transition, Military Job Seeker Advice, Military Resumes

Questions regarding religion, race, sexual preference, age, children, and disability should be off the table when it comes to interviewing in corporate America. Some government job openings may prohibit the hiring of certain persons based on gender, age, and disability, but chances are you will not make it to the interview process if you fall into a restricted category. Beware that there is such a thing as an illegal interview question. However, this does not guarantee that you will be spared. I always say the best defense is knowledge and preparation.

What would you do if you were asked, “What is your service connected disability?” or “Which religion do you practice?” After the initial shock wears of, you might wonder why it matters. Should you answer for amicability’s sake or refuse to answer based on legality? According to Military.com, if you find yourself in this scenario, here are three ways to handle this situation:

1. Answer - If you choose to answer, be succinct and clear.
2. Refuse to Answer – Explain that you don’t feel comfortable answering the question. Avoid using the word “illegal” as it might escalate the friction.
3. Tactfully Sidestep -
   • Personal life, you might respond with, “I prefer to keep personal and business matters separate.”
   • Children, you might want to ask, “Are you concerned that I won’t be able to travel or work overtime?”
   • Disability, your response should be, “If you are concerned that I won’t be able to perform the duties of this job, I’m sure I can.”
   • Country of origin, you should say, “If you are going to ask next whether or not I’m authorized to work in the States, I am.”

View the entire military.com article here.

Illegal interview questions are illegal for a reason. Answers regarding religion, race, etc. could pin you to an unjust stereotype and lead the interviewer to make a biased decision on something that should have no effect on your ability to do the job. For these same reasons, I advise military job seekers and clients of MilitaryResumes.com to drop any and all personal information from their military resumes, including underlying sources such as volunteerism within a church and age descriptive statements such as “retired military veteran with over 25 years of experience”.

Because personal information has a way of sneaking its way into a resume, consider assistance from military resume writers. A little forethought, a planned response to illegal interviewing and a review of your military resume will ensure that your military transition does you the justice that you deserve.

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Filed under: In the News, Interviewing, Military Career Transition, Military Job Seeker Advice, Military Resumes, Networking

While illegal and unethical, age discrimination exists in today’s job market. In fact, surveys say that age discrimination rises when times are tough. Because the largest percentage of its clients is preparing to retire from the military, MilitaryResumes.com is particularly sensitive to the plight of a more seasoned military job seeker. You can’t change cultural biases in society, but with the right information and a strategy, you can lessen their impact on your job search.

Your resume, more often than not, is going to make (or break) your first impression, so we’ll begin with some tactics for military resumes. The temptation for most retiring military job seekers is to list everything they have done in the last 20 years. But hiring managers really only want to see the freshest 10 years of experience. Remove older experience from your resume because it dates you and is likely to be considered irrelevant anyway. Also remove older dates on degrees, etc. and drop phrases such as “retired military officer” and “over 20 years of experience”.

Retired military leaders are renowned for wearing many hats throughout their careers. But when it comes to the job search, I suggest wearing just one. At MilitaryResumes.com, we believe that military resumes should say “I have 20 years of experience” vs. one year of experience times 20. However, only the master copy of a resume should be considered “multipurpose”. A resume should be finely tuned for each position applied for. Represent only experience that lends itself well the job requirements, emphasize your track record of performance in the targeted area, and merely mention or summarize the rest. This will give resume filters less of an opportunity to toss your resume out. CEOs care about return on investment, cost savings, how you are going to help them increase revenue, not necessarily how you are going to train people in your department.

Finally, think like a salesperson, even if you are not. Prepare to deal with objections prior to encountering them. Potential obstacles are age, health issues, and unusually high salary requirements. Don’t pull a suit out of your closet from the 80s. Update your business attire. If asked in an interview how your weekend went, mention the fact that you enjoyed mountain biking with some friends. When asked about salary requirements, make it clear that you would accept an offer within the highest range of what they would offer a more junior employee with the understanding that it will be reevaluated in six months because you are confident in your ability bring more to the table than the company thought possible.

With the proper know-how, an extraordinary military career, and the mindset that age is an asset, anyone can conquer the job market.

The best defense against ageism is information. For information about the Age Discrimination and Employment Act (ADEA), check out the Age Discrimination Fact Sheet on AARP’s website. For more information on professional military resume writing services, visit www.MilitaryResumes.com.

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Filed under: Interviewing, Military Resumes

On Tuesday, April 14^th, ABC’s The View hosted these guests:

• Andrew Serwer - Managing Editor of Fortune Magazine
• Marcus Buckingham - Career expert, and author of The Truth About You: Your Secret to Success,
  
• Tory Johnson - Author of Will Work From Home: Earn Cash Without the Commute.

Each guest espoused excellent advice on how to land a job, which I have recapped below. View the entire Top 10 Things to Do if You Become Unemployed list .

The ten points below were broken down into the top level advice of:

• GET CLEAR
• GET READY
• GET GOING

Below is some of the detail on the 10 points, with some further commentary from me in a couple places.

1. Thoroughly assess your financial situation.

2. Give yourself a chance to recharge and re-evaluate what you want to do in life and how you can best contribute.

3. Ensure your resume includes all relevant experiences and education, and then customize it for each specific job that you are applying for. Remember:

• Keep it simple. Flooding your resume with too many details is distracting.
• Highlight relevant experiences and describe them in quantifiable terms. Be specific about the results you have achieved and the contributions you have made to the business.
• Incorporate company terminology from the job posting into your resume.

To this I would like to add Tory Johnson’s top five resume mistakes, which are in line precisely with the advice we give our clients at www.MilitaryResumes.com.

• One size resume does not fit all – customize your resume for every position.
• “Outdated and overblown” – keep your experience concise and within the past 10 years.
• Failure to celebrate successes – how well you performed is just as, if not more, important than what you did.
• Waiting for the phone to ring – submit your resume and hustle.
• Unexplained gaps.

4. Treat your job search like a 9-5 job with daily objectives. Remember a rejection is a partial success - it will help you focus on more likely opportunities rather than waiting by the phone.

5. Network.

To 4 and 5 I would like to add that there are a number of free resources available to military-experienced job seekers. www.CivilianJobs.com is a great place to gain access to a military job board, locate job fairs, and obtain valuable career search advice.

6. Adopt a positive mental attitude. Whatever you’ve been putting off in other areas of your life because you’re “too busy working”- tackle it now.

7. Expand your skills. Go to school. Learn another language. Do something to demonstrate a dedication to self improvement to a potential employer.

8. Take a platform job. There is no shame in taking on a job that helps you pay the bills even if it’s not your ideal role or if it pays you less than you have earned in the past.

9. Volunteer. Many organizations understand when a person has been out of work following a lay-off, particularly during times like these. They do not understand when a person has nothing concrete to show for that time.

10. Start your own business.

What would you add? Please comment if you have other suggestions for readers of the blog.

Jessie

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Filed under: In the News, Military Career Transition, Military Job Seeker Advice, Military Resumes

In an article recently posted on Yahoo! HotJobs entitled, “Six Soft Skills that Could Land you the Job,” Larry Buhl entertains the notion that intangible qualities could give job seekers the competitive edge. So in other words, if there are two equally qualified candidates competing for the same job opening, the candidate who, for example, “works well with others” may snag the position. Given the fact that today’s job market is relatively laden with job seekers possessing genuine hard skills, qualifications, and certifications that are normally in high demand, there may be something to this.

The following are the six skills cited as some of the best to flaunt in order to gain the competitive edge:

• Team Player
• Excellent Communicator
• Goal-Oriented Self-Starter
• Leadership & Team Building
• Sense of Humor
• Flexibility & Multi-tasking Ability

View the full article.

Transitioning military job seekers certainly possess most, if not all, of these intangibles. However, at www.MilitaryResumes.com , I typically avoid overtly stating soft skills such as “excellent communicator” in a military resume because anyone can state that they are an excellent communicator (and nearly everyone does). So where is the value added? Furthermore, it reads as “fluffy” and can illicit an eye-rolling response from hiring professionals. But there is a compromise. I recommend stating the soft skill and then backing it up with hard evidence. For example:

• “Excellent Communicator – Selected to brief the Deputy Secretary of the Air Force on controversial manpower research findings recently published in…”

Or…

• “Excellent communication skills demonstrated by award-winning instructional techniques; one of two technical experts selected from a pool of 75 to train 200 advanced electronics technicians in a classroom setting. Called ‘the most innovative instructor to date’ in a Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal citation.”

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Filed under: Military Career Transition, Military Job Seeker Advice, Military Resumes