If you're a veteran who is struggling to get hired, you are not alone. There are thousands of talented, hardworking individuals like yourself out there who are finding it tough to move from a military role to a civilian one.
Thankfully, there are some great tools and resources you can use to overcome this challenge, and make the career transition much easier. In this post, I'm going to share with you the biggest challenge we see among veterans when they're looking for a new job, and what they can do to overcome it.
As a veteran, you gained an incredible amount of both hard skills and soft skills in the military, such as patience, loyalty, teamwork, dedication, and accountability. So, why is it so difficult for veterans to get jobs?
Well, I've worked with thousands of ex-military folks, and I can tell you that a primary challenge lies in their inability to identify and clarify what they did in the military in a language that civilian HR, recruiters, and hiring managers actually understand.
Simply put, you need to know how to speak our language. And once you do that, you can create career tools like your resume, cover letter, LinkedIn profile, and answers to interview questions in a way that will get you results.
I love working with veterans inside the Work It Daily program, primarily because they're so good at it. They listen to direction, they execute the tasks, and—to put it candidly—they get jobs faster. All they need is a process, and so I am going to outline some steps that I want you to take, so that you can get hired faster:
Step 1: Translate Your Skills
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Step number one is to translate your skills, and this is a biggie. One of the examples that I love to give is for someone to take their military resume, and from top to bottom, go through it and circle every word that relates to the military.
You're going to find a lot of circles there. So imagine that on the civilian side, every single one of those words means nothing to them. They don't understand it. You're suddenly going to see why—it's almost like speaking another language.
Sit down with somebody and help them translate what you did into common language. Talk about things like project management, leadership staff, training and development, operations management, and budgeting and finance. These are things that you've probably done in the military, but you just haven't figured out how to explain that in your career tools.
Once you do this, you're going to see a huge change in the reaction that people give you when you send your resume out.
Step 2: Update Your LinkedIn Profile
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Step number two is to beef up that LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn is the number one source for recruiting, especially in any type of professional role, so you've got to make sure that your profile is keyword-optimized with those transferable skills from the first step.
When you do that, you're going to be more searchable on LinkedIn, which will put you in more recruiter search results. This means that you're going to get more messages and more phone calls. It's really important that you understand how to optimize your profile, so that you can increase the volume of people who are actually touching base with you about potential opportunities.
Recruiters love to hire veterans—they just need to be able to find you.
Step 3: Promote Your Military Service (The Right Way)
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Step three is to make your military service known, while making sure it's not over the top. A lot of times people don't realize that the message they're sending is, "I was in the military, I miss the military—I am the military." This can send the wrong message to the civilian world.
For example, on LinkedIn, a lot of times we see veterans use their military photograph as their profile picture.
The problem with that is that, again, it's sending an almost rigid message, which can be one of the concerns they may have about hiring you. So now is the time to get that civilian photo—neutral backdrop, smiling face, looking approachable.
These are the subtle changes that you can make throughout your career tools so that, again, they know that you were in the military—but it doesn't scream "military."
Step 4: Ask For Help
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The fourth step is to ask for help. And this can be a particularly tough one for veterans. It seems that pride gets in the way, and they feel like they're supposed to be able to do this themselves. That is not the case.
People are so grateful for the time that you served in the military that they want to return the favor. Let them help you—let them open doors, set up networking connections, and help you with your career tools.
You'll be able to pay these individuals back by showing them that you've got a great new job, and maybe you'll even be mentoring them or opening doors for them down the line. So, it's never just a situation where you're getting a handout.
This is what the professional world is all about—working in serving one another. I hope that every veteran who reads this is feeling a bit better about their ability to take control of their job search.
Struggling to find a job as a veteran? We can help! Join our career growth club today!
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Is your job search turning into a grind with no end in sight? It may be time to take a step back and reevaluate your entire approach.
In cold weather climates, the beginning of spring is a time to clean the house and get organized—a practice known as spring cleaning. Through the years, spring cleaning has taken on a larger meaning with people using the time to organize and declutter things in their lives.
For professionals on the job hunt, a little spring cleaning (metaphorically speaking) could be a great way to reinvigorate your job search. Here are a few strategies your job search spring cleaning should include.
Reevaluate Your Job Search Approach
BigstockMake a list of the last handful of jobs you applied for and see if you can identify any positive or negative trends. Consider things like:
- How did I learn about this job?
- How did I apply for the job?
- Did I earn an interview?
- What was the ultimate result?
A lot can be learned about your job search approach just by answering these questions and identifying patterns. For example:
Negative Trends
You discovered five jobs through job boards, applied to all of them via the job boards, and never heard back from any of them.
The common pattern here is applying through job boards. This isn't to say that job boards don't serve a purpose in the job search process, but they have their limitations, and you can't run your job search entirely off of them. When you apply through a job board, there's a good chance that your materials will never get past the applicant tracking system (ATS) and never be seen by an actual person.
One simple fix is to research who the hiring manager or recruiter is that posted the position and email your materials to them directly.
The more efficient fix would be to take a proactive approach by putting together a bucket list of companies that you want to work for and start making connections on LinkedIn with people who work at those companies. You may already know some people who work there or have connections that can refer you to some individuals.
This is a great way to network your way onto a company's radar.
Positive Trends
You applied to three jobs via referral, were invited to two job interviews, and made it through multiple rounds of interviews for one of the jobs before being passed over for someone with a little more experience.
The pattern here is that getting referred to a job by a professional acquaintance is a great way to land a job interview. This indicates that you're leveraging your network well and you should continue to focus on your networking efforts.
The next step is to review the interview process and determine what went well and what needs to be improved. Sometimes the interviewer will provide feedback, and that feedback can be valuable. However, not everyone is comfortable with giving feedback.
Chances are you probably have a good idea about areas of improvement and the skills you need to gain. Put together a plan for addressing those shortfalls.
The good news in making it deep into any interview process is that it indicates that the company likes you as a potential employee (even if the timing just wasn't right) and the experience could be a roadmap to a job with that company at a later date, or another similar opportunity elsewhere.
Give Your Resume & Cover Letter Some Much-Needed Attention
BigstockAre you continuously sending similar resumes and cover letters to each job opening with only minor adjustments? If so, your strategy needs some serious spring cleaning.
Let's start with resumes!
Every resume should be tailored to the position in order for it to stand out to recruiters and hiring managers. It may seem like a lot of work, but it's actually less work than submitting the same resume over and over again and never hearing back.
The reason why it's so important to tailor your resume is that throughout your career, you acquire numerous skills, but the job you're applying for may only be focusing on 6-8 of those skills. In that case, those skills must rise to the top of the resume with quantifiable examples of how you successfully used those skills at previous jobs.
Remember, recruiters go through hundreds of resumes. They need to be able to tell from a quick glance whether or not you're a potential candidate for the position.
While updating your resume, you could also spruce up your LinkedIn profile by highlighting the skill sets that you want to be noticed for by recruiters.
As for writing a good cover letter, the key to success is writing a disruptive cover letter. When you write a disruptive cover letter, you're basically telling a story. The story should focus on how you connect with the particular company and job position. The story could also focus on your personal journey, and how you got to where you currently are in your career.
If your resumes and cover letters aren't unique, now is the time to clean things up and get on track.
Build Your Personal Brand
Just because you're looking for work doesn't mean that you don't have anything to offer. Use previous career experiences and passions to build your personal brand.
Ask yourself, "How do I want other professionals to view me?"
Pick an area of expertise and start sharing your knowledge and experience with your professional network by pushing out content on your LinkedIn and social media accounts. Good content can include blogs, social media posts, and videos.
By sharing content about your experiences and passions, you slowly build your personal brand, and others will start to notice. The content could lead to good discussions with others in your network. It could also lead to reconnecting with connections that you haven't spoken to in years, or making new connections.
You never know when one of these connections could turn into a job lead or referral. The trick is to get on people's radars. So, when you're cleaning up your job search, be sure to build a plan for personal branding.
Maintain Healthy Habits During Your Job Search
BigstockYour job search is important, but it's even more important to know when to pull back and focus on personal health and spending time with family and friends.
There are actually things that you can do for your own enjoyment that could help your job search in the long run, such as:
- Grab coffee with a friend - It's good to engage in light conversation with friends during challenging times. And if your job search does come up, remember that most people have been through it themselves and you never know when a friend may provide you with a good idea or lead on a job.
- Volunteer - Volunteering is a great way to get involved in the community and help others. In addition, if you develop a little bit of a career gap while looking for a job, you can always talk about how you filled that time volunteering, if you're asked about it during a job interview.
- Continue to focus on other passions - Are you a fitness nut? Blogger? Crafter? Continue to do the things that bring you happiness. And if you're in a position to profit from your passion through a freelance job or side hustle, even better!
Spring is the perfect time to clean up and improve your job search so you can land the job you want. If you're struggling to find a job, follow the tips above to reinvigorate your job search—and watch your career blossom!
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This article was originally published at an earlier date.
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