Veterans bring a high level of leadership and transferable skills to employers that can influence the success of any company. Before employers start opening their doors, though, many veterans find the application and hiring processes challenging.
Related: 4 Things Veterans Need In A Company To Succeed
Sometimes, without previously holding civilian positions or having broader industry experience, it can be hard to navigate a job search effectively- particularly when it seems as if companies aren’t recognizing what your experience brings to the table.
Here are five things veterans should do while job searching:
In order to avoid feeling frustrated or overwhelmed, there are a few steps every veteran can take to achieve a happier - and more successful - job search. By tackling these steps one at a time, you’ll be well on your way to finding your next civilian job:
1. Create a Company Bucket List
As a veteran, you’re likely accustomed to an environment and camaraderie that was easily identified by your team’s loyalty and its shared values. No matter what branch you served in, part of your success came from the way you aligned with the values and mission of your organization.
Similarly, you’ll want to find a company that has a well-defined culture that speaks to you. To identify what’s important to you in an employer, create a Company Bucket List of places you’d love to work and list why.
Do you care about leadership opportunities? Professional growth and development? Community involvement? The culture in the military supported your well-being through its benefits and rewarding work. This should be no different from your civilian job. Find an employer whose work interests you and whose values mirror your own, and you will feel gratified by applying and more invested in the work when you get there.
For example, at a company like Foss Manufacturing, an American textile leader, you will find an employer who regularly seeks out veterans to join their team. Because it’s a company that values your strong work ethic, leadership, and ability to multitask, there’s a strong chance you’ll find your values and interests align well with Foss. Think they might be a fit for your “Company Bucket List”? Check them out here!
2. Find Your Mentor
Job searching is hard enough on its own, but there’s no reason you need to go it alone. Joshua Agan, a Crew Chief at Foss Manufacturing and former MOS 6227 Fixed-Wing Aircraft Power Plants Mechanic, F-404, explains that his mother was his mentor during his job search, who would keep her eye open for prospective jobs and relay them to him.
Whether it’s a family member, a trusted advisor, acquaintance, or friend, a mentor is someone who has your best interests at heart. They are willing to help you in any way they can while recognizing your skills and how they apply to civilian work.
A mentor should primarily be someone reliable, whose judgment you trust. If your mentor is someone with experience working as a civilian, they can provide honest guidance and feedback throughout your job search. Plus, it never hurts to have someone on your side to provide encouragement in the face of frustration and to celebrate with you for your successes!
3. Attend Job Fairs
A great way to engage employers and learn about potential job opportunities is by attending job fairs. While pouring over job boards can be daunting and discouraging at times, job fairs give you the opportunity to meet real people face-to-face and make an impression in ways that submitting a resume doesn’t always allow.
By interacting with recruiters and team members of prospective employers, you can identify jobs and companies that may be the right fit for you, while showcasing why you may be the right fit for their team.
Don’t let distance or time limit your attendance; even online career fairs can be a great source of networking with employers and other professionals and are often hosted on free, easy-to-use forums that work well on your nearest computer, smartphone, or tablet.
While it’s important to research the employers on your Company Bucket List to see if they’ll be attending a job fair near you, it helps to attend events with an open mind. You never know who you may meet or what opportunities you’ll discover at a job fair.
Take Josh Agan, for instance, who explains, “I wasn’t even exactly sure what I wanted to do for a career or job. I found out about Foss at a veterans’ job fair that the Georgia Department of Labor was hosting.” Now, he’s a Crew Chief!
4. Translate Skills
Possibly one of the hardest aspects of transitioning from military service to a civilian work is that the skills you’ve developed don’t always seem to translate exactly. Not to worry though - even though your experience can be different than a traditional civilian job, it doesn’t mean it won’t apply. In many cases, it’s just about finessing the language you use to describe your experience to help employers recognize why your skills are exactly what they need to fill a position. Josh points out that:
“The skills I learned from the military have been essential in excelling in my career. Sometimes when dealing with a difficult situation I refer back to what worked best while I was in the military. That said, my biggest challenge [in my job search] was trying to explain myself on a resume.”
Start by working to use keywords in your resume (and LinkedIn profile if you have one!) to represent the skills you possess. The right keywords will mirror the phrases or terms used most often in job descriptions to illustrate the required skills.
Next, quantify your accomplishments. If you were a leader, explain how many people or responsibilities of which you were in charge. If you met deadlines, describe how many assignments you managed. In particular, employers want to see how you can save (or earn!) them money, or solve a problem that they have. It’s important to explain how you did that in the military by saving money, materials, or effort, or by increasing quality or safety.
By qualifying what you achieved in the military in terms employers understand, you’re increasing your chances of getting noticed. When in doubt, reach out to your mentor or someone within your network to see how they perceive your resume and other application tools. Use their guidance to finetune the language.
5. Build Your Network
Perhaps most importantly, your network can be your best source of career help. Not only can your network provide support in the job search, but it can serve as a group of people who are willing to vouch for your talent and provide references.
Moreover, recruiters rate referrals as the highest-quality source of candidates. The greater number of connections you have can only increase the likelihood of someone referring you to a position where they think you’d be a great fit. And, since recruiters trust referrals most, who better to refer you than someone in your network who believes in the quality of your skills?
Build your network not only by attending career fairs, but by reaching out on LinkedIn and other social platforms. Even strangers are willing to connect if you provide a good reason for contacting them. Keep in touch with your military connections, and when you’re in the civilian workforce, don’t be afraid to help each other out or ask someone you know for a referral!
If you keep an open mind and are willing to work hard, you’re going to be successful.
Even if it takes time to adjust or to navigate the job search outside the military, don’t get discouraged. You’ve already proven that you are willing to go above and beyond to show your commitment and strong work ethic through your service. There are many companies which value that and are excited to have you on their team. Like Josh advises his fellow veterans, “Stay persistent!”
Looking for a company that wants to hire veterans?Check out Josh Agan’s employer, Foss Manufacturing! They are hiring and love to employ hard-working veterans who have a knack for leadership or want an opportunity to grow.
Foss Manufacturing Company, LLC is a well-known leader and pioneer in the use of nonwoven fabrics and specialty synthetic fibers in an ever-expanding number of environments. It’s driven by innovation and the team takes pride in its ability to pioneer solutions to complex problems.
Foss’ approach to problem-solving combined with the experience and skills of our team members enable it to consistently provide products that exceed its customers’ expectations.
Veterans are welcomed to put their problem-solving skills to use with Foss!Look for career opportunities or apply for employment with the Foss Manufacturing team!
Are you terrified of screwing up a job interview? Does the thought of writing a cover letter horrify you? Are you scared to network with others? What do you even say, anyway? If you're struggling to overcome your job search fears, this live event is for you.
We get it. Looking for work can be scary, especially if you’ve been at it for a long time and haven’t gotten any results.
Understanding which fears are getting in the way and how to overcome them will make all the difference. Sometimes you might not be aware of which obstacle is getting in the way of your goals. If you want to overcome these fears once and for all, we invite you to join us!
In this training, you’ll learn how to:
Utilize strategies for coping with your job search fears
Be confident in your job search—from writing your resume to networking
Face your fears and move forward
Join our CEO, J.T. O'Donnell, and Director of Training Development & Coaching, Christina Burgio, for this live event on Wednesday, October 5th at 12 pm ET.
CAN'T ATTEND LIVE? That's okay. You'll have access to the recording and the workbook after the session!
Every hiring manager looks for different skills in the job candidates they're hoping to hire. Not only are job candidates being evaluated on the hard skills they possess; they're also being evaluated on their soft skills—the skills that don't belong on a resume but can be identified during a job interview. It's these soft skills that separate the good employees from the great ones. Executives, managers, and other leaders within an organization keep this in mind when interviewing job candidates and reviewing the performance of current employees.
We recently asked our leading executives what's the number one skill they need to see in every employee who works for them.
Here are their responses...
John Schembari, Senior Education Executive
Growth mindset. We live in a world of constant change. Even the best-laid plans are often shifted due to unexpected circumstances. For example. educators had no choice but to switch to teaching remotely during the pandemic. There was no time to become comfortable with the technology first—we had to dive in! To remain profitable, many companies also need to reconfigure services and/or products from time to time and the most successful employees are those who are always open to learning new things. One can teach skills—the core competencies needed to do a job in many cases. However, it is not as easy to get inside someone's head and affect an employee's will unless one is able to tap into that employee's intrinsic motivations. When a growth mindset is already present, this makes any change—even difficult ones—just a tad easier to implement.
John Schembari is a current K-12 teacher/school leader academic improvement coach and former school building and district administrator. He loves to draw, travel, swing dance, and read nonfiction.
John Cox, Advertising & Marketing Executive
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Curiosity is one of the top things I need out of each of my team members.
That is, they must possess an acknowledgment of the fact that no one of us knows everything and they must be curious in proactively seeking out new knowledge to add to their personal toolboxes.
In my team’s work on brand development and activation, and more specifically, digital marketing, it especially holds true that the industry, best practices, and tools used are ever changing and evolving. Maybe that involves consuming the latest books, blogs, podcasts, or following subject matter experts on LinkedIn.
In total, each team member must really have a passion for lifelong learning and constantly seek out new ways to stretch and grow in their own expertise and in the execution of their work.
John Cox has 20+ years of performance excellence in advertising and marketing, leveraging Google-certified skill sets in pay-per-click (PPC) advertising and paid search strategy, web planning and conversion measurement, and creative direction and graphic design.
Mark Taylor, Product & Operations Executive
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Clear, concise written communication. Less is more.
For example, when it comes to project status “decks,” my expectation is no more than one page (two at a push). So:
1) On-point title: sets the scene.
2) Background: one or two single-sentence bullets (the story so far).
3) Status: three to five single-sentence bullets detailing tasks completed since the last update (bad news first please).
4) Next steps: two to three bullets detailing key tasks to be done next (win my trust by making sure that these tasks are clearly reflected in the “Status” section when we have the update next time).
Make removing every word from the deck until it stops making sense a game.
And don’t confuse ruthless editing with time wasted on “perfection.” The process of creating crystal clear prose with no excess fat is a pathway for you to get a deeper understanding of the project’s current challenges.
Mark Taylor has 20+ years of risk, technology, and product management experience working in global and regional financial services firms in the UK and the U.S. He's managed teams of 40+, successfully addressed 100+ regulatory issues, and has saved companies $15M+.
Steve Barriault, Global Technical Sales Management
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Resilience in front of adversity.
Look, sales and field engineering are not for the faint of heart. They can often be exhilarating, but there is no doubt that they can be hard.
Each time that you step into a new account (or even an existing one), life can throw you a curveball. The budget you thought was there for your project is gone. The client forgot to tell you one key factor in their development environment that will make your deployment hell—assuming they knew anything about it at all.
Oh, and you travel for work? What do you do when the airline throws a wrench in your plans?
Trust me, I went through it all.
The best sales and field engineers are the ones that can deal with this. When facing a seemingly insurmountable challenge, they make a plan, execute, and when they fail—and fail they will!—they try again. And again. And again. Until it works or the clock times out.
No experience? I can deal with this with education. You made a mistake at times? If you never did, I would say you are not trying hard enough.
But when the going gets tough, you can't stop and get discouraged. And that needs to come from you.
Steve Barriault is a multilingual presales, sales, and business development management professional with 20+ years of experience in the sales and marketing of software & technological solutions worldwide. He's built sales infrastructure from the ground up, going from $0 to millions of $ through both direct sales and distributors.
Lisa Perry, Global Marketing Executive
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The most important skill I look for in an employee is their willingness to learn. This includes being open-minded to new ideas, sharing their thoughts and insights with co-workers, and being able to think on their feet and solve problems at a moment’s notice, with a “can-do” attitude. These skills are crucial for an employee’s personal and professional growth and contribute to the company's overall success. The willingness to learn allows employees to adapt to new challenges, develop creative solutions to problems, and continuously improve their skills and knowledge. It also helps to foster a culture of innovation and improvement throughout the organization.
As an employee, focusing on your willingness to learn is essential to staying relevant in your career while maintaining a competitive edge in the marketplace. As the business world is constantly evolving, employees need to be able to adapt and acquire new skills and knowledge to stay current and relevant in their field. Learning new skills also enable employees to be proactive in identifying and addressing challenges and opportunities, which can lead to greater success for both the employee and the company.
Lisa Perry helps companies build leadership brands, driving loyal customers & delivering profitability. She does this through a process that builds brands consumers love. Her goal is to help companies develop, monetize, and grow their brands.
Andrea Markowski, Marketing Executive
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Combining the many bits of knowledge and skills gathered over your life and applying them to your current work role can make you stand apart as a valuable asset.
For example, I learned a practical structure for theatrical acting and directing while in college. As a marketing director today, I use a modified version for a strategic framework.
How can this be? Well, both the art of theatre and the art of marketing possess crucial elements of audience psychology and message communication.
Would just any marketer know this tie-in? Probably not.
Is this something an employer would ever teach me? Nope.
When you successfully adapt a learned approach to a different function, you bring a fresh perspective through pattern recognition and critical reasoning.
Your ability to connect the dots from your past jobs and life experiences to your current role brings creativity and innovation that just can’t be taught. It is a skill I seek and highly encourage in team members.
Andrea Markowski is a marketing director with specializations in strategy development, digital tactics, design thinking, and creative direction. She has superpowers in presentations and public speaking.
Ana Smith, Talent Architect & Global Learning Strategist
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Self-awareness would be the skill that I would like to see in every employee I work with!
The main reason is that self-awareness is a mindful consciousness of your strengths, weaknesses, actions, and presence. And therefore, self-awareness requires having quite a clear perception of your mental and emotional states.
When you have a deep and meaningful self-awareness, it allows you to react to different situations and understand what triggers habitual responses for you, how you relate to other people, and why you feel the way you do toward certain individuals, amongst other areas.
Self-awareness is very important and can bring benefits in both your personal life and professional life. For example, it can help you identify what you like about your job and how to build a successful career path that can keep you motivated and fulfilled by your work.
How do you build this skill? These are a few ideas:
Assess your own capabilities - with a high level of self-awareness, you’ll see where you can excel and where you can grow.
Find a peer coach - someone you trust and respect who is willing to support you in your self-awareness journey.
Practice mindfulness - being aware of your surroundings without imposing any personal biases.
Be willing and open to receiving feedback - in order to grow you need to listen to different perspectives.
And let's not forget that like with any skill, it is a journey!
Ana Smith helps people & organizations achieve their full talent potential by developing and co-creating people strategies and customized solutions, and turning them into impactful outcomes and collaborative relationships, using coaching as the "red thread."
What's the #1 skill you need to see in every employee who works for you? Join the conversation inside Work It Daily's Executive Program.
When you're unemployed, one of your biggest fears is being judged by others. When it comes to dating, that fear can be amplified.
The number one question asked when meeting someone new is, “What do you do for a living?" For many people who are out of work, that simple question can feel like a kick to the stomach.
Don't let unemployment shake your confidence. Here are a few tips for handling the awkward “I'm actually unemployed" talk so you can keep dating while you're unemployed:
1. Discover What You're Passionate About
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Being single during a career transition can be an exciting experience, according to Adam LoDolce, a Boston-based dating coach for both men and women. "Dating is the perfect time to redefine yourself," he says. According to LoDolce, it's extremely important to discover what you're really passionate about during this transitional period. "We put so much emphasis on having a good job," says LoDolce. "You need to realize that, even if you have a good job, it's not automatically going to get you the girl or the guy."
Incorporating passion and excitement into your conversation is key during a career transition. By changing your perspective, you can control how people view your situation.
2. Avoid Conversation Killers
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There are three common questions that come up when you're getting to know someone new. They are:
What do you do for a living?
How old are you?
Where are you from?
These questions are major conversation killers, according to LoDolce. "It's boring conversation," he says. "If you're unemployed, work on deflecting these questions and making fun conversation. Have fun."
So, what do you ask instead? Here are a few conversation starters to try:
"Stop focusing on what people do for a living and focus on what they're passionate about instead," says LoDolce. Although some people are lucky enough to have a job they are passionate about, many people out there aren't doing what they love for a living.
Talking about your passions will not only help someone get to know you, but it will also be more interesting for both parties involved.
4. Be Positive
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"Being honest about your unemployment is the best approach to communicating with a new guy [or girl]," says dating expert Marni Battista. That doesn't mean you have to be negative about it, though. Battista suggests putting a positive spin on your situation. For instance, rather than talking about how the economy is killing your industry, or how hiring folks just don't "get you," focus on what's working.
Here's an example: "I love being a teacher, and am confident that my expertise in integrating technology into the classroom is going to land me an amazing position. All the interviews are great opportunities to practice and discover what the marketplace is looking for."
"When you cast blame on life's circumstances, it leaks a 'Debbie Downer' energy to your date and he [or she] will be more turned off by your negativity rather than the fact that you are unemployed," says Battista.
5. Don't Be Too Serious
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Afraid of an awkward pause in the conversation after you break the news to your date? Try to make light of the situation as best as you can. "I find that most awkward moments are awkward because you are feeling awkward," says LoDolce. You need to feel comfortable.
If you start feeling uncomfortable, LoDolce suggests joking around and making light of the situation. "If you're overly serious about it, it's going to be uncomfortable," he says.
6. Spruce Up Your Online Brand
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"In the online dating world, your first impression is digitized—and your career is part of that," says Laurie Davis, author ofLove at First Click: The Ultimate Guide to Online Dating. Most dating profiles have a section to discuss your job. When you're unemployed, avoid listing a hopeful job title or giving a resume rundown. Avoid posting old photos, or mentioning a would-be job or past position because it sets expectations you can't live up to in person. Not to mention, giving your total work history will give the impression that you're trying too hard...and possibly hiding something, she says.
Davis suggests relying on the industry drop-down menus that dating sites offer. If a description can't be avoided, focus on volunteer work or passions. When talking about projects that are gaining momentum, use confident phrasing.
"Your match doesn't need to know the intricacies of your experience in a first impression," Davis explains. Say something like "I'm a management consultant" rather than "I'm trying to start consulting for executives since I did a lot of that in my past job." "Overexplaining isn't confident," she says.
We hope these six tips help you stay confident on the dating scene while you're unemployed! There's so much more to you than your career.
