April 2015 |
Transition-e-news Volume 3 Issue 105 |
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The Value of a Cover Letter
by Barbara Adams, CPRW, CEIP, MFRW, MMRW, MFCA-T In a professional world where communication skills are a must for any job, your cover letter introduces you, puts your resume in context, and demonstrates your writing skills. In fact, from your first contact with an employer to the day you start that new job, there are a number of opportunities to use letters or emails to advance your candidacy. There are different types of cover letters for different situations: follow-up letter after telephone and face-to-face interviews, resurrection, negotiation, acceptance, rejection, and resignation letters, to name a few. Because the majority of resume typically end up in a resume data-base, where cover letters often can’t help you, learning to use the more personal approaches where a cover letter can make a difference will greatly impact the productivity of your search. When you identify hiring managers by name you can avoid the resume databases altogether, and when you have a name, your cover letter can be a very effective marketing tool. Furthermore, when you know the hiring managers name and the position available, it is a good idea to research the company and find out about their mission and goals. Highlighting how your experience would be a value to the mission and goals of the company, would really make your cover letter stand-out and your increase your chances of your resume being read. Many resume banks and corporate websites have a place where you can upload or paste a cover letter along with your resume, and employers look more favorably on candidates who take the extra step. Barbara Adams, President and CEO of CareerPro Global (CPG), the parent company of www.careerproplus.com and www.militaryresumewriters.com, has been a member of the careers community for the past 20 years. Ms. Adams holds four prestigious industry certifications. CareerPro Global is the only ISO 9001-2008 Certified Career Service in the industry, as well as one of the fastest-growing Military, Federal, and Civilian Resume-Writing and Careers-Coaching companies. The team of Certified Professional Federal and Military Resume Writers at CPG assist thousands of clients in applying for and gaining employment each year. We can help you land your military to civilian job. |
6 Actions You Must Take NOW to Ensure a Successful Post-Military Career
by Sultan Camp Being a veteran and having the opportunity to work with 8,000+ separating military professionals, I,ve had the unique experience of seeing a lot of successful transitions. However, I've also been privy to a lot of unsuccessful ones as well, especially by senior commissioned and non-commissioned officers. Many servicemembers put more time and effort into planning their retirement ceremonies and what they'll do on terminal leave than they do into their transition planning. They often make the mistake of thinking they'll have no issue landing a job when they're on leave because of their military experience and having a college degree Here are six things you need to start doing today, whether you have two years or two weeks left in the uniform, to better ensure your success: 1. Start Now The Department of Defense trained you for approximately eight weeks to be a Soldier, Sailor, Marine, Airman, Guardian or Guardsman. When you do the math, that's about 384 hours of preparation time. Translation: If you spent two hours each day working on your transition, it would equate to about six months of time invested. This matches up very well with what Dick Bolles outlines in What Color Is Your Parachute? In this book, Bolles says the rule of thumb is to expect about 1-2 months of active job searching for every $10,000 worth of salary you may want to earn. That equates to 4-8 months of active career planning or job searching for a $40,000 salary. As a former Executive TAP, Transition GPS facilitator and military recruiter, I've found this rule of thumb to be extremely accurate. In a nutshell: Don't procrastinate, start as soon as you can and encourage your colleagues, both junior and senior, to do the same. (Click here to tweet this thought.) Have an actual written plan of action and milestones for your own transition. It's amazing to see that we often do this for every critical military assessment, but not for the most significant event of our adult careers. 2. Identify Gaps It's critical that you identify the gaps you currently have in both your professional network and your skill set. Your professional network includes those folks who can actually put you in front of a hiring manager. If you currently don't have anyone like that in your network, you need to. This self-evaluation will tell you how employable you are and whether or not it's a good time for you to leave the uniform (if you have a choice in the matter). A fatal mistake I often see? Those who solely rely on people still on Active Duty or people who haven't looked for a job in years to give them job search and resume advice. Instead, use your time to meet as many recruiters and hiring managers as you can in order to get candid insight and feedback on your true market value in the civilian world, as well as how readable your resume is. (Hint: It should not read like your Evaluation Report.) 3. Education and Certifications Matter...Period The temptation (and flawed decision) when looking at a job description that requires experience or a degree is to apply anyway. This is the same as playing the lottery, with even worse odds. In the first hour of posting a job, a company can receive as many as 200 resumes. Chances are at least 10% of these applicants have both the experience and the degree required. And employers will generally choose one of these candidates. A full-time job seeker only has 8 hours each day to conduct their job search, so don't waste your precious time applying for positions for which you're not a competitor. When someone says "I'm qualified XXXX in the military; why aren't employers willing to recognize it?" I generally ask, "If I had a civilian qualification, would I still have to do the military qualification if I wanted to do the exact same job in the military?" Sound a bit harsh? Well, another analogy is to ask yourself: If you were going before a military promotion board and a special qualification (e.g. a warfare device) was the norm, what would be your chances of getting past the initial screener? The same rules apply in the civilian labor market, especially when you're navigating it on your own. I generally suggest you maximize your job search by applying for jobs for which you're a 95% or better fit, simply because of the odds involved. It's better to scan 100 jobs and find the 10 you're most likely to get than to stop at 10 and have zero probability of being called in for an interview. 4. Think Twice Before Claiming You're a Subject Matter Expert At job fairs, I tend to hear many military professionals make the claim that they're a subject matter expert at X, Y or Z. However, I suggest you think twice before making this claim to a hiring decision-maker or recruiter. By all means, I encourage you to make the claim if you've done the research to determine whether or not that specialty you're a "subject matter expert" in is in demand in the labor market. If you haven't, then Google that specialty plus the word "jobs" to determine if there are job postings that are asking for it. You can also use Google Adwords to determine how many times that skill has been searched in the last month. It doesn't do a job seeker any good being a subject matter expert on typewriters if there isn't a demand for it in the local job market. If you have several skills you're staking a claim to, it's imperative that you determine which one has the greatest potential in terms of market demand, job opportunities and the years of required experience for which the employer is looking. 5. Manage Your Health Care...For the First Time We've all heard about the challenges the Veterans Administration is facing with the backlog of claims that have been filed. While the process is getting a lot better, there are some things you need to do right now. First of all, stop being so stubborn and take your butt down to medical. More importantly, get everything documented. Believe me, your claim adjudication with the VA is based on "show me that it's service-connected rather than telling me." At least 12 months before your last day on Active Duty, be sure to make two copies of your medical and dental records. Better yet, have them scanned and saved to a thumbdrive or similar device. Secondly, don't wait until the last minute to get your record reviewed by the DAV, AMVETS or American Legion to provide guidance on filing your claim with the VA. Try to get this done at least 6 months prior to starting your terminal leave. After this is done, make it an imperative to go to the VA workshop and get your package submitted as early as possible. 6. Include Your Spouse or Partner It may sound like common sense that your spouse or partner be actively involved in your transition process. However, I see all too often candidates who can't accept one of our employers' job offers (that matches their geographic, skill set and salary preferences) because they haven't spoken to their significant others about any of these parameters. It's a necessity that you have a frank and candid discussion with your life partner as early as possible. This may be the time when a spouse is thinking about starting their own career after being supportive for 20+ years, the children may be in high school, etc. Geographic flexibility is a major factor in employability, and each family has to realistically weigh the pros and cons instead of leaving it to chance and unrealistic expectations. In a Nutshell Your transition is much more than your retirement ceremony and terminal leave. It's a lengthy, involved process that only yields the amount of time and effort you put into it before you're piped ashore for the last time. |
To Be Hired: Be Focused and Clear About the Job You Want© Copyright, 2015, Susan P. Joyce. All rights reserved. Yet again, in the Job-Hunt Help LinkedIn Group, a job seeker has posted an announcement about his availability with a description of himself as a "fast-learning, analytical problem-solver." That's all. Let the job offers roll in! Nope, didn't happen. Not a single job offer appeared... The issue: No one knew what kind of problems he solved. Employers definitely need people to solve problems, but one person isn't likely the solution to all of those problems. Unless he specifies the kinds of problems he solves (snow removal, tax preparation, leaping tall buildings in a single bound, or ?) with details on his accomplishments, skills, and experience, he's not going to be hired by anyone based on that information (or lack). Lack of Focus = Limited Options Many job seekers have told me that they don't specify the job they want in LinkedIn and networking events because they fear that being specific will "limit my options." This strategy backfires more often than it works. Unfortunately, by not being clear, these job seekers have actually eliminated most options, except those with people who already know them and know what they can do. The bad assumption people make when they try this approach is that someone will have the time to carefully read a resume or LinkedIn profile to determine where they could fit into an organization. No one - except maybe their family - care enough to take the time to do that! So, lack of focus in their job search really limits their options rather than expanding them. Lack of Focus = No Keywords = Invisibility Worst of all, if you aren't clear about the job you want, your profile and other LinkedIn activities (Groups, Pulse, etc.) won't have any keywords relevant to your skills and experience! [More about keywords essential for a successful job search - To Be Hired, Be Find-able.] This lack of keywords is damaging to his career and income in several ways: - Recruiters with the right jobs open for him will not find him when they search LinkedIn or Google for qualified candidates. - People who do see his profile won't know what he does unless they already know him. And what he has done in the past may not be what he wants to do in the future. Don't "keep your options open" - keep your eyes and ears open, and stay focused. Know the keywords most important for your next job (check Indeed's JobTrends), and make them visible on your LinkedIn profile and your other online visibility. To Be Hired, Be Focused! Since most people - and most businesses - do have problems that need solving, describing them is effective. Without an investment of time and effort into figuring out the job you want (the problems you can solve) - you are impossible to hire! For a successful job search, picking your target job(s) and your target employers is YOUR most important job. Don't know what you want to do? Find help here: - Your state's employment office/Career OneStop has people whose job is to help you find work. - If you have attended a college, that college probably has a career center with people who can help. - Your local bookstore and, probably, public library, have a book named "What Color Is Your Parachute?" by Richard N. Bolles. It's been an enormous help to me whenever I've faced a job search. It doesn't take long to read, and it is extremely helpful (which is why over 10,000,000 copies have been bought). Bottom Line: To be easy to hire, update your LinkedIn profile, Twitter bio, Facebook About, Google Plus About, and other social networks with your job search goals (unless you are currently employed). Work on your "elevator speech" - a 20 to 30 second summary of what you want to do and who you want to do it for when someone is kind enough to ask what you are looking for. Be easy to hire! More About Being Hired Express Lane to a New Job: Employee Referral Why Referrals Close the Sale for a Successful Job Search About the Author… Online job search expert Susan P. Joyce Online job search expert Susan P. Joyce has been observing the online job search world and teaching online job search skills since 1995. Susan is a two-time layoff “graduate” who has worked in human resources at Harvard University and in a compensation consulting firm. In 2011, NETability purchased WorkCoachCafe.com, and Susan has been editor and publisher of WorkCoach since then. Susan also edits and publishes Job-Hunt.org, is a Visiting Scholar at the MIT Sloan School of Management, and a columnist on HuffingtonPost. Follow Susan on Twitter at @jobhuntorg and on Google+ |
Obama bets on solar jobs for veterans
By Travis J. Tritten
Used with permission from
Stars and Stripes
© 2015 Stars and Stripes WASHINGTON - Will solar be a hot new job market for veterans? The Obama administration unveiled a program Friday that will train transitioning troops at 10 military bases across the country how to build and maintain solar energy farms, and prep them to become one of 75,000 employees it hopes to add to the solar workforce by 2020. The future of solar energy seemed uncertain a generation ago when the Carter administration set lofty goals that fizzled. But the technology is becoming cheaper and more efficient, and the Defense Department - one of the world's top energy users - has been adding solar facilities to bases in the United States and abroad at a rapid clip in recent years. "We can't maintain the best military the world has ever known unless we have an economy that is humming," President Barack Obama said during a trip to Hill Air Force Base in Utah. Obama said the initiative will help set up vets in an industry that is adding jobs 10 times faster than other areas of the economy. "We want to ensure that after they've fought for our freedom [troops] have jobs to come home to," he said. The Solar Ready Vets program will teach veterans how to install panels, connect produced electricity to the grid and comply with building codes. Likely jobs will be system inspectors, sales reps and installers, according to the administration. A pilot version of the program at three bases has already graduated students, said Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, deputy secretary of the Department of Energy, which is heading up the initiative. At Camp Pendleton in California, 20 troops graduated in February and all received job offers in the industry, Sherwood-Randall said. The DOE has struck an agreement with the country's top-five solar energy companies to interview all graduates. The 4- to 6-week intensive training course will now be available at Hill and three facilities that hosted the pilot - Pendleton, Fort Carson in Colorado and Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia, she said. It was not decided Friday which other six military facilities might participate, and how many of the 75,000 projected trainees will be veterans, said Dan Utech, deputy special assistant to the president for energy and climate change. Bases will be chosen to participate based on training opportunities at surrounding community colleges, the strength of the local solar market and interest among troops. As for the cost, Utech said the Department of Veterans Affairs is still ironing out agreements with states to allow the use of GI Bill benefits to fund the education. "Those are not currently approved, but we are working to get them approved," Utech said. But the administration has designed the training to be free of charge for troops. The White House's push to rein in global climate change is driving the Solar Ready Vets program, which it hopes will further reduce carbon emissions from fossil fuels. Hill Air Force Base was considered a logical backdrop for the rollout after it unveiled in 2009 what was the largest solar panel farm in Utah. The military has sought out new and renewable energy sources due in large part to cost - the DOD used $16 billion in liquid fuel in 2012 - and security. For example, Marine Corps Camp H.M. Smith in Hawaii unveiled a demonstration project last summer aimed at producing part of the base's energy from the sun to keep missions running in the face of natural disasters, cyberattacks or sabotage. The White House said Fort Detrick in Maryland broke ground this week on a solar project that will power almost 2,500 homes annually. Bases in North Carolina, Georgia, Hawaii and Arizona have also either completed or started similar solar projects. Energy use is also a major risk downrange where needed convoys of fossils fuels are targeted by enemy snipers and roadside bombs. Twitter: @Travis_Tritten |
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