TAOnline Transition Insight Newsletter

Thou Shalt Not . . . (Part 2 of 2)

© Tom Wolfe, author; all rights reserved; excerpts from Out of Uniform: Your Guide to a Successful Military-to-Civilian Career Transition; used with the permission of the author and publisher, www.potomacbooksinc.com.

Welcome back! In Part 1 of this two-part series we discussed how following the First through Fifth Commandments will lead you to a promised land called Interview Success. Click here to read Part 1. Today we further enhance your chances with a discussion of the Sixth through Tenth Commandments. 1. The First Commandment: Thou shalt not be late. 2. The Second Commandment: Thou shalt not ask too few or inappropriate questions. 3. The Third Commandment: Thou shalt not exhibit improper body language. 4. The Fourth Commandment: Thou shalt not dress inappropriately. ... Read More

Transitioning From the Military to the Civilian Workforce? 3 Challenges You’ll Face, and How to Overcome Them

by Michelle Tillis Lederman - Reprinted with permission

As a veteran, you’ve faced far more frightening and serious situations than the job interview. Yet for many, the thought of entering the civilian workforce comes with a myriad of concerns and challenges. I wrote a whole book to help you in the interview process, which you can get for free at www.heroesgethired.com. In the meantime, here are three challenges I want to minimize for you right away: 1. Translating Your Skills A recent study indicates many veterans find one of the biggest transition challenges is explaining how their military skills translate to a civilian work environment. ... Read More

Ways to Be Easy to Hire

Recruiters are in a “war for talent” and have been for several years. That war is the competition to find candidates qualified for their job openings. Exacerbating the situation for recruiters is that most of them are measured and rewarded for their time-to-hire performance — how quickly they fill a job. Consequently, recruiters are almost always in a hurry. If they run into an obstacle with one candidate, they may quickly move on to the next candidate. So, we’re back to that war for talent… How to Be Easy to Hire Contrary to popular belief, job boards are not usually the solution to the war for talent (read The Common Job Search Strategy that Kills Opportunities for the reasons). ... Read More

Trading helmets for hard hats, veterans explore career in construction

By MARY HUI | The Washington Post | Stars and Stripes Reprinted with permission © Stars and Stripes

For the better part of the past half century, Vietnam veteran Bob Luckett has been working in the construction industry. Luckett, 69, started out as a laborer in a masonry company after completing his military service in 1971. It was tough work at first. His boss "was great, but he worked you to death," he said, and soon Luckett developed an allergy to the lime in mortar. "My hands were like hamburgers." So Luckett took on a supervisory role, and steadily rose through the ranks before starting his own contracting company in 1998. He took charge of projects from designing and building homes from ... Read More

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Thou Shalt Not . . . (Part 2 of 2)

1. The First Commandment: Thou shalt not be late.

2. The Second Commandment: Thou shalt not ask too few or inappropriate questions.

3. The Third Commandment: Thou shalt not exhibit improper body language.

4. The Fourth Commandment: Thou shalt not dress inappropriately.

5. The Fifth Commandment: Thou shalt not lack self-knowledge.

6. The Sixth Commandment: Thou shalt not do insufficient research. To interview successfully, you must be knowledgeable. There are four components to this knowledge. Knowledge of self (see the Fourth Commandment above), knowledge of the company, knowledge of the industry, and knowledge of the job. You have to do your homework. Researching companies used to be hard. Your sources were pretty much confined to books, magazines, and other resource materials such as annual reports and business journals, most of which sat on the shelves of the public or college library. Frequently this information was hard to find, incomplete, or out of date. Interviewers knew this and tended to be a little forgiving when it came to the breadth and depth of the candidate’s research. Then along came a game-changer—the Internet. Now that research, although still perhaps tedious, is easy. There is no longer an excuse for insufficient research. Do yourself a favor and learn how to research a company for fun before you have to do it for real. Attack that research on three fronts: what do the business and financial analysts have to say about the company, what does the company have to say about itself, and what is the general public buzz about the company.

7. The Seventh Commandment: Thou shalt not lack an understanding of interviewing empathy. The Fourth Commandment requires you to have a strong idea of what you bring to the table, what you care about, and what really matters to you. You are searching for a job that will satisfy all of your needs and maybe even a few of your wants (no, they are not the same). You must keep all of that in mind as you search for the right job. However, you must also keep in mind what matters to the company with which you are interviewing and, more importantly, what matters to the interviewer. Knowing this in advance and keeping it in mind as you interview will allow you to tailor your questions and your answers to hit the interviewer’s hot buttons, thereby demonstrating a sensitivity to the interviewer’s needs and also enhancing the chances of a developing a personal connection. This is called interviewing empathy and it will help you convert the interviewer into your advocate. Here is the simple version: tell the interviewer exactly what he or she wants to hear, as long as it also happens to be the truth!

8. The Eighth Commandment: Thou shalt not fail to show interest. Some people think that the purpose of an interview is to see if the candidate is qualified for the job. That is generally not the case, especially if the interviewer has access to the resume in advance. The fact that you are in the interview means that you have already been deemed qualified. Your resume shows the necessary experience, training, education, and skill set. Absent those things, there would be no reason to interview you. Conversely one could argue that if your resume does match up nicely with the job requirements, then why even have the interview? The company could save a lot of time and money by simply offering you the job sight-unseen. That’s a disaster in the making. The interview provides so much more. It allows the interviewer to add the human dimension to the resume. Your style, personality and attitude all come into play. It is also a chance for you to get a feel for the company. You learn more about the job, the opportunity, and the people who work there. But there is more. No matter how qualified you may be, no matter how well the job stacks up against your requirements, and no matter how well you are received on an interpersonal level, you will fail the interview unless there is no doubt whatsoever in the mind of the interviewer that you are also sincerely interested in the job. You can control this indirectly through your body language, overt enthusiasm, and by asking great questions. You can also take the direct approach—come right out and say the words I am very interested in pursuing this opportunity or I hope I have interviewed will enough today to receive an offer or I want this job—offer it to me and I will accept. Yes, those are forward and bold statements, but, assuming they are truthful, think about their power. What have you got to lose? In the end you might be rejected, but the cause will not be because they questioned your level of interest.

9. The Ninth Commandment: Thou shalt not fail to acknowledge weaknesses, failures, and flaws. As indicated by these Commandments, there are many causes for a lack of success in interviewing. One common but frequently overlooked reason is setting unrealistic expectations. Several years ago a recruiter for one of my client companies surprised me when she said that she long ago gave up trying to hire perfect candidates. In fact, perfection in a candidate was an automatic cause for rejection. Why? When it comes to human beings, there is no such thing as perfection. Given that, she realized that the supposed perfect candidate was indeed flawed in some way, but she had failed to find that flaw. Knowing this undiscovered flaw would come to light in the future, she rejected that candidate rather than running the risk that the flaw could be a fatal one. This is actually good news for you—you do not have to be perfect to get a great job! Imperfections, failures, and weaknesses are part of your package. They key is having the self-awareness to acknowledge them, the insight to know when it is appropriate to discuss them, the self-confidence to admit to them, and, most importantly, the ability to overcome, mitigate, correct, or compensate for them. Possession of that key allows you to turn weakness into strength.

10. The Tenth Commandment: Thou shalt not forget to close the sale. Here’s an exercise for you. Make a list of civilian occupations for which you have some level of interest. Put them in order of preference. As you get deeper into your search that list will change. Some things will drop off, others will be added, and the order of preference will change. That’s normal. For military personnel transitioning to civilian employment, job hunting is as much about discovery and self-education as it is about landing the right job. But you have to start someplace, right? Take a look at your list. How far down do you have to go to find sales as one of your options? For most of you that option is near the bottom or not even on the list. There is a logical explanation for that, but we will save that discussion for another day. For today, consider this: those of you that do have sales on that list will be better interviewers for any type of job than those of you that treat sales like the plague. Why? Interviewing is selling. You (sales rep) have to convince the interviewer (customer) that your product (you) will fill his or her need (the job opening). Successful sales people share many characteristics and talents. Perhaps the most important among those talents is the ability to look a potential customer in the eye and say please buy my product or I want to be your supplier or l really want your business. This is referred to as asking for the order or closing the sale and it is critical to sales success. The same technique is critical to interview success. Assuming you are truly and sincerely interested in the opportunity, do not leave the interview without first asking for the job.

In summary, remember that there are almost always more good candidates than there are good jobs. The interviewer needs to narrow down the field and he or she can afford to be picky. You have a choice here—disobey one or more of those Commandments and make it easy for him or her to cross you off the list. Or, make the interviewer work hard to find a reason to reject you. As the interviewer digs deeper and deeper and gets to know you better and better, things will start to change. Unable to find reasons to say NO, he or she will start to focus on reasons to say YES and that leads to interview success!

For additional information on this subject and much more career transition guidance, check out www.out-of-uniform.com .

By Tom Wolfe, Career Coach

© 2017; Tom Wolfe, is an author, columnist, career coach, veteran, and an expert in the field of military-to-civilian career transition. During his career he assisted thousands of service members in their searches for employment, placing more than 3000 in their new jobs. Prior to civilian life, he graduated from the U. S. Naval Academy and served as a surface warfare officer. He teaches transition courses, gives seminars on career and job change, writes about the career transition process, and continues to counsel current and former military personnel. His book, Out of Uniform: Your Guide to a Successful Military-to-Civilian Career Transition, was published by Potomac Books in 2011. Tom lives on the North Carolina coast with his wife, Julie, and their Chesapeake Bay retriever, Maggie.

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Transitioning From the Military to the Civilian Workforce? 3 Challenges You’ll Face, and How to Overcome Them

by Michelle Tillis Lederman - Reprinted with permission

I wrote a whole book to help you in the interview process, which you can get for free at www.heroesgethired.com. In the meantime, here are three challenges I want to minimize for you right away:

1. Translating Your Skills

A recent study indicates many veterans find one of the biggest transition challenges is explaining how their military skills translate to a civilian work environment. Some great news from the same survey is that nearly all veterans believe they have the skills needed to land their ideal job. So it’s just a matter of communicating those skills.

To start wrapping your head around this, think about what you did on a daily basis in the military and how many of the skills you used are essential for the normal workforce. In the military, you were in stressful situations that required you to think quickly, be effective with limited resources and adapt to ever-changing circumstances, and as a result, you built many, many skills.

Veterans are adaptable, energetic, creative; they pay attention to detail, get the job done, communicate critical information clearly, meet deadlines, display maturity and have an extraordinary work ethic. They are problem-solvers, team players and leaders.

The first step in preparing for a civilian interview is to recognize these skills, and the second step is to value them. You want to communicate these translatable skills — and the added value you as a vet bring to a civilian work situation — at every step of the job hunt process, from resume and cover letter right through to the actual interview.

For an idea of how you can translate your experience to master an interview, see this quick video.

A veteran without years of civilian workplace experience can actually bring a fresh perspective to a situation. For an interviewer, the passion and confidence an interviewee projects can be more powerful than the recent experience they have or have not had. As a vet, you can be a catalyst for innovative solutions and protect an organization from the groupthink that often occurs when a team of employees has spent years in the same industry or field.

2. Adjusting to a New Culture

For those just coming out of the military, it’s important to understand there will be an adjustment period as you integrate back into civilian culture. The standard modes of military thinking and behavior can be vastly different from those of the civilian workforce, but once you recognize these differences, you’ll be able to adapt to them more easily — after all, service members are excellent at adapting to new situations.

Some of the differences between military and civilian workforce culture include attire, language and word choice, formality of verbal and nonverbal communication, receptiveness to opinions, leadership styles, a focus on responsibilities versus results, and even possibly the definition of success.

You’ve just come from a structured environment in which you were trained to develop responses and take initiative to accomplish a mission. These traits will be welcome in the civilian workforce, and you’ll have many opportunities to use them — just in different ways

While in an interview, you want to spotlight how you can adapt to new surroundings and how this means you’ll be able to fit with the company’s culture. Present yourself in ways that make sense for the civilian workforce but still let your personal strengths and qualifications shine through.

3. Dealing with Physical or Invisible Injuries

Those who have survived a war often do so with injuries, whether physical or invisible. It’s important to know from the very beginning that potential employees need only disclose disabilities if and when they need an accommodation to perform essential functions on the job. Other than this, applicants never have to disclose a disability on a job application or during an interview unless they choose to do so (EEOC, 1992). For more information on how to determine whether you have a disability under the Americans With Disabilities Act, visit www.eeoc.gov/policy/docs/902cm.html.

If you do find your injury will impact your ability to do the job for which you’re applying, consider your options and what they mean for the employer. What accommodations would you need in order to be effective in the role? Explain these when appropriate and, if known, their costs. Often, minor adjustments can easily be made to create a productive workspace; recognizing this can increase your comfort as well as that of your potential employer. You want to make sure you find a situation that’s an excellent fit for both you and the organization.

As a veteran, you’ve already done it all! If the person interviewing you doesn’t understand this, it’s your responsibility to make sure they know it by the end of the interview.

The main challenge will be perception — yours and theirs. Believe in your capabilities and qualifications, and you’ll communicate this belief to others. (Like this thought? Tweet it!) You must not only know you can do the job, but that you’ve already done the types of things it requires. Preparing for the interview will help you bring this knowledge to the forefront and truly embrace it.

Visit Michelle's website for other free resources! www.michelletillislederman.com

This post originally appeared on Career Attraction.

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7 Ways to Be Easy to Hire

Consequently, recruiters are almost always in a hurry. If they run into an obstacle with one candidate, they may quickly move on to the next candidate.

So, we’re back to that war for talent…

How to Be Easy to Hire

Contrary to popular belief, job boards are not usually the solution to the war for talent (read The Common Job Search Strategy that Kills Opportunities for the reasons). When the right candidate isn’t in their network, they search for qualified candidates in Google and LinkedIn. So, for the future, you need to be findable and reachable:

1. Be easy to find.

Because recruiters are always searching for qualified candidates, being find-able online is essential. This means being visible on a site like LinkedIn, and using the right keywords for your target job (and target employers) in your LinkedIn Profile and other online visibility. Also make examples of your expertise visible by writing and publishing articles relevant to your profession and industry.

[More: To Be Hired, Be Found: Your Best Keywords and To Be Hired, Be Found Where Recruiters Look.]

2. Make your goal clear.

Being generic doesn’t work today. You can’t simultaneously be seeking a job as a customer service representative and executive assistant because you won’t have sufficient focused visibility online to attract recruiters looking for someone qualified for the job you want.

[More: To Be Hired: Be Focused and Clear About the Job You Want.]

3. Make your qualifications for your goal clear.

Focus your LinkedIn Profile and other online visibility as well as resumes and job applications on your accomplishments and achievements that prove you are qualified for your target job. If you are employed, don’t release any of your employer’s confidential information, but, respecting that limitation, describe your accomplishments.

[More: Smart Bragging Wins Your Next Job.]

4. Be easy to contact.

Most recruiters don’t have an interest in spending a lot of time tracking down contact information for someone they find on LinkedIn. So, make contact information visible on your LinkedIn Profile, in the large Summary section where someone who is not connected to you can find it. If you are employed, be sure to use contact information not related to your job.

In particular, provide a non-work email address. Many recruiters in a hurry prefer to reach out via phone so, if possible, also include a non-work phone number. Services like Gmail and Google Voice (Google Voice is a phone number from Google that can be directed to your private phone number and/or email) are very useful for your non-work email and phone.

[More: To be Hired, Be Reachable.]

5. Be responsive.

Pay attention to the email account and phone number you have made visible (see #4 above) for the world to reach you, so that you can respond reasonably quickly when a recruiter reaches out to you. Typically, a recruiter who contacts you (fighting that war for talent) is in a hurry, so if you don’t respond quickly, preferably within a few hours, they may cross you off the “possibles” list. Both Gmail and Google Voice can be forwarded to other email addresses and phone numbers you check often.

6. Follow directions.

Demonstrate your attention to detail (an important skill and highly desired by most employers) in your communications with the recruiter and other members of the employer’s staff. If you agree to call, contact, or meet a recruiter, be sure to do it at the agreed upon time.

7. Monitor your online reputation.

As recruiters search to find qualified job candidates, they also research those candidates to verify information and to be sure they aren’t referring someone who has a bad reputation. So, the best defense is to Google yourself at least once a week. I call this “Defensive Googling” — NOT “vanity Googling” or “ego surfing.” You need to know, and to manage as best you can, what is found in a search on your name.

[More: Guide to Defensive Googling on Job-Hunt.org.]

Bottom Line

Recruiters frequently reference the “war for talent” they are fighting for their employers or clients because they have a hard time finding qualified job candidates. Make their jobs easy by being easy to find and hire.

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+

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Trading helmets for hard hats, veterans explore career in construction

By MARY HUI | The Washington Post | Stars and Stripes Reprinted with permission © Stars and Stripes

For the better part of the past half century, Vietnam veteran Bob Luckett has been working in the construction industry.

Luckett, 69, started out as a laborer in a masonry company after completing his military service in 1971. It was tough work at first. His boss "was great, but he worked you to death," he said, and soon Luckett developed an allergy to the lime in mortar.

"My hands were like hamburgers."

So Luckett took on a supervisory role, and steadily rose through the ranks before starting his own contracting company in 1998. He took charge of projects from designing and building homes from scratch to doing remodels and additions. He sold the company in 2015, and did some consulting and project management for local construction companies. But he knew he wanted something different, something more.

Then Luckett heard a report the radio one day about the challenges veterans face finding a job after leaving the service, and the idea for a new venture was born. In November, Luckett founded Veteran's Next Mission, a nonprofit that offers veterans a paid four-year training program to prepare them for a career in the construction industry.

One recent afternoon on a quiet tree-lined cul-de-sac in Arlington, Virginia, Luckett was hard at work with his first group of trainees. The crew was working on a $185,000, 12 x 16 feet addition to a home Luckett designed and built 12 years ago for a newlywed couple. Now that the family has grown to include three kids, they needed extra space. And so Luckett is back to help his old clients, and some veterans looking for an opportunity.

"Put a nail in, right there," said Luckett, pointing at a corner where two wooden boards needed to be held together.

Gripping a gray nail gun tightly, Brian Mandes fired once.

"Well, that was refreshing," Mandes, 44, said as the nail gun gave off a poof of cool air. Mandes spent 14 years in the infantry in the Army National Guard. He had completed a tour in Iraq, where he was armed with an M4 rifle and an M2 .50-caliber machine gun. But he had never fired a nail gun.

"I love it. Every chance I get to use it, I use it," Mandes said.

Under Luckett's close guidance, his trainees put up form boards along the perimeter of the concrete base of the structure. They painstakingly measured out the wood, sawed it to the precise length and affixed it to the concrete slab. At each step, Luckett would first demonstrate what to do, then have Mandes and Derek Lett, another trainee who served as a cavalry scout in the Army from 2011 to 2013, repeat the procedure. A third trainee, Lisa Duan, 24, was off that day.

Construction is a "very natural" transition for veterans, Luckett said, because it shares so many elements of military life: working outdoors, teamwork, organization and discipline. "It's a good opportunity for veterans."

And Luckett thinks that veterans bring an additional element of grit to construction work. "A lot of other construction sites, it's raining, and the guys are gone," he said. "[For] these guys, it's just water."

The veteran unemployment rate stands at 3.4 percent, lower than the national average of 4 percent for nonveterans, according to the latest May figures from the Department of Labor. But some veterans face greater challenges finding employment than others. Those ages 18 to 24 have an unemployment rate of 10.7 percent, more than two percentage points higher than nonveterans the same age, according to Department of Labor statistics.

Such statistics were just one reason Luckett was moved to act.

He works alongside his trainees from early morning till midafternoon, Monday through Friday. They learn how to pour concrete, and install framing, siding, roofing, dry wall and insulation. They earn $12 an hour, with a $1 increase every six months. The goal is to provide them with skills so that at the end of the four years, the veterans can either pick a trade to pursue, work with a remodeling company or start their own business.

"Every day is a learning curve," said Lett, who hopes to graduate from the program into a well-paying job in the construction industry.

But that challenge is familiar to the vets. Both Lett and Mandes said the work brings back fond memories of the Army.

"I miss the camaraderie, so this is perfect," said Mandes. He wants to start his own contracting business one day, and for now he is getting extra practice on his construction skills through a hobby of his: building miniature houses.

Watching Luckett at work on the construction site, it's hard to believe that he will soon turn 70. Gripping a sledgehammer, he gives a wooden stake a good whack to drive it into the ground. His stance is solid, his swing smooth and strong.

Veteran's Next Mission is only a few months old, but already Luckett is looking to expand. He is currently in the process of recruiting more trainees and trainers, so that the group can take on more than one project simultaneously.

"I tell my wife, 'These guys keep me young,' " he said.

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