February 2018 |
Transition-e-news Volume 4 Issue 139 |
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Transition Insight
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Corporate Gray Military-Friendly Job Fair * March 23, 2017 * Springfield, VA Meet face-to face with dozens of military-friendly companies at the March 23rd Corporate Gray Military-Friendly Job Fair at the Army Navy Country Club in Arlington, Virginia. Some of the early registrants include: Lockheed Martin, U.S. Postal Service, Leidos, ARServices, The Tauri Group, U.S. Customs & Border Protection, Prince William County Police Department, Edward Jones, Institute for Defense Analyses, and more. Job fair hours are 9 am to 12:30 pm, with an Employer Panel discussion for job seekers starting at 8 am. To ensure you receive the job fair Employer Directory in advance, pre-register at http://corporategray.com/jobfairs/394. And if you upload your resume, the participating companies will have early access to your credentials. This military-friendly job fair is open and free to all job seekers, but especially for transitioning service members and veterans.
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Five Tips to Achieve a Great Job Interview
by Barbara Adams, CPRW, CEIP, MFRW, MMRW, MFCA-T Congratulations! You’ve received a call from the hiring manager at your targeted agency/employer and they can’t wait to meet with you either in person or over the phone to dive into more detail about your qualifications and ability to make a difference. Before you go celebrating this accomplishment, though, you still have a lot of work to do to make sure that you seal the deal during your interview. Your goal, of course, is to make a favorable and strong impression that convinces the decision makers that they need not look any further for their ideal candidate. One of the biggest pieces of advice we offer to clients is to make sure they prepare for their interview. When you prepare, you’re likely to be less nervous. You’re also going to be more organized and not babble or struggle to find words. And you’re going to help yourself tremendously in the long run. What are some other tips you can incorporate into your job interview to guarantee you hit it out of the park? Here are five more. 1. Develop loosely scripted answers. Although nothing is ever guaranteed, usually interviewers will base their questions on the job duties found in the vacancy announcement. If you review the announcement, simply turn the duties into questions and then formulate short bulleted answers. For example, if “Write IT policies” is one of the duties listed, it’s probably safe to assume you’ll be asked about your experience writing IT policies and the impact they had. Jot down a few ideas under this duty in your notebook so you won’t forget any key talking points. 2. Show interest in the job. Usually at the end of an interview, you will be asked if you have any questions. The worst thing you can do is to pass on this opportunity because that can make you look like either a know-it-all or someone who doesn’t care. Come in prepared with a list of about three to five questions about the culture, upcoming projects you might be involved in if you are hired, support opportunities—anything job-related that shows your interest. 3. Know your audience. If at all possible, try to find out with whom you’ll be interviewing. Different department personnel obviously have different priorities. For example, if you are interviewing for a position as a customer support specialist who will ultimately be supporting IT, marketing, and human resources, knowing your potential responsibilities and understanding the nature of each department’s role in the agency will allow you to better tailor your responses to each department’s needs. 4. Avoid complaining. Sometimes when you’re being escorted to an office for an interview, you might be asked if you had any trouble finding the place. Always be upbeat and positive. The drive in, for example, might have been trying due to traffic, but if you let it be known that the commute was a horror show, that’s a surefire way to lay the foundation for the interviewer to perceive you as a potential complainer even before you get a chance to accentuate your positive career traits. 5. Close the deal. Don’t be afraid to ask what the next steps are—that shows you are proactive and sincerely interested in the job. If you take the other path and sit by passively wondering, you could be perceived as being wishy-washy, which isn’t a good look if you’re targeting a leadership role.
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Navigating Military Retirement: Thoughts and Lessons LearnedBy Kirk Windmueller, all rights reserved, LinkedIn Article After 22 years, this is my final week in the Army. I thought I would share some lessons-learned during my retirement process (a time that comes for all of us eventually). Hopefully this will give you some good info whether you are 5 years out or in your 12 month retirement window. I tried to keep this primarily focused on decision points you will be faced with as you are planning your exit. Key takeaways: As a retired O-5 with 20 years, you will get 50% of your base pay, which is about $4000 a month/ $48,000 annually ($5000+ for O6 w/ 26yrs). Considering you probably make close to $125K with BAH and other benefits right now, this is a substantial pay decrease if you don’t continue to work. Financially if you just need to replace what you are losing, you are in good shape as there are plenty of $70-80K jobs out there. If you want to make $100K+ with hopes of investing your full pension, opportunities are out there but they are competitive and may require additional education/training and heavy networking (more on this below). If you aren’t going to make O-6, you are incurring opportunity costs by delaying retirement and staying in for 2.5 % a year pension. Start planning early (like now). Build up leave, register your spouse and all your kids for your Post 9/11 GI Bill benefit (will come with an ADSO penalty if you haven’t done this yet), sock some money away (have at least 3 months base-pay cash reserves) and build up your TSP/IRA/401K. Figure out where you want to live and understand the state/federal tax impact on your retirement. SGLI ends when you retire (120 days after your retirement date). Veteran’s Group Life Insurance (VGLI) is a term-life option you can choose as a replacement to SGLI. If you are uninsurable (service related injuries, terminal illness, etc.) then VGLI can offer you similar coverage that SGLI afforded you while on active duty. If you are insurable, VGLI is absolutely better than having no term policy coverage, but I have found that you can do much better with a term life policy from a private insurer. I was able to get a lower premium and higher payout with a private insurer. Calculate how much you need and shop around. If your kids are grown and you have very few bills and no mortgage, then $400-500K might be a good baseline. The longer you wait and the older you get, the more expensive the monthly premiums become. Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP). SBP is basically insurance for your pension (not to be confused with VGLI) and is similar to whole life insurance. Bottom Line: without SBP, your pension dies with you and your spouse gets nothing. With SBP, your spouse will continue to get 55% of your pension for the rest of her life. Here’s how it works: you pay a monthly premium based on your pension (ex: for a $4000 a month pension the cost is $260 per month premium) and you pay into this for 30 years (360 payments x 260= $93,600). After 30 years, you are fully vested and no longer have to pay premiums for your coverage. If your wife outlives you (and most do), she will draw the monthly annuity of $2,200 (55% of $4000) or $26,400 annually for the rest of her life. It will only take 3.5 years to earn back the $93K premium. SBP also has a plan (for about a $5 monthly fee) for your kids if something happens to both you and your spouse. Your kids would draw the annuity (split between them) until your youngest child turns 18. Highly recommend you participate in the SBP, particularly if you don’t already have a whole life policy or a significant investment portfolio. Health Insurance: after retirement, you can enroll in Tricare Select (formerly Tricare Standard). You have the option of enrolling in Tricare Prime, which is a great plan (if available in your area). Cost is about $560 a year and covers free meds for your family and most everything else if you use a network provider. Some on-post clinics accept Tricare Prime, but if not, you will need to pick a local provider. Also keep in mind your next employer may have insurance at a discounted rate as well. FYI-you have wait until you are officially retired to enroll in Tricare Prime and in Delta Dental (coverage can be retroactively backdated to your month of retirement to avoid a 12 month waiting period for major services like orthodontics). Transportation. Another entitlement you have when you retire is one more no-cost move. For a year after you retire (and can be extended up to 6 years with 5 x annual waivers) the military will ship your household goods (HHG) anywhere in the US and store your HHG for up to 1 year after the move. You are allowed 2000 lbs of pro-gear and your wife has 500lbs of pro-gear if she works outside the home. Moving can cost $15K-20K, so this is a huge benefit. It can also be a great bargaining chip with your new employer when you are negotiating your salary (ask for a signing bonus or higher salary if you move your own HHGs). Most transitioning military personnel don’t have a firm grip on what they want to do next. Many fear that they can’t break into the private sector as military skills aren’t much value in the civilian world. This couldn’t be further from the truth and there are multiple veteran transition groups (the Honor Foundation is a great one geared towards SOF personnel) whose sole purpose is to help you out with this. There are scores of Fortune 500 companies like Amazon, Google & Facebook that want to hire vets. LinkedIn is one of the best social media tools to see what is out there. Start working on filling any skill gaps with courses as you are able (MBA, PMP, Lean 6 Sigma, Management Certification, etc.). Many are available at no cost to military personnel. It is important to show a habit of continuing education and professional development on your resume vice just straight work experience. This generally is not an issue for military, but if ILE or HALO are the last courses you took 5 years ago, look into getting some business-oriented certifications. Resume/CV: use your OERs/NCOERs as a baseline to create a comprehensive resume or Curriculum Vitale (CV). This will be 5-7 pages, so you will use this to tailor each 1-2 page resume you send out to potential employers. Purge all the military jargon (tactics, weapons, marksmanship) and acronyms, and try to translate this into civilian speak (i.e. command=leadership or management, Action Officer=Project Manager or cross functional team management, J4=Multi-functional logistics, etc.). Job Hunt: Looking for jobs early and often doesn’t hurt, but jobs out there now won’t still be there months from now. It is a little depressing to see that most jobs available require skills or experience that you either passed up earlier in your career or don’t possess at all, but it does give you an idea about demand signal from industry. While you can begin work while on transition leave with most employers, this does not apply to GS jobs. You cannot start a GS position until 6 months after your retirement date (NOT transition leave date). This is a 2016 NDAA restriction for DoD jobs (not for other Federal agencies), but it is possible to get a waiver. LinkedIn is for private sector/government contractor jobs and USAJOBS is for GS/Federal employment. Get accounts for both if you are keeping your options open. Connecting with headhunters/HR managers in your fields of interest is a great way to get a daily flow of job opportunities in your LinkedIn feed. Soldier For Life Transition Assistance Program (SFL-TAP): you don’t have to wait until you are 12 months out to attend TAP (register at your base Soldier Support Center). Most of the classes are basic fundamentals and geared towards separating soldiers vice retiring senior NCOs and O5s/O6s (my opinion), but you can glean plenty of useful info and get an "azimuth check" on your retirement tasks. Some TAP programs are starting to pilot more executive focused classes. I found the VA Benefits class (day 5) to be the most beneficial portion of the TAP program. It is a 5 day course, so make sure you get your command to let you carve out time to attend. Your main effort during your retirement process is to get your medical affairs in order. You have been beaten-up over time and may be entitled to some level of compensation. Start early on documenting your medical issues (minor and major) and start your VA physical/disability claim around 6 months-out if you want to get your disability rating soon after your retirement. You will begin your claim submission through an advocate like AMVETs or VFW who will help navigate your claim paperwork through the VA system. You can do this after you retire, but you have the time to do it now and you are still a first class citizen while you wear the uniform. About the 8-or 9 month window, you need to request a copy of all your medical records. Get both your outpatient and surgical records from Patient Records. They send them to you via certified mail and this takes about 30 days. You also need to go to your Radiology Clinic and request a copy of your X-Ray records. They do this on the spot and put them on a disc. Make at least 2 single-sided copies of everything and keep your original copy in a safe place. Click here for a a chart I put together to help with planning (I also have a link to a more readable and sharable version on my profile page). While I incorporated as much of the big picture stuff that I could think of, there may be some things missing and many of the times are flexible and relative. Keep in mind that everyone’s retirement experience is going to differ according to your branch and where you are stationed for your retirement process. Best of luck and it has been a pleasure serving with America's finest! De Oppresso Liber, Kirk |
Helping military service members complete college© 2018 The Associated Press Reprinted with Permission The Conversation Every year, over half a million military service members and veterans enroll in undergraduate institutions. Only about half leave with a certificate or degree. Getting a college degree can help graduates get jobs and earn higher wages, but veterans and active military service members may face obstacles on their way to degree completion. Along with their studies, they often commit time to family, work and military service. As a scholar who works with the College Board and studies barriers and solutions to college completion, I have seen at least one promising way to get military personnel across the college finish line – a short exam that offers college credits towards a degree. Additional challenges for service membersStudents of all backgrounds face uncertainty in whether they will complete college, but military personnel and veterans can face additional challenges. The Millions Records Project tracked the enrollment patterns of nearly one million active military personnel and veterans who used Montgomery and Post-9/11 GI Bill benefits between 2002 and 2010. These service members do not fit the “traditional” – and perhaps old-fashioned – profile of a college student. Relative to nonmilitary students, service members and veterans are on average older, more likely to work and support families, and can have delayed or interrupted enrollment due to service obligations. On top of all of that, many veterans have service-related disabilities that can make college completion difficult. These challenges, in addition to those faced by many students in higher education, contribute to veteran and active military students leaving college with no degree. Credit for prior learningAlong with my colleagues who study economics and higher education, I recently completed a study looking at the effectiveness of one particular tool that may help military students complete their college degrees. The College Level Examination Program (CLEP) is a 90- to 120-minute exam administered by the College Board that offers credits in lieu of completing college coursework. Nearly 3,000 colleges offer credit for 33 different CLEP exams in topics including literature, mathematics, world languages, social and hard sciences and business. Students can take a CLEP exam whenever they choose – before enrolling in college or as they near graduation. Depending on the college campus and CLEP exam, students with high enough scores (typically a 50 on a scale of 20 to 80) are eligible for college credit. The Department of Defense has an agency dedicated to improving the educational experiences and outcomes for veteran and active military students: Defense Activity for Non Traditional Education Support (DANTES). DANTES pays the US$80 CLEP exam fee for active duty military and offers the exams on some military bases. Eighty dollars and travel to a testing center may not seem like something to stand in the way of enrolling in or graduating from college. But these types of small barriers prevent students’ success in other contexts, like taking the SAT or ACT and enrolling in college. For active military, at least, DANTES has removed some of these obstacles. CLEP SuccessWhy might CLEP help military servicemen and servicewomen complete college? For one, getting credit for introductory and lower-level courses improves college completion, as seen with Advanced Placement courses and exams. Additionally, these credits can allow students to bypass some lower-level courses that might have content or less academically prepared classmates that discourage students from continuing with their education. Using approximately 200,000 military-affiliated CLEP examinees, we found that those who start at two-year colleges and receive college credit for CLEP exam scores are 18 percent more likely to attain an associate’s degree than those who did not receive such credits. Similarly, military personnel who start at four-year colleges and earn credit through CLEP are 11 percent more likely to attain a bachelor’s degree. With this evidence, we can think about what might happen if we got more military personnel to pass CLEP exams – either through increased participation or improved scores. In a world of countless college completion efforts and policies, an 18 or even 11 percent increase is noteworthy. More successful interventions are rare and can be costly. Colleges, policymakers and researchers should continue trying new paths to get military members college degrees, but my research suggests that CLEP is a viable one. Earning college credit through exams is a cheap and unusually effective way to improve the completion rates for any student, but perhaps especially so for military personnel who face challenges and outside commitments. Not to mention, the exam is fully subsidized. |
Mission Transition: Managing Your Career and Your Retirement
by Janet Farley Making the transition from military life into the civilian world is not as easy as it sounds. For one thing, they speak a different language out there. They have no idea what it means to PCS or go TDY, and as for BAH, forget about it. No, really. Forget it. Entering civilian life is a new adventure; leaving military life requires plenty of preparation and planning. It’ s much more than a career change. It’s a cultural shift with many personal and financial adjustments. The advent this year of the blended retirement system adds yet another ingredient to the mix for some military families. For all of the decisions and planning involved in separation from the military — whether after a few years or a full 30 — it helps to get the perspective of someone who has been there. Enter “Mission Transition: Managing Your Career and Your Retirement,” by Janet J. Farley. The author speaks the language of both worlds, and her book helps translate military experience into civilian success with a multifaceted approach. A seasoned career counselor and the author of several books about careers and transitions, Farley is also the spouse of a retired soldier, so she has firsthand experience in military-to-civilian transitions. Using her personal experience, professional skills and careful research of the latest pension changes, she has created a comprehensive guide to a healthy transition from military to civilian life. A few years ago, a book with “retirement” in the title would have been for those nearing the end of a career. Not so today. With the new blended retirement system, which has a significant personal savings component, planning for retirement starts in the first few years of service. Farley’s book includes a careful comparison of both plans. This is particularly helpful for military members who have to decide whether to opt into the new retirement system or stay with the old one. By the end of the year, military members who joined between Jan 1, 2006 and Dec. 31, 2017 must choose between remaining with the traditional or “legacy” retirement — full retirement benefits for those who serve twenty years or more — or opting into the blended system, which has participatory savings program and a reduced twenty-year pension. To get the most out of the new plan, members contribute to the savings plan and get matching funds from the government. Service members can then take their retirement savings with them into civilian life, even if they serve only a few years. Anyone who joins the military after Jan. 1 doesn’t have a choice, and after Dec. 31, neither will anyone else. The major implication of the new blended retirement system is that the military member is now in the driver’s seat when it comes to decisions about investments and savings for retirement. The Department of Defense, of course, provides guidance and mandatory training about the new system. Farley points out that education is key to maximizing the potential for the new program, which can be personalized to meet the savings wants and needs of the individual. Along with thorough information about the retirement system, Mission Transition gives direction about planning ahead for all the ways life changes when a military career comes to an end. She includes a detailed examination of the expenses military members need to consider when entering civilian life, such as replacing life insurance, dental insurance, and yes, BAH and other active duty benefits. In her book, Farley discusses all kinds of veterans benefits and services and how to access them. She also gives guidance for job-hunting, templates for resume writing, and good advice for adapting to a civilian workplace. "Mission Transition" is more than a helpful resource for military members closing in on retirement. It’s a book for those at mid-career making important decisions about whether to re-enlist. It’s a book for those just starting out in military life, for any military member who wants to plan well for the future, whatever it holds. Terri Barnes is a journalist and author whose husband retired after 30 years in the Air Force. She is the senior book editor at Elva Resa Publishing. Her book, “Spouse Calls: Messages From a Military Life,” is a compilation of her long-running column in Stars and Stripes. |
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