Veterans & Service Members

Career Resources for Veterans & Service Members Community

Questions to ask my Career Ambassador

• How do I translate my military experience to civilian language?
• How do I find jobs and companies that are veterans preferred?
• How can I access mentors in career fields that interest me?

Veterans Employment Information & Resources

• Afterdeployment.org: provides numerous resources for wellness and the military community who have returned from deployment transition back into the civilian world.
• U.S. Office of Personnel Management: (OPM) administers entitlement to veterans’ preference in employment.
• Department of Labor: provides current information regarding hiring initiatives for returning veterans and resources to help connect veterans to civilian jobs.
• The National Resource Directory: provides information on how to apply for VA benefits and information regarding your GI Bill and specific scholarships for veterans.
• Joining Forces: is a national initiative to engage all sectors of society to give our service members and their families the opportunities and support they have earned.
• The Real Warriors Campaign: is a multimedia public awareness campaign designed to encourage help-seeking behavior among service members, veterans and military families coping with invisible wounds.
• Affirmative Action Register: Positions, both of an academic and non-academic nature, with colleges and universities from across the country. Directed to women, minorities, veterans, and disabled persons, as well as all employment candidates.

Job & Internship Search

• Veterans Business Network: is a professional network that provides resources, best practices and networking for veterans in the business and entrepreneurial sector.
• EmployVets.com: Is powered by the MilitaryTimes and includes an excellent job search tool.
• Hiring Our Heroes: Is run by U.S. Chamber of Commerce and is a nationwide initiative to help veterans and military spouses find meaningful employment.
• Hire Heroes USA: Provides career placement assistance to returning service men and women, specializing in the career placement of those injured or with any level of disability. Hire Heroes USA has a wide range of employment opportunities available nationwide, ranging from entry level to senior positions.
• Hire a Hero: Is a job board posting opportunities with military friendly employers.
• VetJobs: Is the leading source for candidates with security clearances and also includes job postings for spouses and dependents.
• VETERANemployment.com: Connects users with job search sites and has resources for building a civilian resume utilizing the military skills translator.
• G.I. Jobs: Provides tips and tools on how to prepare for the civilian workforce.
• VETCENTRAL: Works with hundreds of companies providing hundreds of potential job opportunities for veterans.
• The Veterans Enterprise: Aims to spread awareness of issues and opportunities concerning veterans through news and by connecting them with employers who recruit highly trained and motivated transitioning soldiers.
• USAJobs.gov: Includes most federal job postings.
• Vets.gov: Provides career advice, resume-building assistance, and access to employers who are committed to hiring veterans and military spouses. Tools include an interest profiler, MOS translator, resume builder, and information about career fairs for service members, veterans, and family members.

Resume & Cover Letters

Translate your military skills, accomplishments and work history into layman’s terms.

• Inventory the skills you used during your service. Whether you were a sharpshooter in the Army, a diver in the Navy, or had another profession in the military, there are marketable skills you developed in your career that apply to the civilian workplace.
• Think beyond the specific function you carried out and identify the core value, skill or expertise you brought to the table. For example, a sharpshooter would have led small teams to carry out high-priority objectives with minimal room for failure in high pressure situations.
• Some core values, skills and/or expertise displayed above are leadership, ability to carry out work with minimal supervision, attention to detail and ability to work under strict deadlines.

Give the full picture of your experiences

• Technical Skills: Military careers such as a telecommunication technician, financial management technician, mechanic or health care specialist all have closely related civilian careers. The technical skills you developed in your military career should be included in your resume.
• Interpersonal Skills: Working in the military requires working with a variety of personalities, from high-ranking officers to unit commanders, teammates and subordinates. Often, service members must master the art of interacting with supervisors, peers and subordinates to complete a task. Interpersonal skills are valued in the civilian workplace and should be detailed in your resume to reflect your ability to work with many different kinds of colleagues to get the job done.
• Leadership Skills: Any leadership experience or training that you acquired in the military is also highly valued by civilian employers. Overseeing subcontractors is a leadership skill that can be valuable in the civilian world.

Interviewing & Success on the Job

It is important to remember that the military system is based on seniority and rank, but career advancement in the civilian workplace is a matter of excelling in areas that propel the success of the organization. To ensure your success, it is important for you as a former service member to pay attention to three key differences that exist between civilian and military environments:

• Communication style: Former military personnel can be formal, direct and to the point while civilian communication styles are slightly different and may be more informal or conversational. Try to be sensitive to the communication styles of your civilian coworkers and remember to be patient, accept challenges with a positive mindset and always be willing to adjust.
• Efficiency: The U.S. military has a top-down system for making decisions, while many private and public companies have organizational processes that involve more people and may take more time. Be patient, and understand that although taking direct orders from the top works well in the military, civilian organizations often benefit from having multiple stakeholders contribute to the decision-making process.
• Flexibility: Many companies today offer flexible hours, schedules and work locations. While the military benefits from having a rigid structure for service members to operate within, the corporate workplace can benefit by allowing its employees to have a flexible work-life balance.