Employment after active service is a major concern for many veterans. With rising unemployment rates and a shrinking economy, it can be particularly challenging for an unemployed veteran to find and obtain a suitable role with a civilian employer.
Given the fact that most veterans enlist at a young age and obtain their skill sets while serving (sometimes in the most hostile places in the world), many employers underestimate the value a veteran employee can bring to the workplace. It is up to veterans to take the right steps to find and obtain employment opportunities. This blog is intended to help current and future veterans with finding employment options after retiring from active service.
Build a Resume Relevant To Your Desired Role
Former service members often have difficulties in transitioning from an active service role to a civilian one. This can often limit their ability to acquire more meaningful career opportunities post-service. Many tend to overlook the presentation of their resumes. Remember: your resume is most likely the first impression of you a potential employer will get. Knowing that it is always important to put your best foot forward, you can understand why it’s essential to structure a resume that is up-to-date, well formated, and as relevant to your desired role as possible.
Unfortunately, many veterans lack an understanding of civilian roles, which is why they often find it challenging to create a suitable resume. Luckily, there are several internet resources that can help you build a resume that is appropriate for a civilian employer. One of the best examples is the Military OneSource resume builder guide. Use similar resources to help you create a winning resume that captures the attention of every recruiter or hiring manager that sees it.
Describe Your Previous Role Appropriately
For many veterans, translating the skills they acquire during active service into plain language for a resume can often be difficult. The skills and abilities acquired over the course of training can often seem far removed from the civilian side of life. You might even be thinking you have no real skills or talent that can translate to civilian life. However, you would be wrong to think so. Military veterans possess very valuable and diverse skillsets highly sought after by employers. You must reflect on how to present your skills in a manner that prompts the employer to consider you as a suitable candidate.
Reading Suggestion: OPM’s Proposed Guidelines for Hiring Military Spouses in 2020
Understand How to Market Your Skills
Regardless of the specifics of your service career, your deployments, and your tenure of service, most veterans acquire a variety of skills during their term of service. The military is well versed in training civilians to become experienced and capable soldiers. However, active service places far less importance on training them on how to transition back into civilian life. Regardless, veterans possess several very valuable and marketable skills for any employer. Here’s what they are and how you can promote them in a resume or interview:
- Real-world experience, often tested under hostile and rapidly changing situations.
- Demonstrable leadership, especially under stress, while keeping the mission goal a priority.
- The ability to work closely with teams of diverse individuals in stressful situations.
- Better equipped to handle stress and make clear and unambiguous decisions.
- A sense of accountability for assets and personnel under a veteran’s use or command.
- A deep respect for procedures and policies, making veterans more likely to comply.
- An innate understanding of the health and safety of people, equipment, and property.
- Veterans have a diverse experience abroad, having been deployed to various countries and locations.
- A deep sense of integrity, loyalty, and commitment to the job or role at hand.
Work With Specialized Recruitment Firms
There’s no denying that it is challenging for veterans to find employment once they are discharged or retire from active service. But it is always helpful to have someone working on your behalf and with your best interests in mind. This is where specialized veteran recruitment agencies like CGT Vets can be an extremely useful aid in your quest to identify and secure suitable and fulfilling employment. Firms like ours specialize in recruiting and placing veteran talent with client employers, not only for temp or contract positions but also for permanent and long-term roles.
CGT Vets has a vast network of employers with whom they collaborate. That makes them the right team with whom to partner when you’re looking for a job. Veteran staffing firms also work closely with organizations that offer first priority to hiring veterans for open roles. Working with an experienced, national-level veteran staffing firm such as ours can help you open new doors to career opportunities, easing the transition from military service to civilian life.