Six years ago, after a military PCS to North Carolina from Arizona, I found myself unemployed. I had just graduated with my MBA which I earned while working full-time in Human Resources. With several years of experience under my belt and a master’s degree, I thought finding a job would be simple.
Boy was I wrong, one month turned into three, then to into five, and by six months I will still very unemployed. As a career-focused individual those six months were the worst months of my life.
Applying to hundreds of jobs with little to no response, going on interviews, and getting rejection after rejection took a toll on me. I was mentally exhausted.
Like most Military Spouses I didn’t just want to work for financial gain but for the opportunity to learn new skills, to make a meaningful difference, and to hopefully make new friendships.
After moving to North Carolina, I felt alone….disconnected, but I knew that if I could find a job, it would allow me to meet new people and feel a sense of purpose again.
At the start of month 7, I dragged myself to a job fair, a job fair that had hardly any prospects. My first hour navigating booth to booth was demoralizing. However, right after I started toward the exit signs I was distracted by large red shield and four blue stars in a sea of multi-level marketing schemes, community college programs, and cheap giveaway koozies.
It was Hire Heroes USA.
Hire Heroes USA is the preeminent nonprofit organization providing employment services to transitioning military members, veterans, and military spouses across the United States and around the world. It provides consistently effective, individualized career coaching services that include resume help, networking and interview assistance, federal sector help, mock interviews, virtual employment workshops, and virtual career fairs.
I told the HHUSA representative that I was a military spouse having a tough time finding a job and she encouraged me to sign up for Hire Heroes USA’s services. I simply did not know these resources were out there for Military Spouses
One day later, I was contacted by my Transition Specialist. My TS helped revise my resume and taught me how to effectively job search. Turns out, I was doing it all wrong.
I did the homework he gave me, and the job leads started coming in. His tips were working! When Hire Heroes USA posted an open position in their North Carolina office that same year, I utilized many of the resources my Transition Specialist had shared and networked myself into the organization.
Six years later, I established the Hire Heroes USA’s Serving Spouses Program and have helped more than 1,000 military spouses and veterans find meaningful employment. Every day, I get to teach my clients job-seeking tips, those very tips my Transition Specialist taught me during my time of unemployment.
Below are some tips I wish I knew before job searching:
- Job seeking is all about who you know – NETWORK NETWORK NETWORK and ask for informational interviews.
Let your friends, family, and connections know you are job-seeking, you never know whom they know that they can connect you with.
- If you do not have a LinkedIn profile you do not exist in today’s job market.
Optimize your LinkedIn Profile to make the best impression with your network and/or, potentially, a hiring manager.
- If you are not tailoring your resume, you are wasting your time!
Pull out keywords from the job description and plug them into your resume, this will help your resume get through (ATS) Applicant Tracking Systems.
- If you do not know what you want to do, you need to figure that out first before you start job seeking.
Having a strategic plan will help streamline your job search.
- Do your research before you interview with an organization. Come prepared to interviews and ask questions.
You are also interviewing with the organization, make sure to get to know the organization to make sure it’s a good fit.
- Take time for yourself to avoid job-seeking burnout.
It’s important to maintain some form of a daily work schedule and stick to it when you’re looking for your next career opportunity. This creates specific times for focusing entirely on your job search, as well as taking a breather now and then.
- If your voicemail is not set up or full – how can hiring managers leave you a message?
How will hiring managers leave you a message if your mailbox is full? Be sure to clear your voicemail, sometimes you may not even be aware that your mailbox is full.
- Always be professional and kind, do not burn any bridges.
Greet every person you encounter in a friendly and personable manner. You never know when you may encounter that same individual in the future,
- Google yourself – clean up your social brand and develop your professional brand.
Employers are known to have rejected job candidates because of something they have read about them online, you must make sure your various profiles are scrubbed clean. Change your social media to private while job seeking.
- Do not ever become stagnant in your job search / if you must take a gap in employment – always keep learning.
Those who always strive to learn more and continue to progress through times of stagnation are those who succeed. Take advantage of all the online learning resources there are today such as LinkedIN learning and Coursera.
- Volunteer experience is viable experience and can be highlighted on your resume.
Volunteer work is an excellent way to serve your community and gain valuable work skills. In addition, volunteer work helps to increase your repertoire of skills and life experiences, increasing your viability as a job candidate.
- Look into remote work opportunities and companies with Military Spouse hiring initiatives.
it’s difficult building a career not knowing where the military may send you. Look into companies that offer remote work and those that see the value in hiring military spouses and veterans.
- Do some self-reflection YOU could be your own worst enemy and the reason why you are not getting hired.
If you are hearing the same things over and over again as a job seeker, consider what YOU can do about them.
Do not let your next job hunt take you by surprise!
With these necessities taken care of, you will be able to hit the ground running! Most importantly make sure to utilize resources that are out there for Military Spouses, such as Hire Heroes USA’s Serving Spouses Program!
Military Spouses can sign up for FREE here: https://www.hireheroesusa.org/job-seekers/
*Written by – Kelly Grivner-Kelly
Kelly Grivner-Kelley is the Serving Spouses Program Manager at Hire Heroes USA. She is married to an Active Duty Airman and leverages 8+ years of professional experience in the Human Resources and Business Management field. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Human Resource Management and her Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA). She is also a Career Coach and Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW). As a military spouse, Kelly has experienced the hardships that come with finding meaningful employment. She found her permanent home when she joined the Hire Heroes USA team and has been fully committed to its mission especially tailoring its services to military spouses.
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