Employment Programs, Aid For Veterans & Spouses

As the economy continues its slow recovery, academic and technological backgrounds are an increasingly important factor within the hiring process. People with years of experience are finding that not having the appropriate pedigree is almost the same as not having the appropriate experience. Now as the number of job seekers rises the hiring managers have increased the requirements. Not only should you have the right official academic training but you need to have 5 or 10 years of work related experience, directly related to the field you are applying for. Worse yet, is often having the experience but not being able to translate it to the new position.

So basically a college graduate can't find work because they lack practical working knowledge and/or experience. At the same time a 10 or 20 year Veteran can't find work because they lack 'practical' working experience. A Veteran might have retired with a high rank, college degree, commanded personnel, managed projects, handled budgets, basically dealt with everything (and more than) his/her civilian counterpart, just to be denied the opportunity because all that experience was not gained in a similar job position.

Then we must again factor in the education. A strong candidate might have years and years of practical real world working experience (performing those duties mentioned previously). But they lack either the degree or the appropriate degree. So now you have this highly trained, skilled, and experienced candidate, complete with accommodations and glowing reviews but, he/she won't be considered for the position. Why? Because their official academic schooling is in the wrong field. And because their work experience doesn't translate to the new desired position. Regardless of the fact that they have been performing those same basic duties for their entire career.

Now, there is one other point to consider. A military Veteran serves their time (whether it's a 4 year enlistment or lifetime). They get out, go to college and graduate. Congrats, however they are now seen with little difference than any other college graduate. Despite the fact that they have actual real world working experience, far exceeding what the average college student could ever hope to gain.

To make matters worse the typical hiring manager has little clue or understanding of the value an average Veteran can bring to their organization. Perhaps, the problem begins with the overall hiring process. Most industries have moved on from the days of just walking in and handing a resume to the manager. Phone calls are out of the question. So what is one to do?

Well a few companies have direct email. Most though use an applicant screening service of some sort. Basically this prescreens electronically submitted resumes/CVs. It looks for predetermined keywords. If you are able to determine those your profile moves forward. If not, it goes into resume/CV purgatory, until finally getting purged from the system.

Now if yours made it past that, then they might get prescreened again by an agency, an HR recruiter, or generalist. They spend a mere 15-30 seconds glancing over your resume/CV. Regardless how great you think it is (and it might be awesome), if it fails to catch the attention of the viewer, it's gone. Because no one, except a brand new screener, actually reads those fully and completely. The Hiring manager then screens the ones that the screener felt was worthy of their attention.

But all that means nothing if you can't translate your experience properly. Or you lack the 'appropriate' academics (regardless of experience). So what is one to do? Well there are companies out who graciously create you an 'award winning' resume/ CV guaranteed to get you interviews. All you have to do is pay them more than what the potential salary will be. And that still doesn't guarantee a job. You still have to sell yourself (a discussion for another time).

This all seems so bleak… but don't despair. The government is here to help. They offer incentive programs for companies to hire Veterans. They offer programs and support groups to help guide you through the maze of misinformation and the unknown to hopefully put you at an equal standing as the competition.

So, at least it's a level playing field… well there are those who won't hire you because you are a Veteran (that too is a discussion for another time). Yes Veteran discrimination is just as real as race, gender, age and anything else someone can use as a deciding factor. (Though I do think the term discrimination is often overly used and at times abused it is a fact.)

But, I promised something good. So here is the positives. You are not alone! There are numerous support groups and peers there to help you move along. Just visit your individual state assistance programs. There are also Federal assistance programs. I will share a few here… I hope that others will then share links they have and that we grow the best and most complete list available to help out the Veteran community.

One of the newer employment initiative programs for Veterans is from the Department of Labor and Training Administration and the Veterans Employment and Training Service (VETS), called Gold Card. It is geared towards post9/11 veterans. With it Veterans can get intensive and follow-up services needed for the job market.

http://www.dol.gov/vets/goldcard.html

You can use this at any local (or online) One Stop Career Center:

http://www.careerinfonet.org/

They offer great service such as translating you Military experience into civilian terms.

http://www.careerinfonet.org/moc/

Another great service, interconnected with those previously mentioned, is My Next Move. Veterans will find a simple and quick search engine, where they enter their prior military experience (branch of service and military occupation code or title). It will link to the information they need to explore information on civilian careers and related training, including information they can use to write resumes that highlight related civilian skills.

(http://www.MyNextMove.org/vets) veterans

There is so much information on these sites that I highly recommend spending the afternoon or evening going through them. I hope you can find this information useful and please, share my link, pass it on, and add to the list of useful links.

(All comments are welcomed and encouraged, please exclude political discussions or negative remarks. The purpose of this thread is offer support and links to various groups and/or services. Thank you)