www.CivilianJobNews.com

The Essential Military-to-Civilian Transition Resource

JULY/AUG2011

INSIDE

C3: Career Coach’s CornerFlexibility in job relocationcan provide endless opportunities for candidates. Tom Wolfe explains a straightforward 10-step exercise to help you narrow down your options into a more productive search.................................... page 10

Job fair calendarFind a job fair near your base with our job fair calendar

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DEPARTMENTSPublisher’s Letter

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by HEIDI RUSSELL RAFFERTY Contributing Editor

There’s no way to sugarcoat it: Sometimes civilian employers

just glaze over in vapidity when you describe your job in the military. As a result, you may feel like they have all the power when it comes to hiring.

But now it’s time to turn the tables. Instead of putting yourself in the position of being hired, be the one to hire your employer, says Jim Beqaj of Toronto, Canada, author of, “How to Hire the Right Employer: Finding the Job and Career That Fit You Through a Powerful Personal Infomercial.” Beqaj has hired more than 800 people during his career, and, as founder of Beqaj International Inc., he helps hundreds of companies find the right employees.

“Everyone defines themselves by their job, rank and title. You might say, ‘I’m a weapons specialist at Fort Bragg,’ but actually most people don’t even care what that is. What I try to do with people is get them to figure out what they’re good at. What it is that you just love? You come home and go, ‘God! That was just ooo! If I could just do that every day!’” Beqaj says.

Three steps to hiringyour employer

In his book, Beqaj lays out a three-step plan to help you find the employer that’s right for you rather than relying on employers to tell you if you’re right for them. Ironically, you focus on evaluating your own interests and strengths. What you’ll discover is that when you crystallize those things, as well as your personality and the way in which you prefer to solve conflicts, you can find the company or organization best suited to your needs, Beqaj says.

Recently, Beqaj counseled an exiting veteran who did algorithms for work on missiles. To help him “hire” his employer, Beqaj had him go through the following three-step exercise:

Step One: Conduct an in-depth personal assessment of what you’re good at, what you love to do, how you are “wired,” and your personality.

In the case of the missiles expert, “he loved to work on calculations,” Beqaj says. “And who needs a person like that? The actuarial world, the derivatives world, the risk management world needs those skills. Keep in

mind that they’re not looking at you like a military guy. Look at your skills and what you love; not what you did in the military, but your skills.”

Step Two: Find companies in your “Target-Rich Environment” – those with a philosophy similar to yours, including vision, culture, conflict resolution techniques, and size, growth and opportunity.

Beqaj borrowed the term “Target-Rich Environment” from a scene in the movie, “Top Gun,” when Goose and Maverick are at a bar and are surveying the “target-rich environment” of women. So think of your prospective companies in the same manner – those which will be most attractive to you and vice versa.

Examine your personality. If you haven’t done so already, take the Myers-Briggs personality assessment test, which reveals your “wiring” and also how you interact with those of similar or different personalities, Beqaj says.

For example, successful military leaders score Introvert/Extrovert-Sensing-Thinking-Judgment (ISTJ or ESTJ) on the Myers Briggs. “These are the people that love the military, the comfort and

certainty of rank and file, and having corners defined. So look for companies that share the same qualities: governmental or large corporations with a command-and-control structure. Don’t look for entrepreneurial, out-of-the-box, Google…places like that,” Beqaj says.

Or, you may score as a freewheeler – an Extrovert-Intuitive-Feeling-Perceiving (ENFP). If that’s the case, the military environment wasn’t right for you. You’re more suited to the entrepreneurial lifestyle.

Beqaj adds that pointed questions like these will also set you apart from your competition. “It’s different than what recruiters see all the time. So it makes a difference in how people think about you,” he says.

And before you show up for the interview, try this trick: Call the company’s switchboard operator. “The line support people are a good indication of what the company is like. Ask them what it’s like working there. Get information on the company by researching what articles have been written about it or the CEO,” he advises.

continues page 4

Young and (already) retiredHow to leverage your military experience if you’ve rarely –if ever – worked in the civilian worldby CAROLYN HEINZE Contributing Editor

It’s a common scenario: A young veteran is released

from the service and it’s on to the hunt for a civilian job. Every employer wants to know about his/her prior work experience, but because the veteran joined the military straight out of secondary school, he/she hasn’t had the opportunity to gain any. Not only does this make the

‘work experience’ section of one’s resume difficult to fill out, the space under ‘education’ isn’t that easy to write, either – not for those who did, indeed, enlist right after high school graduation. An impossible challenge? Not at all – it just depends on how you examine your situation.

John O’Connor, president and owner of Career Pro, Inc., an outplacement and career consulting firm based in Raleigh, N.C., reminds us that veterans

spend their entire time in the service facing – and resolving – impossible challenges…and a few other things, too. “If they’ve only been in the service – no matter what part of the armed services that we’re talking about – they’ve done a lot more and have accumulated more experience than they will probably ever give themselves credit for,” he says. Remember,

Three steps to hiring your perfect employer

continues page 6

2 JULY/AUG 2011

Publisher Bill BasnettManaging Editor Ashley HarmonArt Director Alec TrapheagenAssociate Editor Anthony MorrisContributing Editors Carolyn Heinze Heidi Russell Rafferty Tom Wolfe Janet FarleyContributing Writer Jessie RichardsonDirector of Technology Don NowakExecutive Consultant Marla SmithSenior Consultant Chuck WestAccount Representatives Don Johnson

Civilian Job News is published by:CivilianJobs.com1825 Barrett Lakes Blvd., Suite 300Kennesaw, GA 301441-866-801-4418

Reproduction or use without permission of any editorial or graphic content in any manner is prohibited. The inclusion of advertising is considered a service to our readers and is not an endorsement of products or advertising claims. Opinions expressed in articles are the opinions of the contributors and do not necessarily express the opinions of Civilian Job News or its staff.Subscription rate: $12 per year (6 issues). To subscribe, call 1-866-801-4418.

©2007-2011 Civilian Jobs, LLC. All rights reserved.

Dear Readers,

It’s officially summertime and while many are looking forward to their vacations, I think this is the ideal opportunity for our readers to use these long days to help find the perfect career. I recently came across a quote that caught my attention and I think it captures this sentiment flawlessly: “You can never appreciate the

shade of a tree unless you sweat in the sun.” This really struck me as something we can relate to in all aspects of life, especially job hunting.

Switching careers can be a highly strenuous and overwhelming task for anyone, particularly for transitioning military personnel, but it’s important to remember that there are ways to minimize your stress and ease this process. First, “sweating in the sun” suggests you need to put the time and effort into your research and understand that quantity does not always outweigh quality. For instance, don’t expect to receive many results simply by sending a generic resume out to the masses and hope that your odds in landing an interview are increased. Rather, take the time to use a variety of resources and tools to examine all opportunities available.

Doing little things like keeping a list of jobs you’ve applied for, when you applied for them, and who you contacted is one easy way to help maintain an organized system. I recommend doing simple tasks that will help

you stand out in a crowd of applicants: try to avoid applying online to massive job boards without looking at the company’s website, visit job fairs, have your resume professionally written, and network as much as possible.

One of the most common issues that job seekers discover is figuring out where to begin when so many choices are available. Having a detailed list of all the criteria you want in a career allows you to narrow down your options and focus on relevant job postings, giving you the opportunity to choose based on your preference and not settle for just any offer. In this issue’s article “Three Steps to Hiring Your Perfect Employer,” we discuss ways to empower you, the job seeker, to have choices that best suit your needs.

I cannot reiterate how crucial planning is when it comes time for your career search. The earlier you can start thinking about what truly matters to you, the better off you’ll be. You’ll be grateful for the amount of hard work you put in once you land the job of your dreams…allowing you to appreciate the shade of a tree.

- BILL BASNETT

Bill Basnett is a graduate of the U.S.M.A. at West Point and a former cavalry officer with the U.S. Army. He began his recruiting career with Bradley-Morris, Inc., in 1991 as the first candidate recruiter and regional operations manager. He has over 18 years in the recruiting industry, focusing on the hiring and placement of transitioning military and veterans. In December 2008, he was promoted to the position of vice president of CivilianJobs.com

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Step 3:Create your own personal infomercial, presenting yourself with clarity, persuasiveness and strength, ratherthan just the person whose nameis on a resume.

An “infomercial” covers every aspect of life, so that you arm everyone with an understanding of what you’re looking for and what you’re good at, Beqaj says. But how do you put it together?

Beqaj suggests adding a PowerPoint presentation to the top of your resume. Your cover letter should include each section of the PowerPoint as well. For example, Beqaj’s son, who is in his junior university year, is a sports nut but is not enrolled in a sports marketing program. He applied for a position with TSN (the Canadian equivalent of ESPN), and there were 1,000 other applicants. His PowerPoint said, “I know everything about the NHL and Lacrosse. I like to work with people obsessed with sports. I was the captain of my team. I like to debate. I don’t like to argue. I like to work in a place where the facts are the facts.”

He was one of five people to get the interview. The interviewer picked up the PowerPoint presentation and said, “It says you know everything about hockey.” So Beqaj’s son named every player on the Toronto Maple Leafs. He got the job.

“His resume wouldn’t have gotten a sniff, but his PowerPoint infomercial did it,” Beqaj says.

Likewise, focus on your strengths,

interests, skills, conflict resolution style and personality. And then if you don’t get the job after presenting yourself … “Fantastic!” Beqaj says.

“If you don’t get the job, it’s because you accurately described yourself in the most basic form possible and you didn’t fit. That’s okay. We’re all trained to contort ourselves to get the job,” he says.

“People are used to handing the resume over and after a long pause, the interviewer is thinking, ‘I have no clue what I’m looking at.’ They say, ‘You were in the Army?’ You say, ‘Yes.’ Well, how’s that working for you? This is opposed to sitting down and saying: ‘My name is XYZ, and the reason I’m here today is that you’re looking for people with the following skill sets. I’m highly intelligent and disciplined and a team-oriented individual. I’m trained in algorithms. And the people I work best with are the following kinds of people. I like to work in a collaborative environment.’ This is how you find a target-rich environment. This is how you find someone who needs you and wants you.”

“How to Hire the Right Employer” is available for purchase at all major online bookselling outlets. Beqaj’s website: http://www.beqajinternational.com. Blog: http://jimbeqaj.blogspot.com

Freelancer Heidi Russell Rafferty is a reporter with 19 years of experience who writes about employment and business issues.

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not long after going through training for a specific function, you were probably charged with not only carrying out those functions, but you were being evaluated pretty much from the get-go. “Assuming they had an honorable discharge and did pretty well in the service in terms of their performance evaluations, they haven’t had time to look back at all.”

Now’s the time, then, to look back and conduct an inventory of everything you did while in the military. Think that you didn’t do much? Well, counsels O’Connor, think again. “They don’t realize what they’ve done and how much they’ve done – even if their only other work experience is running their own lemonade stand when they were growing up, or working at the pool during the summer,” he says. “They tend to underestimate their capabilities, skills and the experiences they’ve accumulated – even during a short time – in the military.”

For example, he illustrates, let’s say you were a communications specialist in the Army. Your tendency may be to state: “I just handed out radios and made sure that they worked. I also did other things in the supply area.” What were those

“other things?” With whom did you work? What additional projects and duties were you tasked with while you were a communications specialist? What steps did you take to carry these projects and duties out successfully? What did you learn from these experiences? In asking yourself these questions, you’ll discover that you know a lot more than you think you do. And, O’Connor adds, if you worked with confidential information and have obtained a certain level of security clearance, be sure to list it on your resume. There are many employers out there that regard this as a significant asset.

It’s also important to consider the ‘extras’ – the activities and events, formal or informal, in which you participated while in the military. Did you collaborate with any civilian organizations while in the service, such as defense contractors or other subcontractors that were hired by the military? Outside of your general duties, were you ordered to conduct any special projects? What kind of recognition did you receive for this, whether official or unofficial? Were you ever responsible for leading a squad or platoon for anything,

including physical fitness drills or tactical training? “Many people say, ‘That was just a part of what I did,’ but it’s still important,” O’Connor emphasizes. He notes that due to the nature of the military in general, many veterans are well-versed in teaching and training others – a skill that almost every company can put to good use.

When Susan Schieren, CEO, Transitioning Leaders – a consultancy based in Leeds, N.Y. – went into the military, she had a bachelor’s degree in psychology. During her service, she was a microwave radio relay repairman. When she got out, she went back to college for a master’s degree. While she concedes that this is just one approach, she does believe that veterans who want to boost the skills on their resumes should consider going back to school. “The young veterans that think they don’t have transferable skills should think about getting further education – especially with the new G.I. bill,” she says. “They definitely have the advantage over prior military folks because the G.I. bill gives them so much more than those that got out in the ‘70s and ’80s.”

Before leaving the military, however, Schieren advises would-be veterans to consider what they’re passionate about. This can be anything from hobbies, to your favorite course in high school. What

activities are you naturally attracted to? “Find out what your passion is, but also think about geography,” she says. “If your passion is to be a forest ranger, you shouldn’t be living in Las Vegas.” And, if your circumstances don’t allow for geographical flexibility, it’s necessary to discover what industries exist in your location, and how you can blend their needs with your own.

Regardless of whether or not you believe you require further education before entering an increasingly competitive job market, Schieren, like O’Connor, underlines that the skills you accumulated during your service are not to be dismissed. “Many people in the military don’t understand that they do have transferable skills that they can put on a resume,” she says. “They stuck it through in the military, and that’s a huge plus. They met their commitment, and there is nothing wrong with putting that on their resume.”

Carolyn Heinze is a freelance writer/editor.

“Young and (already) Retired” continued from page 1

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As a major in the Army Reserve, Becky Hamilton is proud to continue servvinng g heher country. She is also proud to work for CSX, a company that truly values her r mmilitaaryry commitment and the skills and experience that it gives her. Our jobs staart with eextensnsivivepaid training and can be the transition into a rewarding career. For mmoree information onon job openings, click on the Careers link at csx.com.

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by TOM WOLFE Career Coach and Contributing Editor

Military personnel have a reputation for being flexible. Companies that

hire veterans will frequently mention this flexibility among their reasons for targeting that demographic. Included in this label is geographic flexibility. Most military personnel change assignments every two or three years. Many of these job changes require a geographic displacement. After four to twenty or more years of this lifestyle, you have obviously learned how to relocate. Perhaps you should ask yourself if you want to market that talent.

The phrase ‘Willing to Relocate’ appears on many resumes. Those three words send a powerful message to a potential employer—for the right opportunity, I will go just about anywhere. If that willingness applies to you, then it should also be on your resume. It is, however, important that you do not misrepresent how you truly feel. As much as you want to reinforce the flexibility label and keep the doors open, you do not want to find yourself in a position where you decline an offer primarily because of the location of the job. If that is the main reason you are saying no, then you are not as willing to relocate as the message you conveyed earlier in the interviewing process.

The choices we make in life are not only driven by the alternatives at hand, but also by our preferences, likes, and dislikes. This decision-making process is a major component of a job search. Very few, if any, people are willing to relocate without restrictions. Human beings are choosy by nature and inherent in the word ‘choosy’ is the concept of having a choice. The ideal job search will, in the end, produce options and the more options, the better—right? Not necessarily.

In order to maximize the number of choices, one must minimize the number of filters. For example, let’s say you will do any job, live anywhere, take any salary, place no restrictions on travel, work any and all hours of the day, and are open to any type of business or industry. That level of flexibility will definitely increase the options available, but does that approach support your goal of finding the right opportunity?

Job location is a filter used by both parties in a job search. An employer does not want to interview a candidate who will not seriously consider the location of the job. Similarly, a candidate should not waste time and resources to find a job in a location where he or she will not live. Keep in mind also that filters do two things when applied to a system. Yes, they increase the quality of the final product by removing impurities along the way. However, in the process of removing these impurities, the flow or quantity is restricted and choices

are fewer, but also inherently better. Think about it—what matters more—quantity or quality?

How important is the geographic location filter in your job search? Take the time to learn your Geographic ABCs before you start interviewing. Here is a 10-step exercise to help you answer that question and conduct a more productive search.

Step One: Gather together a map of the U.S.A., writing materials, and an eraser.

Step Two: Compile your A-List of places to live. This is the A-List because it consists of all of your premium locations—ones that are so good that you would sacrifice other criteria in order to live there. You can list whole states, parts of states, cities, towns, or regions.

Step Three: Compile your C-List. These are the locations where you will not, under any circumstances, reside. No matter how good everything else is, it does not matter—you will not even consider it.

Step Four: Compile your B-List. This one is easy because it consists of everything not already accounted for on A or C. These locations, although neither prime nor rejected, are acceptable if everything else about the opportunity is positive.

Step Five: Review the map to make sure that every square mile is accounted for and shows up on one of the lists.

Step Six: Quality control all three lists. There are several ways to do this. First, have your family or significant other review them. That frequently changes things. Second, consider the size of the state. For example, when you say New York or Texas, do you mean the entire state or a section of it? Third, consider the size of the town. When you say North Carolina, does Bolivia work as well as Charlotte? Fourth, take into account bordering states. For example, Ohio is on your A-List, specifically Cincinnati. Kentucky is on your C-List. Are you sure? Guess what? The Cincinnati airport is actually in Kentucky!

Step Seven: Walk away from this exercise for 24 hours and then take another look at all three lists. Pay particular attention to the B-List. Upon further review, some of those locations might slide to A or C.

Step Eight: Using an eraser, modify the map of the U.S.A. so that is now represents the U.S.Y.—the United States of You—by eliminating everything on the C-List. Things just got easier and harder at the same time. Although, geographically speaking, you may have much less from which to choose, the remaining choices are much more likely to make you happy. Focus your job search resources on positions in locations that are on the A and B lists. Make sure to share those lists with all of the people who are assisting you in your search.

Step Nine: Use the results of this exercise to prioritize your search parameters. Here is how. Consider that in addition to those three

categories of location—A, B, and C—there are also three categories of opportunities out there for you: A-grade, B-grade, and C-grade. Make the assumption that you are good enough to find something in the A- or B-grade categories, and that leaves you with four choices.

First Choice: an A-grade opportunity in an A-grade location.

Last Choice: a B-grade opportunity in a B-grade location.

Now for the hard part. What do you do if you cannot get your first choice? You move on to your second choice, right? But wait—what comes second?

Second Choice: an A-grade opportunity in a B-grade location, or

Second Choice: a B-grade opportunity in an A-grade location.

That question has no right or wrong answer. It depends entirely on what really matters to you and where geographic location appears on your priority list.

Step Ten: Decide whether or not to include the phrase ‘Willing to Relocate’ on your resume; figure out how you will answer the ‘Where do you want to live?’ question in an interview; and give some thought

to what you will put in that Geographic Preference box on that application form.

In summary, be as flexible on location as your personal circumstances will allow and be sure to study your Geographic ABCs before you launch your job search.

Tom Wolfe, Career Coach, is a nationally recognized expert in military-to-civilian career transition and a contributing editor at Civilian Job News. He served as a surface warfare officer in the Navy and has provided career guidance to military personnel since 1978. Contact him via email at tom@tomwolfe-careercoach.com.

The ABCs of geography

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