VETERANS UPWARD BOUND | VUB@MAINE.EDU | (207) 780-4627 | 102 BEDFORD STREET

February, 2020

Coordinator’s Corner

Punxsutawney Phil says warm weather is on the way! Many people hope for that to be true, but as anyone who has done any level of military decision making will attest to, hope is not a course of action.

Planning is paramount for success. At some point all students will transition from the role of learner to that of doer. This month we are focused on that point of transition and have tailored this newslet-ter to support the job seeker. We are also collaborating with the Portland Career Center to host a Resume Building Workshop on 19 February at the USM Portland campus. This workshop is se-quenced to prepare job seekers to hit the ground running on March 5th for the USM Job and In-ternship Fair from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm at the Sullivan Gym in Portland.

At VUB, we start each individualized Participant Learning Plan by looking at long term career inter-ests. We feel that knowing where a veteran wants to go will help with planning the education jour-ney. We then work with our participants to achieve educational goals while overcoming obstacles along the way.

Please take a moment to look over some tips for improving the job search process, how to improve a resume, and opportunities to meet with employers.

Don’t forget, that VUB is ready to work with any veteran who may need some assistance with broadening their knowledge base!

Aaron Dombroski Coordinator TRIO Veterans Upward Bound

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Start the Search..........................2

Tailor Your Resume....................2

Work That Job Fair ....... .............3

You Have an Interview................4

Live Job Links …........................A

Live Job Links …........................B

Live Job Links …........................C

VUB Around Maine.....................5

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VUB MONTHLY

Click to Refer a Friend or Veteran

to VUB

LIVE JOB PAGE LINKS A

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Tailor Your Resume

K. Bailey

With more companies using AI to screen resumes from potential employees, it’s more im-portant than ever to tailor yours to meet the job description. If applying for positions in the civilian sector, tailor your resume accordingly. Here are a few things that will get your re-sume noticed.

Translate Military Skills Into Civilian Terms

First, write your master military resume. Translate information that will fit the job you are applying for into civilian terms. Avoid acronyms and military technical terms unless they are mentioned in the job description.

Overall Design

Avoid images/graphics on your resume unless you are applying for a creative position. Keep it black and white. Use a professional email address. Trust me, Fungirl@=.com or BigDaddy@=.com won’t create a professional image. Provide a single contact phone num-ber (cell, if you have it).

Make Experience and Skills Quantifiable

AI scans for specific words so make sure when describing skills that you use words that can be defined, evaluated, and measured. Numbers help visualize your impact. AI algorithms search for keyword matches against a job description.

Highlight Military Career

Include achievements, security clearances, and certifications where appropriate.

Start The Search

L. Struebing

In my experience, looking for a job starts with knowing what you want to do and where you want to go. Are you looking for part time to fill a financial gap? Flexible hours to work around school? Short term? Long term? Local? Remote? Physical? Technical? The list goes on. I have a few tips for taking the stress out of the search.

First and foremost….know what you want

Make that decision before starting your search to keep on task. Focus your search to weed out distractions. De-fine your future on paper before spending your energy pounding the pavement.

Where to look

Now that you have a clear idea of what you’re looking for, utilize your tools; job fairs, search engines, newspa-pers, company postings, friends, social networking. The more people you speak with, the more practice you get expressing your goals, the more eyes and ears you have on your side. Many company decision makers review personal referrals before a stack of resumes.

To be or Not to be on Social Media

If you don’t think potential employers Google their job applicants, think again. About 80% of employers do a search to get to know applicants to narrow the field of interview candidates. Help yourself by polishing your LinkedIn, and other social media pages. Employers get a sense of the professional you say you are in your re-sume/application by looking at your online presence. Google yourself, what do you find. Do you need to clean up the online house before applying to that job?

LIVE JOB PAGE LINK B

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Work That Job Fair

K. Bailey

Bring Your Resume

Have copies of your resume to hand out to prospective employers. To get an edge up on the competition, research the catalog of participating companies for the job fair and create resumes tailored to each prospec-tive employer you are interested in.

Dress Appropriately Business casual attire makes a good first im-pression. For an extra advantage, dress for the employer you are most interested in meeting with. Be Prepared If you review the catalog of participating employers before attending, you will be able to strategize how to plan your table stops and get the best return on your investment of time and energy. This will also give you some small talk advantage. Employers love when prospective employees take the time to make sure the company is a good fit for them. Introducing Yourself Shake hands. Prepare an elevator pitch about yourself, your experience, and what you can bring to each company. It’s not as daunting as it sounds if you are interested in gaining employment in one or two fields. Follow Up You can’t follow up if you don’t remember who you spoke with. Ask for business cards from the prospective employers you are most inter-ested in and send a short email thanking them for their time at the fair. It would also be a good time to attach another resume to keep it fresh in their mind.

HARD SKILLS EXAMPLES

Technical or Academically oriented

Easy to define

Measurable by tests

Directly taught in schools

Associate of Science Degree

Able to type 90 wpm

Certified welder

CDL license holder

High School graduate

10 years of SQL experience

SOFT SKILLS EXAMPLES

Leadersip

Teamworking

Problem-Solving

Communication

Communication

Optimism

Responsibility

A sense of humor

Integrity

Time-management

Motivation

Empathy

You Have An Interview!

D. Wilkinson

Congrats! Invest some time in preparing for that interview by considering the following ideas.

Research

Before your interview, do some more research on the company and the job that you are inter-viewing for. Sometimes, reading the organiza-tion’s mission can be helpful to determine (1) if you would be a good fit and (2) some of the buzz words that the employer may respond positively to in the interview.

Look the part

Now that you’ve researched the company you’re interviewing with, you should have an idea of the workplace atmosphere. Dress to fit the company!

Bring resumes

This one is important. Many companies will already have your resume, but that doesn’t mean they will have had the time to thorough-ly read it. Bring in a few copies, so everyone has one to look at when you talk about your professional experience.

Learn everyone’s name

This one will win you big professional points. If you are bad with names, bring some scratch paper and a pen. When people introduce themselves, write their name down.

Use the names of your interviewers when re-sponding to them. For example, try something like this: “That’s a good question, ___,” be-fore answering.

Use specific examples

Using generalizations to explain your knowledge or mastery of a skill are unremark-able, and interviewers are less likely to re-member them.

For example, this is too general: “As a part of a team, I worked with my colleagues to im-prove the lives of my students.”

This is better: “Working with my team, I wrote a grant that allowed our school to buy enough computers so that every student in our high school had access to a working comput-er.”

Don’t speak negatively about previous em-ployment

This never looks good. If a potential boss hears you harping on a past employer, they might think you will talk that way about them as well. Try to frame your experience in a positive light, if possible.

Send a thank you email

This one is beneficial in a few ways: (1) it’s professional, (2) it keeps you in the employ-er’s mind, and (3) it gives you a chance to briefly sum up why you think you are a good fit for the job.

LIVE JOB PAGE LINKS C

Newsletter Ideas? Email us: vub@maine.edu

VETERANS UPWARD BOUND

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VUB Around Maine February 2020

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1

2

3 USM Veterans Services

8 - 11 am

USM Gorham Vet Lounge

1 - 4 pm

4 Husson Vets Lounge

10 am - 12 pm

EMCC Fish Bowl Series 1 - 3 pm

5

6 UMA Augusta Vet Center

1 - 3 pm

7 USM Veteran Resource Ctr 12 - 3 pm LAC

8

9 Vets In Valley 9 am - 6 pm

Lost Valley Ski Resort—Lewiston

10 USM Veterans Services

8 - 11 am

11 UMA Office

12 - 3 pm

SMCC Vet Resource Ctr

1:30 - 5 pm

12 13 KVCC Office 10 am - 1 pm

14 15

16 17 USM Veterans Services

8 - 11 am

USM Gorham Vet Lounge

1 - 4 pm

18 Husson Vets Lounge

10 am - 12 pm

EMCC 1 - 3 pm

19 USM Portland VSO

Resume Writing Work-shop

11 am - 12:30 pm

20 UMA Augusta Vet Center

1 - 3 pm

21 22

23 24 USM Veterans Services

8 - 11 am

25

26 Maine State Prison

Re-Entry Fair Windham

27 KVCC Office 10 am - 1 pm

28 29

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