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Career Transition Strategies for Military Veterans

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This Veterans Day episode is dedicated to all of you who served our country. We thank you because you sacrificed your comfort, family, and yourselves to make sure that the rest of America can enjoy their freedom that we often take for granted.

The transition back to civilian life is not an easy task. For many veterans, transitioning back to the civilian job market is a nightmare. Are you a military veteran challenged by the competition or the lack of career resources? What is the toughest part of your career transition from serving to civilian?

There are three ways you can let me know:

Blog: TheVoiceofJobSeekers.com (Use the send voicemail feature)

Email: mark@thevoiceofjobseekers.com

Voicemail: 708.365.9822

My guest today is Patricia Frame (@2Patra). As an Air Force Veteran herself has extensive experience as a Human Resource expert. She has trained more than 1,800 hiring managers in effective hiring and talent management processes and actions. She was recommended as a guest from Susan P. Joyce, a guest back from late summer. Patricia is the founder of PatraFrame.com and Veterans’ job expert at job-hunt.org.

Here are a few of the highlights from our conversation:

One of the differences from past military transitions is now career training is provided for all Veterans’ before leaving the military. The bad side that too many Veterans wait for the training and not doing anything for their job search before instruction begins
Patricia noted that many Veterans’ miss the intense camaraderie they experienced through combat making it hard to transition back to civilian life. Very few civilian workplaces can replicate the teamwork a Veteran experienced before leaving
One of the common mistakes Veterans’ make on LinkedIn is posting their military pictures. She said that is an indication that they are not ready for a career transition back to the civilian world. Employers also pick that up all because a soldier wants people to see their “fruit salad (military ribbons and décor)” and rank
Patricia stated that people need to think of their LinkedIn profile as an advertisement. For example putting “Retired” sends the wrong message to recruiters and employers. We agreed that a common error among Veterans’ is not speaking the language of civilian employers
Don’t forget the importance of showcasing soft skills and achievements through writing and speaking, especially when the job you performed was classified

Resources mentioned:

Type “Troops to…” in the Google search engine filled by the profession you desire will populate with many choices (many of them free). Training is often sponsored by companies and trade associations

Microsoft (free training available)

SAP (Veterans to Work program)

General Electric Syracuse University for Veterans and Military Families

Veterans Tuition Credit Program

American Corporate Partners (mentoring and career advice)

BPW

Joining Forces

Next week I will have a PDF with additional resources to find listings, programs, and directories to help those veterans that need additional help! Email me at mark@thevoiceofjobseekers.com to be put on the list.

Have a great week!

by Mark Anthony Dyson

Job Search advice from a Dental Hygienist Career Coach with Doug Perry

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Through any profession understanding, your audience is essential to market yourself in a way that keeps you in the mind of employers. Doug Perry’s wife is a dental hygienist who had a hard time marketing herself. Since marketing and communication is what Doug does, he helped his wife and many other dental hygienists find opportunities. Through his research, he found most dental hygienists do not know how to market themselves. Hopefully, through our conversation, you will implement some of Doug’s successful strategies and thinking. Understand this: Conventional and traditional does not catch the eyes and ears of most employers.

Or, as I would say, employers will not hear you.

Which of Doug’s strategies will you try? Have you tried any of these strategies before? Did they work? Why do you think they didn’t work? Ask yourself these questions during this conversation.

I would love to hear about your experiences in one of three ways:

Blog: TheVoiceofJobSeekers.com (Use the send voicemail feature)

Email: mark@thevoiceofjobseekers.com

Voicemail: 708.365.9822

Doug Perry (@GetHiredRDH) is the founder of GetHiredRDH.com and author of Landing a Great Dental Hygiene Job. He is a Dental Hygienist Career Coach, who serves that community through coaching and resume writing services (and other media). He gets his client’s name out in front of hundreds of potential clients through marketing strategies that keep their names in front of employers. You should know that Doug’s day job is a Communications Director of the state Association. Anyone could apply the strategies Doug uses.
Here are some highlights from our conversation:

Doug started his career coaching venture because his wife had a difficult time finding a job as a dental hygienist. He noticed that most dental hygienists don’t know how to market themselves.
Doug’s background in marketing and communications is useful in helping his clients standout. Dental hygienist are not trained in those areas so most of them don’t know what to do
The crux of marketing for dental hygienists is the soft skills in treating patients, rapport with staff, and understanding and communicating with the dentist. It is something that is learned over time as you earn trust
Doug said that one of the challenges in marketing is getting his clients away from the “…this is the way it has always done.” When you Google “dental hygienist resume,” it is likely you get a boring resume that doesn’t stand out. It looks more like anyone else’s resume
Doug’s stated that you had to look at the cosmetic side: Different font sizes, adding color, format, and even adding a picture. It is challenging to get hygienist to focus more on accomplishments and results
He understood that it was not widely accepted to add a picture on a resume. He suggests and implements as people feel comfortable doing it. The picture helps the candidate stand out and elicit trust–a critical attribute with dental clientele
Doug wrote a book based on strategies that helped his wife find a job so fast. One of the strategies he shared was sending a postcard. What tends to happen with postcards–people saved them until they needed someone in a pinch. They also created a dedicated website and video resume produced by his son

You don’t want to miss next week’s “Veteran’s Day” special episode. I will be publishing that show first thing Tuesday morning, November 11. If you have friends or relatives who served our country, all of who served valiantly and job searching, please plan to recommend and share next Tuesday’s episode.

by Mark Anthony Dyson

Resume Writing Strategies for LGBTQ Students

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College students from 18-25 are very impressionable, but when they discover their identity as Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transgender, and Questioning (LGBTQ) students their world becomes complicated, not by choice. The lack of resources for LGBTQ students and the people who will provide unbiased counseling, depending where they live, are few. Rayna Anderson found that out when she decided to write her graduate paper last year, “Assessing the Readiness to Reveal: Resume Writing Strategies for LGBTQ Students.”

Let’s be clear: Rayna’s paper has more to do with LGBTQ students finding opportunities where he or she can be open and authentic within their profession. Not how or when to employ traditional advice that discourages lifestyle disclosure. Today’s topic is related to the conversation with Tonie Snell a few weeks back.

Rayna’s advice is not only useful for career service professionals, but also for all career professionals such as recruiters, resume writers and career counselors. LGBT job seekers would be interested in her paper and her thoughts as she experienced what some would say apathy in meeting the unique needs of this community. Feel free to add your thoughts on the blog, or review this episode in iTunes. I always invite your feedback by one of three ways:

Blog: TheVoiceofJobSeekers.com (Use the send voicemail feature)

Email: mark@thevoiceofjobseekers.com

Voicemail: 708.365.9822

Rayna Anderson, CPCC, is a certified Career Coach, and founder of sucsass.com. Rayna completed her Masters of Arts in Education last year at Louisiana State University in 2013. She currently works as a career services professional at the University of Houston. The subject of our conversation is Rayna’s graduate paper where she discovered that antiquated advice attitudes were predominant among her peers and the lack of overall resources elsewhere. She decided that she would be one of the few available resources by writing the paper.

Rayna understands no cookie cutter methods are available to advise or coach anyone, and there needed to be places where LGBTQ students can go to for sound advice and an empathetic ear.

Here are some highlights from our discussion:

The idea came through casually counseling another student. She was looking for resources outside of what career services had available and didn’t find any
None of her colleagues was able to provide a straight answer because it was considered a “touchy” subject. She saw that many of her professional colleagues personal beliefs transferred into their professional practices. Many of them suggested that an LGBTQ student leave their orientation off his or her resume until “a fair shot at an interview” was presented
Rayna said that career services across the country are fighting against the idea that they are these parental figures, 85 and older, and look the same giving similar advice as a parent would
Rayna stated that the culture and climate of colleges were changing so quickly that career professionals need to keep up in spite of traditional beliefs
She said that LGBTQ community members respond openly and willingly once they that the adviser is an advocate. Career professionals will need to balance the information given: The “ugly reality” that discrimination shouldn’t happen, the fact that LGBTQ population is unprotected in every state, and groups and companies that are advocates
Rayna referenced the Human Rights Campaign and the Corporate Equality Index as great places for LGBTQ members could go for companies that are “LGBTQ friendly.” Larger corporations tend to promote inclusion efforts locally so students can target for internships
She stated that it was important that career professionals be willing to lead them to resources, encouraging them to research, and come to conclusions on their own. College students are very impressionable, and it’s important not to make the conversation a bigger deal than it should be

I would love your thoughts on this topic. If you are a member of the LGBTQ community, do you feel that career advice is hard to find. Are career professionals giving you the company line? Have you found that career advisors are helpful when you want to be authentic and open? Please, go to the blog at The Voice of Job Seekers and leave your comment, or just use the contact info at the beginning of the show notes.