Job Search - The Voice of Job Seekers

Career Clarity for Military to Civilian Transitioners

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This week’s show is special because we are digging deeper into the military to civilian career transition experience. Kevin Kermes was a lieutenant in the Army and worked as a headhunter for ten years before founding All Things Career. Clarity is essential for your job search. Kevin’s advice and story is paramount to understanding why. I want to thank our mutual friend Michelle Lederman for introducing us and suggesting him as a potential guest.

I would love to hear about your military to civilian transition if this show resonates with you:

Call and leave a voicemail or text me at 708-365-9822
Go to TheVoiceofJobSeekers.com, press the “Send Voicemail” button on the right side of your screen and leave a message
Send email feedback to mark@thevoiceofjobseekers.com

Kevin founded All Things Career in 2008. He has also founded the sites Career Attraction,Every Veteran Hired, and CareerMeh. They have been featured in major sites such as Forbes, CareerBuilder, and the Wall Street Journal.

Here are a few highlights from our discussion:

Kevin shares about his transition from military to civilian experience
Transition back to civilian life is on going. There are “landmines” on the road to finding work that you love
Kevin and many other military veterans are”…crystal clear about what they are moving away from but not what you’re moving towards.”
“It’s a little bit of a calibration process…because something doesn’t work doesn’t mean that you’ve failed.”
Working with a headhunter only presented opportunities available through them, not the whole career landscape
Before getting out beef up your civilian network to gather wider job market intelligence
Going back to school is not always the answer
The cultural shift is huge and thinking everyone has the same background as yours is a major adjustment
Finding what you are looking for in a culture is important, perhaps even longevity. Working with a team with the same goals and objectives
Your military unit and its value is difficult to find in a company
Finding purpose is a journey, takes sorting out beyond salary
In finding your purpose and work you love, Kevin suggests you go back to people you’ve worked with and ask, “What did I do to make your life easier?”
Listen to how you made people feel

Need help with your career goals, directions, or efforts? Do you need coaching or instruction? I am here for it!Also, join our Linkedin community! You’ll enjoy some of the insights shared by community members and other career pros!

I would still like to help self-published career professionals promote their books. If you’re interested, find more info here.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

I am the "The Voice of Job Seekers!" I offer compassionate career and job search advice as I hack and re-imagine the job search process. You need to be "the prescription to an employer's job description." You must be solution-oriented and work in positions in companies where you are the remedy. Your job search must be a lifestyle, and your career must be in front of you constantly. You can no longer shed your aspirations at the change seasons. There are strengths you have that need constant use and development. Be sure you sign up to download my E-Book, "421 Modern Job Search Tips 2021!" You can find my career advice and work in media outlets such as Forbes, Inc., Fast Company, Harvard Business Review, Glassdoor, and many other outlets.

by Mark Anthony Dyson

How to Use Your Blog for Today’s Job Search

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I’ve known Ileane Smith for several years now. She owns one of the largest blogs for basic blog tips in the world. If you are thinking about starting a blog, find solutions to your questions at BasicBlogTips.com. For this episode, as I have done in the past, suggest that you blog to help find opportunities. To help me persuade you, Ileane and I will discuss the benefits and a few how-tos on blogging.

What is keeping you from blogging? What are a few of the goals you’re trying to achieve in your career. Can we talk? Here’s how you can participate in the discussion:

Call and leave a voicemail or text me at 708-365-9822
Go to TheVoiceofJobSeekers.com, press the “Send Voicemail” button on the right side of your screen and leave a message
Send email feedback to mark@thevoiceofjobseekers.com

Let me tell you about my friend Ileane Smith. She has worked in a publishing company for 30+ years, and other times, she is founder and publisher at Basic Blog Tips. You can also find her popular You Tube channel showing you how to use many social media tools, You Tube, and Blab platforms. She has a gift to make complex and obscure tools seem simple and possible to use by anyone. Here are a few highlights from our discussion done live on Blab with a few folks in the virtual audience. I will eventually publish the video. Special shoutout to @SmartOfficeHelp aka Elizabeth Hall for helping us document Ileane’s web references.

Ileane started blogging in 2009 accidentally and found it empowering through subscribing to her daughter’s blog
Optimizing your web content is imperative to be found by search engines for exposure. Branding and images are a critical part of attracting audience
We talked about branding your blog, the look, and people who are searching for solutions
Exploit your expertise, views, through honing your writing skills and reading other blogs
Ileane recommended guest blogging (writing on other blogs) increases your exposure and increasing your connections
Guest blogging duels as a way to get promoted and helping others to promote
We discussed some of her blog’s guest posts provided the writers with other career opportunities
Find ways to write the way to be identified by an audience. You can start by writing the way you talk
Be careful with the content you publish when blogging and using live streaming platforms such as Periscope. Everything is exposed forever for current and future employers to scrutinize
Find the platform and/or tool to use to increase your exposure to employers and hone your skills. Your blog is the platform you own

Need help with your career goals, directions, or efforts? Do you need coaching or instruction? I am here for it!

Also, join our Linkedin community! You’ll enjoy some of the insights shared by community members and other career pros!

I would still like to help self-published career professionals promote their books. If you’re interested, find more info here.

About Mark Anthony Dyson

by Mark Anthony Dyson

How Canadian Armed Forces Personnel can Write Resumes for Civilian Careers

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I thought that people would benefit if I had Audrey Prenzel back on the show to talk about her approach to resume writing for her Canadian Armed Forces to Civilian clients. This show complements next week’s annual Veteran’s day show. Be sure that you have subscribed so you can hear that special edition.

Are you in the military looking for civilian careers? If so, let me know in one of three ways:

Call and leave a voicemail at 708-365-9822
Go to TheVoiceofJobSeekers.com, press the “Send Voicemail” button on the right side of your screen and leave a message
Send email feedback to mark@thevoiceofjobseekers.com

If you are a career professional who advise job seekers and adds feedback whether it’s advice or a differing opinion, I will include a link in future show notes and read your comments on an upcoming show. Just let me know if it’s OK with you.

Audrey Prenzel of resumeresources.ca (@AudreyPrenzel) is a career transition strategist and an award-winning resume writer who specializes in writing and coaching for those in the Canadian Armed Forces. She has been published in multiple magazine, newspapers, and career publications.

Canada is unique for it has a melting pot population, so language is a major consideration. Many Canadian armed forces members speak French and English fluently
Military bases in Canada are primarily French-speaking. Audrey coaches her military clients to showcase their bilingual abilities (some speak more than two) to civilian employers
Audrey also coaches them to have a dedication language section as they would on a LinkedIn profile
Interestingly enough, most resumes are written in English unless the province is predominantly or solely French
The summary is a key spot on a Canadian armed forces to civilian resume, but provide a dedicated title for what you what to be known as e.g., “IT Bilingual Executive.” Your summary will support your description
Audrey says that infusing personality in your summary is a great way to stand out. Hard skills and soft skills are important to include
Audrey recommends side step cheesy-overused-clichés such as “results-oriented” or “team-player
Your resume should answer many questions so the reader will have a good sense of who the applicant is
A sense of entitlement will keep you from selling your accomplishments. No one will hire on reputation alone
Reverse chronological is the preferred style by employers highlighting what the applicant did and how well they did it
One of the challenges in helping Canadian armed forces to Civilian Transition is translating the acronyms. Audrey has a file with more than 10,000 acronyms
“Tell me what you want to do” is important to target opportunities. Too much information is good to start

Let us know what you think.

Do you need help with resume writing or career direction? Do you need coaching or instruction?I can help.

Also, join our Linkedin community! You’ll enjoy some of the insights shared by community members and other career pros!

I would still like to help self-published career professionals promote their books. If you’re interested, find more info here.