MilitaryStars Blog

How to Make an Entrance

The sun's setting in San Diego and I wish everyone out there great things tomorrow.  I've had a chance to talk to a lot of amazing people up and down the West Coast - the team is fired up and ready to get you where you need to go.  If you have a question about a company such as "How much am I gonna make here?"  or "Whaddya do?", ask yourself whether it really projects the best impression - the improper signals it might send concerning what you're really about.  An employer wants to get to know you before bringing up Big Topics as surely as a first date does.  Face-to-face, an employer is looking for character, commitment, and quick thinking.  We know you have a singular understanding of all of these qualities, and so does every one of our clients.  Reflect on what sets you apart before you walk through that door, know your objectives and give it your all!  Thanks and success.          

The Top Ten Reasons to Hire Veterans: Your Leadership

Keeping in mind what you accomplished in your military service and integrating it into your career search impacts everything, from your resume to the way you handle an interview.  Remember that these outstanding qualities which all employers crave are already within you.

Leadership

I see this every day in the office - every guy and lady I work with can solve a stunning variety of problems with quick thinking honed by the ability to handle pressure and a deep sense of responsibility.  Leadership means a lot of things, and there are a lot of ways to show it: knowing how to motivate and delegate, devising a plan that works and seeing it through.  A veteran will never have trouble understanding corporate hierarchy/chain of command, leading by example, or earning one's place.  Your leadership sets you apart from other job seekers because, to an employer, it represents both results (the successes of your projects) and your character (integrity and true leadership).  Take this to heart and use it!

Memorial Day Thoughts

As we observe Memorial Day, our hearts are filled with gratitude to those brave Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines who have laid down their lives for this great country. 

It is a solemn day when we recognize that we live in a great Nation where brave men and women have fought and died to preserve freedom for all of us. 

On this day we pause to honor our servicemen and servicewomen who gave their lives in the cause of liberty.  It is our duty to protect that freedom through our own honorable citizenship and service.

To all of our country’s veterans, be proud of your selfless sacrifice, your professionalism, and your stalwart determination to protect our Nation’s values and defend our great Country. 

Whether you serve in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps or the Coast Guard, we salute the contributions you continue to make.  I join Americans everywhere in expressing our deepest appreciation for a job well done.

God bless each and every one of you and your families, and God bless America.

Career Expo Game Time

We spoke with the East Coast team - they have arrived in Jacksonville and eagerly await all of you, as do 40 employers from across the board.  A week from now our West Coast team will be in San Diego for the June 1st event.  You've gotten a chance to familiarize yourself with the employers and target the ones you plan on speaking with; the link to the Career Expo page contains, as always, individual links to each of these employers' websites if you need to brush up.  You do not under any circumstances want to be the person who walks up and asks "So what does your company do?"  Being prepared creates confidence, which draws forth the best possible representation of your personality - your chance to create that absolute link between the accomplishments on paper and the individual responsible.  Send all questions here and go out there and make it happen!   

Military Veterans May Help Ease This Tight Labor Market

NOTE: This column, written by Small Business Journalist of the Year Jerry Chautin, ran in Sunday's edition of MilitaryStars' hometown newspaper, The Sarasota Herald-Tribune:

Jerry Chautin

Military veterans may help ease this tight labor market

'I am at my wits' end trying to find an assistant store manager," Melissa Littlewood told me. She is the owner of Sarasota-based Driving Expressions Inc., a retail and wholesale business selling automotive after-market parts and window tinting.

Littlewood has advertised to no avail even though she's offering benefits and is willing to train the right candidate.

Southwest Florida has a tight employment market without any relief in site. On the other hand, many veterans returning from military service are having difficulty finding employment.

"In many cases, what the recruiter is looking for and what the veteran possesses are one in the same, but neither one of them recognizes this," says Todd Hecht, president of Sarasota-based MilitaryStars, a military career expo company that hosts hiring events exclusively for veteran job candidates. "The most common problem MilitaryStars sees is that corporate hiring departments don't realize the skills and traits that veterans possess."

Hecht believes that veterans are having difficulty translating how their military background relates to dealing with issues that challenge employers in civilian life.

The company is sponsoring a regional event in Jacksonville on Thursday for employers and veterans seeking jobs. You can check it out online at www.militarystars.com/career_expos_jacksonville.htm.

Equally as troubling, veterans are dropping out of college at a far greater rate than the student population at large. As a result, they don't land the jobs requiring college degrees.

"Once I got to (the University of Minnesota), I had to overcome several obstacles related to GI Bill benefits," Andy Davis said. He received the U.S. Small Business Administration's "2006 Veteran Champion" award for his effort to help veterans stay in school and find jobs.

"It could take up to six weeks after school starts to receive GI Bill monies," he says, and if "your student account goes into the red you could lose your (GI Bill) certification status. Not only that, but I was surrounded by a bunch of students that I couldn't relate to."

Davis, an Army ranger who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, is the co-founder of Comfort for Courage on his university's campus.

"It's a place that provides resources to student veterans -- from GI Bill information to VA health benefits to job training -- and also provides a place for student veterans to congregate and regain that sense of camaraderie that they felt with their military buddies," he says.

Additionally, he's a full-time student, is running for the Minnesota House of Representatives and consults with veteran entrepreneurs seeking government contracts.

Meanwhile, Littlewood continues to look for candidates to fill the vacancy in her automotive company.

The candidate "must be a multitask person with a desire to energize the staff and motivate them to their highest potential," she says. "I have strived throughout these 20 years to develop this business to be the best in the area. I now want to take it to the next level, but I find that I cannot do it by myself."

While there isn't an apparent solution to our tight labor market in the near term, returning, well-trained veterans may help fill some of the vacancies.

Jerry Chautin is SBA's 2006 Small-Business Journalist of the Year. He is a local volunteer business counselor with Manasota SCORE, "Counselors to America's Small Business," offering free business advice.

Deployed GIs Watch Kids' Graduation Online

This is an excellent example of another Florida company, XOS Technologies, that has helped our veterans by providing a wonderful free service to deployed service members at a special time of the year for them to be close to their families.  XOS offered a free online video service to members of the 101st Airborne Division that allowed them to watch live video footage of their children’s high school graduation ceremonies.  There are seven high schools around Fort Campbell, the home of the division, which means plenty of students and families were able to take advantage of this generous offer.  Kudos and a big thank you to XOS for using their services in a way to create an opportunity for these military families to come together at an important moment in their families lives.

Click here to read the entire article.

Transition Newsbite: J-Ville Edition

Steven Rothberg at CollegeRecruiter.com lends his support to the National Guard and the US Border Patrol - both of whom are among the amazing assortment of employers arriving in Jacksonville for the Career Expo on Thursday, as SgtMikeC noted below.  Thanks to Steven, to these organizations, and to every other employer who continues to share in our mission!

Teamwork

As an update from the Client Services side of the house; I wanted to have you all take a look at the lineup for our Jacksonville, FL event next week.

WOW!

We talk big here at MILITARYSTARS and for those of you that have not worked with us, this is the event to come see why. Personally, as a former Marine with minimal help when separating, NO ONE SHOULD NOT BE ABLE TO GET WORK FROM THIS EVENT.

We are very proud to present this event to you, our candidates & employers, as an example of the good things that happen when companies understand the value of our veterans.

Vets: If you have not PREPARED, time is running out. Call, write, IM, drive in, fly in, Pony Express; whatever takes to get ready for this.

As Jodi Foster put it a few days ago (or maybe it was Eminem)(Or both); One Chance.

Career Cookie: Crack It Open

Any time I crack open a fortune cookie (a solid trend with office lunch routines here) and read something along the lines of "Smile through adversity", I flip, jabbering like a cut-rate Seinfeld about how that isn't a fortune at all -  it's advice, and bad advice at that.  To send you smiling into your weekend, I offer you a career cookie, with advice hopefully more substantial.  (Your fortune, as always, remains in your hands, with all of us here at your back offering tips far beyond any tiny strip of paper).   

Applying for a position has never been easier or faster - that's the miracle of the Internet, right? - yet it's also never been easier for you to fall behind the curve. 

That position you're applying for on a superstore-style career board, industry-specific, what have you, more than likely has been filled for a few flips of the calendar.  From the employer's POV, it makes perfect sense: if you can only be bothered to apply online, why should they go out of their way to pull it down?   

Read This With Your Resume: Clichés Beatdown

Cliché would be putting the dictionary definition of "cliché" here.  I shall spare you that and simply encourage all of us to focus on the concept of "show, don't tell."  Let's say that, with the help of a flux capacitor and a copy machine, we were able to obtain the fabled resume of Alexander the Great.  Which of the following do you think would've shown up?

• Conquered 90% of the known world by age 27, founded Great Library in Egypt, solved unsolveable Gordian Knot puzzle by cutting it in half, survived questionable recent biopic
• I enjoy challenges.

You follow me?  Simply putting in empty little statements about what you are wastes space you need to use to actually show these qualities.  Of course they're great qualities; they're the ones we all like to think we have and want employers to know we have.  Just remember you can't win the case without bringing the evidence.  If you hit all the things you did that demonstrate your attention to detail, the employer will already be thinking to themselves, "Nice eye for detail."  Be subliminal - don't flash a neon sign in front of an empty building. 

For starters, avoid all of the following phrases on your resume.

Ready to go to work.  I should certainly hope so.

I'm a team player.  Again, if you're working for a company of any size, yes, this would be good.  But unless you're a drifter, this is a quality possessed by everyone on this planet at some point in their daily life, no matter how much or how little they enjoy it.  You, however, have a way to show it that nobody else does in your military experience.  An excellent way to incorporate this experience into a civilian resume is a short item about a significant accomplishment you made in the service as part of a team. 

Attention to detail.  See above.  Worth a laugh when it's misspelled.  A background in anything from logistics to accounting provides a wealth of ways to actually show this quality - numbers.

Clichés become what they do because they touch something inside a whole lot of people and eventually lose all substance... it's the details, the greatest hits of your career life, that make these qualities your own.