Table Of ContentU.S. DOL
Employment
Workshop
Transition from
Military to Civilian
Workforce
Participant Guide
January 2017 Edition
Prerequisite ..s................................................................................................................... .1. .
Transition Quiz ............................................................................................................... 2
Section 1: Foundations of a Successful Transition ............................................................. 3
Succeeding in a civilian workplace ................................................................................. 5
Inside the employer’s mind ........................................................................................... 13
Paths to employment ..................................................................................................... 21
Section 2: Identify Your Skills and Values....................................................................... 30
Transferable Skills Inventory ........................................................................................ 30
Update your ITP ............................................................................................................ 37
Employment History Outline ........................................................................................ 39
Job Values ..................................................................................................................... 40
Section 3: Identify Employment Opportunities ................................................................ 46
Job search networking................................................................................................... 46
Update your ITP ............................................................................................................ 48
Social Media ................................................................................................................. 49
Your Professional Introduction ..................................................................................... 53
Career, Occupation & Job Research ............................................................................. 57
Update your ITP ............................................................................................................ 66
Section 4: Focus Your Search ........................................................................................... 68
American Job Centers (AJCs): One-on-One Personalized Service in Your Local
Community ................................................................................................................... 68
Education and Training Assistance for the Job Search ................................................. 71
Veteran unemployment and homelessness ................................................................... 73
Analyze job postings ..................................................................................................... 77
Section 5: Market Yourself ............................................................................................... 80
Writing a Resume ......................................................................................................... 81
Developing a Targeted Resume .................................................................................... 89
Update your ITP .......................................................................................................... 101
Cover Letters ............................................................................................................... 102
Identify and prepare your professional references ...................................................... 105
Update your ITP .......................................................................................................... 107
Section 6: Federal Hiring ................................................................................................ 110
Federal Hiring, Federal Resumes and Federal Programs ............................................ 110
Veterans’ Preference ................................................................................................... 112
Special Hiring Authorities for Veterans ...................................................................... 117
Veterans Employment Initiative .................................................................................. 122
Finding Jobs ................................................................................................................ 123
Understanding the Vacancy Announcement ............................................................... 124
Federal Resume Writing Tips ..................................................................................... 128
Federal Interviewing ................................................................................................... 136
Getting the Offer ......................................................................................................... 136
Update your ITP .......................................................................................................... 138
Section 7: Creating Online Profiles ................................................................................ 140
Section 8: Interviewing ................................................................................................... 144
Preparing for an Interview .......................................................................................... 144
Dress for success during an interview ........................................................................ 148
Types of interviews ..................................................................................................... 151
Common Interview Questions .................................................................................... 154
Practice Answering Questions .................................................................................... 157
Mock Interview ........................................................................................................... 163
Section 9: Follow Up After the Interview....................................................................... 166
Follow Up after the Interview ..................................................................................... 166
Evaluate the interview—Continuous Improvement .................................................... 168
Evaluate job offers ....................................................................................................... 170
Components of a salary ............................................................................................... 174
Communicating your decision to the employer ........................................................... 176
Negotiate job offers ..................................................................................................... 182
Appendices ...................................................................................................................... 184
Gold Card .................................................................................................................... 184
Employment History Outline ...................................................................................... 189
Job Posting Example ................................................................................................... 190
Master Resume Example ............................................................................................ 191
Targeted Resume Example ......................................................................................... 194
Sample Resumes ......................................................................................................... 196
Prerequisites
If you haven’t met with your Preseparation counselor, you should schedule your
appointment and acquire these documents:
• Career Interest Inventory Assessment
• VMET (Verification of Military Experience and Training, DD Form 2586)
• Performance evaluations
• Military and college transcripts
If you have followed the design of the DOD TAP, you have met with a
Preseparation counselor and been familiarized with the Individualized Transition
Plan form and the various sections included within that form. You have also
completed the Career Interest Assessment tool and have discussed the results with
your counselor.
You have attended the MOC (Military Occupational Codes) Crosswalk module,
which gave you a summary of how your current military experience can be
translated into a civilian occupation. You have your VMET, your performance
evaluations, and your military transcripts.
In addition to meeting with your Preseparation counselor and attending the MOC
Crosswalk, you have been briefed on your benefits from the VA and have created
a 12-month budget as an outcome of attending the Personal Finance for
Transitioning Military members.
If, due to various factors, including scheduling, you have not attended MOC
Crosswalk, Personal Finance for Transitioning Service members, or the VA
Benefits briefing, you are encouraged to get scheduled for these modules ASAP.
Bring the following to class each day:
Career interest inventory assessment
VMET
Performance evaluations (to help you develop Situation Task Action
Results or STAR statements)
Military and college transcripts
MOC Crosswalk results
Laptop or notebook
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Transition Quiz
Read each statement; indicate whether it is true
True Fa ls e
or false.
1. Given two qualified job applicants, employers will usually
hire a Veteran over a non-Veteran.
2. The same job you had in the service will pay up to twice as
much in private industry.
3. Military skills transfer to civilian jobs without additional
training.
4. Civilian employers believe that members of the military do
not deal with profit and loss.
5. Most employers have had enough military experience to be
able to understand military language.
6. Most employers are skilled at selecting new employees.
7. You may have to overcome an employer’s negative reaction
to Veterans in order to get a job.
8. Veterans must build a network of job contacts as part of their
job search.
9. Collecting unemployment compensation can hurt your pride
and self-respect.
10. After military service, you may have to take a lower level
job than someone of your age who has not been in the
service.
11. A good resume will get you a job.
12. In a job interview, you should always address the interviewer
as “sir” or “ma’am” just as you would do in the military.
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Section 1: Foundations of a Successful
Transition
A successful transition and starting a new career with a good job takes time
and diligent work.
You must approach it like any military operation:
1. Determine mission and objective(s)
2. Gather intelligence
3. Determine logistics and resource requirements
4. Identify resources and/or training shortfalls
5. Develop primary, alternate, and tertiary plans
6. Integrate assets and resources
7. Establish timelines
8. Conduct rehearsals
The principles of getting a job are fairly simple
1. You will need to think like employers and understand the factors that make
them and their organizations successful. You will practice doing that in this
section.
2. You will need to identify the skills you can offer that will contribute to the
success of both the business you are targeting and the individual hiring
decision makers who determine if it makes sense to offer you a job. You
will have an opportunity to do this in Section 2 of this Guide.
3. You will need to discover, research, and connect with employment
opportunities that are a good match for your skills and interests. Sections 3
and 4 will help you accomplish these tasks.
4. You will need to develop and deliver self-marketing messages that enable
civilian hiring decision makers to recognize that they and their
organizations will be more successful if they hire you. You will have
opportunities to develop these messages in Sections 5 and 6.
Although the principles are simple, implementing them is not always easy. You
will learn and employ tactics and techniques that you may not have been required
to use since you joined the military.
The good news is, your military experience has provided you with rich
opportunities to acquire an extensive set of technical skills, to strengthen an
impressive array of traits, and to gain insights that will enable you to contribute to
success in most civilian workplaces.
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For the next three days, you will begin to master these four principles and acquire
the tools that will help you launch your civilian career.
Learning objectives for this course include:
1. Completing your transferable skills inventory
2. Researching industries, occupations, and trends
3. Analyzing job postings
4. Developing an initial draft master resume
5. Understanding special appointing authorities for Veterans
6. Understanding different types of interviews
7. Evaluating job offers
4
Succeeding in a civilian workplace
Transitioning to a civilian work life may bring many unfamiliar challenges for
you and your loved ones. Fortunately, you have learned to adapt to change and to
make the most of the opportunities in new and unfamiliar situations. The
following list describes some of the challenges you may face and differences you
may experience during your reentry into the civilian world, as well as tactics for
overcoming them.
In the military
Rarely do you have to interview, or create and send a resume, or fill out an
application form for your next duty assignment.
When transitioning to a civilian workplace
Utilize the information throughout this guide to:
Learn about civilian occupations
Create and customize resumes
Acquire interviewing skills
Master the techniques of completing print or electronic application forms
Master the informal or unwritten rules and etiquette related to job searching
Get comfortable “bragging” about yourself
Master the art of networking
In the military
There is no need to explain or translate the skills you possess; your MOS, Rating,
or AFSC largely speaks for itself, as do the performance evaluations you have
received in your current or previous position
When transitioning to a civilian workplace
Utilize the information throughout this guide to learn:
How hiring decision makers think
How to translate your military experience into terms that civilian hiring
decision makers will understand and recognize as valuable to their business
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