After implementing Veterans.jobs and MilitaryFamily.jobs, I was approached by Carrie Corbin from AT&T, a DirectEmployers member company, and asked if we could adapt the Veterans.jobs Military Crosswalk technology to fit AT&T’s specific veteran hiring needs.

Today DirectEmployers Association is providing companies with a corporate branded solution which helps crack this very difficult code and aid in the identification of qualified candidates. This answer is in the form of a company specific Military Jobs Crosswalk platform powered by the DotJobs Universe. This innovative platform automatically provides a simple translation or “crosswalk” interface which allows service men and women preparing to transition into civilian life the opportunity to use their current Military Occupation Code (MOC) to easily find civilian jobs on corporate sites.

For Example:
(Army) 25B = Information Technology Specialist (Civilian)
(Navy) 0904 = Critical Care Nurse (Civilian)
(Marines) 1310 = Civil Engineer (Civilian)
(Air Force) 3D032 = Network Administrator (Civilian)
(Coast Guard) 91 = Physician (Civilian)

Every platform is flexible and manageable by the hiring company allowing addition or change of branding, video content, talent community interface, or possibly just plain text thanking our service members and inviting them to join their company’s ranks.

Military Crosswalk PILOT companies:
ATT-Veterans.jobs (AT&T)
Providence-Veterans.jobs (Providence Health & Services)
Camber-Veterans.jobs (Camber Corporation)
ConocoPhillips-Veterans.jobs (ConocoPhillips)

This is not the answer to every military hiring ill for a company although it provides the cornerstone all companies need to start communicating effectively with our military men and women who are transitioning into civilian life daily and wanting to explore an exciting new life and career.

Would your company like a .jobs Military Crosswalk?
Military Crosswalk .jobs information

The National Labor Exchange NLX provided by DirectEmployers and NASWA has been committed in helping people find real jobs through a FREE national jobs platform since 2007.

More Veteran resources

More military articles and videos
More jobs

The NLX bolsters a storehouse of over 880,000 vetted and unduplicated jobs from 90,000 employers. These are delivered directly to job seekers using JobCentral.org, Universe.jobs, State Workforce Agencies, participating state job banks and tens of thousands of other employment related sites. The NLX is overseen by an operations committee tasked with ensuring a working connection among states and employers by facilitating strong relationships between regulatory and State Workforce Agencies, as well as HR professionals.

Today’s employers need meaningful veteran recruitment initiatives. This is why DirectEmployers and NASWA are dedicated to forming key relationships and delivering jobs to over 3,000 state, veteran and employment representatives, who are responsible for seeing that our nation’s vets find rewarding careers.

In April, DirectEmployers Association announced the launch of over 5,800 dot-jobs (.jobs) military-friendly domains which have been added to the Dot-Jobs Universe to create an intuitive job search portal for returning veterans (www.veterans.jobs). The domains use the Military Occupational Classification (MOC) Crosswalk to assist military personnel in transitioning from active duty to civilian employment. Transitioning military personnel can enter their MOC/MOS into www.veterans.jobs to locate civilian occupations through dedicated military Profile Pages (e.g. www.42F.jobs, www.25B.jobs, www.2891.jobs).

DirectEmployers Association is committed to helping employers reach veterans through meaningful and successful partnerships and recruiting initiatives.

For more information about DirectEmployers Association, our partnerships, compliance and other services, visit www.DirectEmployers.org. For more information on dot Jobs and how your organization can become involved in these efforts, visit http://employers.universe.jobs.

As a 20 year retired Army veteran I have experienced transition from the active military to civilian life and then demobilization while serving as an activated reservist on more than one occasion. I have seen my friends come home to downsizing and watched newly transitioned war-hardened soldiers struggle to find good jobs.

Conversely hiring employers across the nation have long been in search of a simple yet effective avenue which provides hiring outreach to skilled transitioning soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines. Military jobs are classified much differently than civilian jobs making it nearly impossible for employers and skilled transitioning military personnel to connect in the hiring process.

Today DirectEmployers Association, NASWA and many other partners present Veterans.jobs a transitioning job network which starts to effectively answer this problem by allowing transitioning military personnel the ability to easily type in their Military Occupation Code plus the .jobs suffix, which leads to a site like 91j.jobs where only civilian jobs which match their military skill sets may be found. A transitioning member of the military may also start at the Veterans.jobs hub where they may easily choose their military affiliation and either search by their military identifier or keyword.

This job search process is meaningful and extremely targeted to transitioning personnel because it speaks specifically to their military skills sets and then provides ample and relevant civilian job opportunities across the nation on a network with consists of almost 6,000 sites strong and houses over 850,000 verified jobs directly from hiring employer career sites or participating state job banks at no charge.

Our strength at home during what seems to feel like a never ending deployment is our family and to ensure the military family members can provide while their soldier, sailor, airmen or Marines are away DirectEmployers Association, NASWA and many other partners created MilitaryFamily.jobs network of sites. MilitaryFamily.jobs allows military dependents to easily search for military installations across the nation and also browse through employment opportunities in neighboring communities.

This job search process provides our military families, who are the sacred strength our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines at home, with a tool to find valid and verified employment directly from major employers and small or medium sized businesses at no charge.

These innovative networks connect the transitioning military personnel or current dependents to the original job on the hiring employers’ career site or corresponding state job bank for application which negates third-party interaction, duplicate job content and the threat of spam jobs or identity theft.

This indeed is the biggest, most dynamic and incredibly meaningful military network ever created on the internet and DirectEmployers Association, backed by some of the biggest brands in the world, is honored to bring this revolutionary technology to bear because great talent deserves a great home.

This is merely the start .

Press Release:
“America’s Top Employers Launch Initiative to Help Match Jobs With the Unique Skills Veterans Bring to the Marketplace“

Question from the field
“I am a 100% disabled veteran who was medically retired in 1998. I have been going to school since I exited the military and am ten units away from receiving my bachelor’s degree (ministerial studies). I would love to work in Human Resources. I was the EEO officer and Human Resource contact person in my unit while in the military, and my last position was a General’s Aide. How do my military HR duties translate into the civilian world of HR? Any ideas on the steps I should take?”

My Answer
Great question because most job seekers, even non-military, have no idea what their focus or angle should be when going after a job especially if it’s in a new field.

– RESEARCH –
I would start with some solid research around Human Resource job listings, duties and requirements for jobs such as HR Manager and HR Supervisor. You should perform a non-location specific job searches on www.RecruitMilitary.com or www.VetCentral.us using “HR Manager”, for best results. Location is not necessary early in the process, just having as many HR jobs as possible when starting your research is preferred.

– FIT –
Next you want to examine and break down the job listings starting with the position’s duties. This is an incredibly important step because after reviewing a few job listings you may find this type of position is not a fit or you might be right on target. This is a very important step which MUST be taken early in the job search process to ensure the job seekers is not wasting their or the prospective company’s time and effort. If the job still seems to be spot-on you will need to put pen to paper and write down the many times you have performed the specific type of duties in the past while remembering success stories for every single duty listed. This exercise helps you mentally prepare and hopefully better articulate your experience.

Then move along to the basic requirements where you need to boil down your military experience against the position requirements line by line. If you do not fit the requirement exactly, although can match it with like certifications or experience then go for it, but once again YOU need to be able to articulate and prove similar experience, do not expect the company to take the extra steps.

Continue your job listing review by looking for any other bits of intelligence a company may make available including questions like “Ready to work in a fast paced yet rewarding environment?” This type of marketing element in a job posting provides a great opportunity for you to parallel your experience and skills in a fast paced environment and again TELL YOUR STORY.

– STRENGTHS –
Remember also that your military experience provides an edge over your civilian counterparts in a variety of ways. In this case you can uniquely position your time as a General’s Aide similarly to working directly with a CEO or other type of executive in the corporate setting. Generals and Sergeant Majors sometimes have command and are responsible for head count greater than many Fortune 500 executives and should be held in high regard and positioned appropriately.

After you have run through the exercises above ensure your resume reflects these new angles, responsibilities, parallels and skills sets possibly void from other versions.

– SEARCH –
When your resume is complete and you feel confident that you can articulate your military skills and experience it’s time to start a true job search on the sites listed above including the abilities to search and target locations. When you uncover jobs which match your needs apply directly to the job on the company’s website, if applicable. This places your resume information in the corporate database and will allow you to move on quickly to the next step.

– CONNECT –
Contact the company and let them know you are a veteran and have applied for a position within their organization and would like to speak with the person in charge of their veteran hiring programs. If you are pushed into a voicemail system, leave a very profession message asking to speak with the person in charge of veteran hiring programs. If the company is a federal contractor they are obligated to provide outreach and focus regarding hiring of veterans into their organization, although this does not obligate them to hire you. You can research the company to see if they are federal contractors using www.usaspending.gov.

Fighting for a job in a rough economy is not easy, although remember the determination and tenacity you have learned in your military training can overcome many barriers the market may throw at you.

DRIVE ON!

####
DirectEmployers and Search & Employ® is after questions that apply to your own situation and are specific in nature—but not questions that relate to a particular company or employment office. Please include your name with your question. I will not use your name, but will identify you generally. Send your questions to Katie Becker, the Editor of Search & Employ®, at katie@recruitmilitary.com.

Find more great articles focused on helping military veterans find jobs in this edition of Search and Employ Magazine online.

It’s amazing what experience and just basic common sense allows a person to see.

Enjoy,
Chad

*******************
Peter,

I’m glad you and your cronies weren’t around to “protect” newspapers when we launched Online Career Center in 1992. It’s ironic that the .JOBS Charter Compliance Coalition consists of the same folks who danced on the graves of newspapers when the Internet was coming to fruition.

Your pal,
Bill Warren

Here is what Todd Raphael’s column would have looked like in 1992:

ERE News and Features
Fix Flawed Internet Process, Weddle Says

By: Todd Raphael

Oct 26, 1992, 4:13 pm ET

Peter Weddle a recruiter-consultant-author who heads up an association of people who run newspapers said today that the “process was flawed” — a reference to the ongoing saga of the Internet. He announced that the body that regulates the Internet is part way through a period in which it’s reconsidering its recent decision to take an expansive view of how the Internet can be used.

Speaking here in Hollywood, Florida at a meeting, Weddle said he has high regard for the organizations on the other side of this issue but that he and his allies such as the Newspaper Association of America, the American Society of Association Executives, and the American Staffing Association believe “this whole exercise is flawed.”

In his conference session — “The Truth About the Internet Affair” — Weddle said the following are myths about the proposal to expand the Internet beyond its original use, which was to be used only for email:

• “This is good for employers.” If that’s true, Weddle asks, why is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce opposed to it? (Without mentioning that the 350,000 member world-wide HR sponsoring association conducted an extensive Council review and a valid survey in which the Internet expansion was overwhelmingly approved by employers).

• “This is good for veterans.” But, he says lining up against the proposal is the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and other military hiring organizations. (Without mentioning that the VFW minimally sponsors Vetjobs.com and other Military hiring organizations are for it).

• “This won’t violate trademarks.” Weddle says the European Trademark Owners Association opposes the proposal. Weddle gives an example also of NativeAmericanJobs, a small newspaper that he says has spent a decade building its brand. In the last four or five months it has begun to be confused with the new NativeAmerican, which is an entirely different newspaper.

• “This is just a U.S. issue.” Weddle notes that non-U.S. newspapers and newspapers in China, Japan, Australia, and Europe are all opposed.

• “This is only a problem for for-profit companies.” Weddle says non-profits are all on his side.

• “This is an issue for niche newspapers that can’t compete.“ The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, and Los Angeles Times are all opposed”, he says.

Weddle announced that the Internet Governance Committee is midway through a 90-day window in which it’s reconsidering its decision. He argues: 1) The Internet shouldn’t be used for purposes that were never intended, and that the original charter was for the Internet to be used for email only; 2) The process thus far offers little hope that future expansion will be fair; 3) And, as mentioned, trademark rights aren’t being respected.

The Internet Governance Committee could change its mind during its reconsideration period. Or, it could merely announce that it’s thinking of changing its mind, and open the decision back up for further review. (There is one other option which I don’t dare mention).

*******************
ROTFL, that’s just good clean fun ;o)

Here’s the first edition of Search and Employ’s Ask Chad.

Question from the field
“I am a field artillery platoon sergeant in the Army, and will be getting out in about three months. I’d like to a get a civilian job working with military equipment. Any ideas?”

My Answer
My first suggestion would be to get out of your comfort zone and look at civilian equipment as well. Secondly, I would suggest signing with the Reserve Component, which would provide your fix of military equipment while expanding your horizons on the civilian side. The key here is to make you marketable to a broader spectrum of employers, and not try to compete for merely a handful of jobs in comparison.

Question from the field
“I am an Air Force veteran, in for seven years, and was a Fuels Journeyman. I am not looking for a career in that field and want to pursue my education. I know about the Post- 9/11 GI Bill, but have no clue what I want to study in college. I’d appreciate some assistance in choosing a college path that is right for me.”

My Answer
First you need to enroll, then get your 9/11 GI Bill paperwork started and credit hours rolling to knock out the basic required non-major specific classes. Second, having someone else choose your career path is NEVER a good idea. Here are a couple of ideas:

1) Visit some local companies that you might want to work for. Ask them what types of jobs are growing and the types of skill sets and education required. If you are further interested, ask if they have any on-the-job-training programs. The state may pay a portion of your wages while you get up to speed and educated. This is a huge win for the employer, who scores a potential employeein-training with government funds possibly paying the bulk of your wage.

2) Try out the Department of Labor’s newest tool mySkillmyFuture.org or go to careeronestop.org and click on mySkills myFuture. This site can help you search through jobs with the ability to see if they have a bright and growing future/longevity. In the end, you need to research and choose what’s best for you and your situation.

Question from the field
“I am retired Air Force in Georgia. I’ve been in program /project management for most of my career, and am searching locally for a similar position, but without success. Any hints regarding employment opportunities? I have a very high clearance that was renewed in 2007, but wonder if it is still active— I’ve heard that there is a two-year window from the last use.”

My Answer
First let’s tackle the clearance question. If you have a Top-Secret, it needs to be renewed every five years. A Secret clearance must be renewed every ten years. After you have separated from the military, you have a 24-month window for reactivation. If you are seeking employment with a federal contractor, they can sponsor your clearance, although DoD will handle the reactivation process. Federal contractors who hire for security clearances are generally well aware of the process and timeframes.

You may NOT be able to find the same type of job you were doing in the military locally, and it may never exist locally. So, you may have to make a decision on the job or the locale. If you don’t mind moving, expand your specific job search nationwide. If you are rooted to your current locale, you may need to change professions and go back to school. No matter, you should use your 9/11 GI Bill.

FREE school means a boost in wages, and may broaden your spectrum of opportunity.

Question from the field
“I’m a military police investigator with operations experience. I am interested in computers, but I have no formal computer training. I’d appreciate any ideas to jump-start my career in this field.”

My Answer
Much like the advice I provided to our Air Force Journeyman friend, research what companies want locally before you go back to school and start tooling up your skill-sets. Do not solely take the advice of your local university and/or tech school. Get verification from the actual job market instead of listening to your academic institutions. Unfortunately, many are not as connected to true employer needs.

Question from the field
“I am a reservist who just finished three months of training in the reserves for heavy equipment with the objective of finding civilian work. I recently finished six years active duty with two tours in Iraq. I have applied for over 100 jobs with no answer and don’t know what my next step should be.”

My Answer
Unfortunately many military schools do not translate into civilian certification, which means the candidate must find the requirements and make up the balance to achieve certification. The United States military does not focus on your post-enlistment career marketability. Rather, the military trains you to their standards and works almost entirely outside of normal civilian curriculum. That means you will have to jump into schooling to bridge the gap, whether you have the experience and ability or not. Civilian jobs have their own standards and requirements. Until the military embraces those standards, post-enlistment marketability and finding jobs will unfortunately not be as easy as your civilian counterparts. Because of these gaps, there are many training and assistance programs where transitioning military qualify, which is why every veteran should reach out to their veteran’s representative at their local state employment office for guidance.

Getting a job in a rough economy is not easy for anyone, let alone transitioning military personnel. Keep in mind that employers are looking for loyalty, discipline, and many of the qualities engrained by military and team-oriented training. Use your strengths and the training and aid provided to work on your weaknesses and any employer will soon be knocking down your door.

Drive on!

Find more great articles focused on helping military veterans find jobs in this edition of Search and Employ Magazine online.